Leader Tells Mormons to Welcome Non-Mormons

Mormon church President Gordon Hinckley said followers celebrating their pioneer past should not ignore their duty to befriend non-Mormons.

“We must not be clannish. We must never adopt a holier-than-thou attitude,” he told a crowd of 20,000 at a Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert last Sunday at the church’s Conference Center.

The leader of the 11-million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noted that both the city and the state have become more religiously and culturally diverse since Mormon pioneers were led by Brigham Young into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

The 91-year-old church leader also noted that the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah will draw people from around the world.

“I plead with our people to welcome them, to befriend them, to mingle with them, to associate with them in the promulgation of good causes,” he said. “We are all sons and daughters of God.”