Pages

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Temple Protests Go Too Far!!

In the name of tolerance, great intolerance is shown. The biggest bigots in our society are the ones who routinely accuse others of bigotry.

That troubling trend has never been clearer than it was last week when thousands of supporters of a militant homosexual agenda, upset by an electoral defeat, marched in mass protest on two Mormon temples.

Blaming The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for marshalling voters against them, a thousand activists shouted outside the Mormon temple in Los Angeles, and the next day some three thousand others staged a protest at the Salt Lake temple.

Let me repeat. Unhappy at having lost an election, protesters surrounded and intimidated places of worship. In America.

Here's the background. Last Tuesday, California voters were asked whether or not they wanted gay marriage. The issue was called Proposition 8. Defeat meant gay marriage, passage meant no gay marriage.

Which is what Californians chose the last time they voted on this issue. Eight years ago another statewide vote rejected gay marriage. But activists successfully subverted the will of the people through a series of lawsuits. That effort culminated earlier this year when the California Supreme Court allowed gay marriage.

So the people put it back on the ballot.

And last week they said what they had said before – Californians do not want gay marriage.

That's what ticked off the homosexual activists.

Because they thought eight years of propaganda and normalization had beaten down the opposition. But that wasn't the case.

An organization of opponents to gay marriage quickly formed. Generally, it was comprised of people whose opposition was based in religion. Namely, Roman Catholics, Evangelicals and Mormons. Leaders of all three faiths – as represented by the Catholic bishops, Focus on the Family and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – asked their followers to support the effort to pass Proposition 8.

And they did, with their money and their votes. Though outspent, defenders of real marriage worked hard to convince their neighbors that banning gay marriage was the right thing.

And the effort was successful.

Ironically, that might be because of Barack Obama.

Though he opposed Proposition 8, the very large number of black and Latino Californians who came out to support him did not. They, in fact, were the ban's most reliable supporters. And it turned out that rock-solid black and Latino opposition to gay marriage is what provided the margin of victory for Proposition 8.

And yet the activists got mad at the Mormons.

In the run-up to the election, gay marriage supporters ran television commercials vilifying the Mormon Church. And in the wake of it, though the measure to ban gay marriage received more support from Catholic, Evangelical and traditionally black churches, the gay activists have targeted Mormons.

No protests or public criticism directed at the Roman Catholic Church, Focus on the Family, any traditionally black churches or any Evangelical denominations – just at Mormons.

That is probably because the Mormon Church is smaller than the others and less well understood or accepted publicly. It is also a religion which some people have hard feelings or prejudices against.

Simply put, it makes a better scapegoat.

It makes an easier boogeyman for gay activists to attack. Discomfort other people of faith may have with Mormonism is being used as a wedge to drive those other people of faith away from the movement against gay marriage.

The goal is to make the impression that it is Mormons forcing their views on others, that people off in Salt Lake were evil puppet masters pulling the strings on others.

Which is preposterous.

Yes, Mormons were active. Yes, Mormons did disproportionately donate money to support Proposition 8.

But, no, the Mormon Church itself did not give money to the campaign. No, the Mormon Church did not "order" or "command" its members to do anything but follow their conscience. And, no, the Catholic, Evangelical and traditionally black churches which oppose gay marriage do not do so because they are being manipulated by Mormons.

Rather, this was an issue on which these groups, which may usually disagree on doctrinal matters, were able to agree and work together.

Which brings us to the thousands who have surrounded and jeered the Mormon temples.

Having been rejected by the majority, they seek to persecute a minority. It was not Mormons who rejected gay marriage, it was a majority of California voters. And the anger of militant gay activists is purposefully misdirected in an effort to confuse and intimidate.

And in a display of blatant bigotry.

We do not protest at places of worship in America – unless they are Mormon places of worship.

Those who favor abortion rights do not protest outside the parishes and cathedrals of Catholicism. Those who denounce militant Islam do not march around American mosques. Supporters of Palestinian rights do not shout through loudspeakers outside synagogues.

If they did, we would be offended as a society, and see the impropriety of their deeds.

But thousands can hatefully mill outside the gates of the sacred buildings of Mormonism and do so with impunity, knowing that their actions and motives will go unchallenged, that the evening news will bring them nothing but the publicity they seek.

In the name of tolerance, intolerance is done. In the supposed fight against bigotry, bigotry is both motive and tool.

The homosexual agenda demands acceptance and promotion of its values, but denounces and attacks the values of others. It demands the right to marry, but assaults the right to believe. In demanding that its voice be heard, while forcing silence on all who dissent from its agenda.

And the intolerant left has grown so totalitarian in its demand for orthodoxy that it has staged protests to attack the outcome of an election. That's where America is today.

Or, more correctly, that's where evil is today.

Because traditional marriage is good, and its counterfeit, gay marriage, is evil. It is a simple matter of absolute and eternal truth. You either believe in God and his law or the shouting activists and theirs.

And most Americans feel that way, though few of them will say it out loud. That's because they're afraid – afraid that if they do, they'll be attacked the way Mormons are being attacked now.

Which is why this is taking place. In an act of bigotry against houses of worship, supporters of the homosexual agenda are sending a shot across the bow of every church, mosque, synagogue and temple in the country.

Either keep your mouth shut, or get what the Mormons are getting.

Here's hoping that that warning will be ignored, and that people of conscience will have the courage of their convictions – that people of all faiths will stand their ground. Contention must be avoided, but not at the cost of capitulation.

Americans do not lose their civil rights because they believe in God or worship with their fellow believers. People of faith are as free to vote and speak their mind as anyone else.

What this episode teaches is that people of faith had better stand together in the defense of their rights, or they will be picked off one by one.

Because the Mormons are just the beginning.




- by Bob Lonsberry © 2008

6 comments:

Bri!!! said...

I was just going to post about this. I'm getting really sick of the gay activists saying we are intolerant when they are the ones who are showing 100X more intolerance...sigh.

Anonymous said...

I resigned my membership in the Church in part because of the Church's armtwisting of members in California and other states to fund Yes on Proposition 8. (Gee, $22,200 came from my Arizona zip code. I checked.) I also resigned because of the Church spokesdroids' inability to understand that (a) people do NOT handle having their rights taken away real well and (b) they're going to gravitate to the big, lit-up shiny buildings with the marriage ceremonies that non-members can't see for their protests. (There are other reasons as well, but you know, it's "not in my name, you won't.") If the Church and its PR people are that clueless...wow.

The Church bought itself this unwanted publicity by hustling for cash among the members. The Church cannot now back off and say that it wasn't involved, when it was coordinating the whole thing out of the ward and stakehouses.

For the record, I'm a 48 year old never married single woman with no kids. And yes, I sent my letter in because Prop 8 showed to me that there was never going to be any respect for me and my life in a church that worships the NUKULAR FAAAAAMILY above God or anyone else.

Anonymous said...

P.S. I'm heterosexual.

Unknown said...

I can respect your viewpoints, and agree to disagree with you; however, I don't think that Proposition 8 is any reason whatsoever for someone to leave the church over.

It makes no sense to me that someone who "has a testimony" would get so angry that the church is supporting something that all their doctrine has always supported, and will always support. Since when has the church EVER backed down on something that contradicts the church's teachings? Never. The church itself did not fund the proposition 8 effort, Members helped, yes, the church did not. Why does it make a difference if the person is a baptist or a Mormon who donates money to a cause they believe in?

You must know I have nothing against homosexuals, not in the least, I have several friends who are homosexual, and I love them just as anyone else. I don't have to agree with their lifestyle, but I still have the capacity to love them! The same goes for the rest of them.

I just don't understand how you can think that Prop 8 was a valid reason for leaving the church. Frankly, I'm sorry to say this, but, it's a cop out. I'm sure there were other reasons for your leaving as well. I can understand how difficult it would be to be a 48 year old woman unwed in this church. I assume this had something to do with your leaving as well. Regardless of what your reasons are, I can't agree that the church has done ANYTHING to make its doctrines, and teachings any less true.

Janae said...

To anonymous:

I don't believe the church has arm twisted anyone. Our leaders have merely encouraged us to support the cause. Perhaps you felt it was arm-twisting because you disagreed with the cause in the first place, and that is entirely another subject.

I do not believe that our leaders were oblivious to the reactions that we would get as you suggest they were ("spokesdroids' inability to understand that (a) people do NOT handle having their rights taken away real well"). Of course the church would get this kind of reaction, and I'm not sure anyone is altogether surprised by it--least of all our leaders.

And as for "(b) they're going to gravitate to the big, lit-up shiny buildings with the marriage ceremonies that non-members can't see for their protests," I'm pretty sure that's what this whole post was about--the fact that the LDS church is an easy target because of the obvious visibility that you mentioned as well as its misunderstood doctrines.

"The Church bought itself this unwanted publicity by hustling for cash among the members. The Church cannot now back off and say that it wasn't involved, when it was coordinating the whole thing out of the ward and stakehouses." The church as an institution was not involved, the members of the institution were involved. But just because there was involvement and these negative reactions were expected doesn't mean we as members are going to be happy about it.

You clearly lack the understanding that it is God who defined marriage and family as what it is. I don't think there is any worship of "the 'nukular' family." There is worship of God. There is action on his behalf. And there is reaction to this action. But that doesn't make it fair or easy to accept.

Tanner is right, there obviously are some other factors in your decision to leave the church, because the church has done nothing wrong in its aims to protect the divine definition of the family.

Anonymous said...

I am a Christian, and I am very much against gay marriage since it goes against the teachings of the Bible. I do not hate gay people, I do disagree with their life style, and it is my opinion that the gay community has been given far too much tolerance, since they seem to use their life style as a crutch to fall back on whenever things don't go their way. They are all to quick to cite discrimination, even when it has nothing to do with their homosexuality. Tolerance can be a dangerous thing when too much is given, just like anything else. It's time to put a stop to this nonsense, since all the gays have ever done is cry discrimination. I salute the the church for taking a stand for the sanctity of marriage!