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Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:41 pm
by lmwitten
This came up in a meeting today and I can find no evidence on LDS.org of such a prohibition. My belief is that this is not factually correct. Can you confirm?
Re: Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:20 pm
by russellhltn
I don't think there's any prohibition on the church's side. My last stake president was a state judge in Family Court.
However, there might be restrictions the employer sets to avoid problems with "separation of church and state" and the various watchdog groups. The candidate in question should consult their Employee Handbook.
Re: Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:25 pm
by Biggles
Not a Bishop, but we had a serving police officer serving as a Counsellor in the Stake Presidency.
Re: Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:35 pm
by lajackson
We had a bishop who was a district judge. There were some instances where he needed to delegate certain interviews to his first counselor because he would have been required to report them as an officer of the law.
Re: Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:30 pm
by klricks
A Bishop or any member with a US Gov security clearance may have issues if there are any foreign national members or visitors at meetings.
I had a friend who had to report any contact with foreigners to his employer. His employer asked him.... "Why can't you just find a new church?"....
Re: Is there a restriction prohibiting government employees, like police officers, from being bishops
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:50 am
by lajackson
klricks wrote:A Bishop or any member with a US Gov security clearance may have issues if there are any foreign national members or visitors at meetings.
I just emailed a list to the company security officer each Monday. If they asked for details of the contact, it was a missionary moment for me.
But changing churches was not an option. Every congregation in this area has the same challenge.