discussing politics on social media

[KarenAnneTaylor]

I was advised not to "talk politics" on my social media pages, when I became a new R.S. President and now I'm 2nd Counselor in my new ward. I was having a discussion about this with a family member who said there is no where in the Church Handbook where it says not to post political statements on my own social media account.
Can you advise what the policy is, if there is one?

Karen Taylor

[moderator edit: After discussion among moderators/administrators, the subject/title was changed to a more narrow focus.]

[rmrichesjr]

A few General Handbook sections were suggested during the moderator/administrator discussion about this topic/thread:

• 38.8.30, full section: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... _number178
  
  38.8.31, first paragraph: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... _number180
  
  38.1.1, third paragraph: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... le_number3

In the aforementioned discussion, the point was also raised that no prohibition of discussing politics was found--as long as the social media posts aren't made in a way that implies that the posts are sponsored by the Church. It was suggested that as long as the ward calling is not presented side-by-side with the political views, it should be fine.

[BrianEdwards]

I'd be interested if this was just a general practice your previous Bishop had in place, or if he was reacting to a specific circumstance in your previous ward. Ideally if a Bishop is pushing something that's not in the Handbook, he would also provide reasoning (so you wouldn't feel he was singling you out as a trouble-maker). He may have felt there was a good reason to ask for that for all ward leaders; as we all know, there are wards out there that have suffered tremendously because of discord about politics or other potentially divisive issues. And a Bishop might feel inspired to have all the ward leaders help lift the members out of that cycle if possible.

Just to say that for some situations, a Bishop does have discretion to adapt the Handbook to the local needs. But it appears that whatever the case, you didn't get any more details beyond "Don't".