Holland Pays Tribute to Lantos

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the 12 recently paid tribute to the late Tom Lantos, former Democratic congressman from California, at a gathering commemorating Lantos' life.

According to this news release by the Church News,

Drawing on four decades of friendship with the family of the late U.S. Congressman Thomas P. Lantos, D-Calif., Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve paid tribute to the former chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs for his "legendary commitment to human rights and justice" and his inspiring example as a family patriarch.

From Lantos' Wikipedia page we see that,

Lantos was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and repeatedly called for reforms to the nation's health-care system, reduction of the national budget deficit and the national debt, repeal of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and has opposed Social Security privatization efforts. He supported same-sex marriage rights and marijuana for medical use, was a strong proponent of gun control and was adamantly pro-choice.

Lantos was a well-known advocate on behalf of the environment, receiving consistently high ratings from the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental organizations for his legislative record.

This leads me to perhaps the most obvious question: If Congressman Lantos was able to earn such a high level of respect and admiration for his character and example from Elder Holland, despite what I assume to be their apparent disagreements over social and domestic issues, then why is it so difficult for many conservative-minded Latter-day Saints to accept liberal/progressive Saints like me as moral, righteous, or otherwise equally deserving children of God?

I wonder if Elder Holland has ever asked his friends how any good member of the Church can support candidate so-and-so in light of his position on the issue of (insert the usual suspects here).