DiscussMormonism.com

A FP letter to members in California (to be read in sacrament meeting on Pride Day) was recently posted to Mormon Matters.

See http://mormonmatters.org/2008/06/21/news-flash-lds-church-will-be-actively-opposing-gay-marriage-in-california-this-november/

LDS Church FP wrote:The Church's teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator's plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.

Is it right for any religious sect to seek to have it's theological teachings enforced on others who do not believe in the sect's myths and beliefs?

Further, what if a true believing animal rights folks got organized like these churches and tried to legislate their dietary rules for the rest of us? You know, for the sake of the animals.

Trevor,

The church doesn't really care that much about protecting marriage. Sure, they are homophobic, but they also have greater concerns involving finances and so on. What they do care about, is being recognized as part of a larger "Christian" crusade against something. Anything.

I don't think tax-exempt organizations should be involved in political advocacy. The CoJCoLDS is far from alone on this front, though. The common reply is that this is different because it is a moral issue. Well, all political issues involve moral considerations. That's a justification for involvement in any political issue.

I tried submitting the Church's memo to WikiLeaks via anonymous submission (figured it'd be a fun and interesting way to fuel the fire), but, alas, my government computer has restrictions placed on it preventing the upload.

Just planting a seed for anyone who might find this to be worth their time....

;-)

EAllusion wrote:I don't think tax-exempt organizations should be involved in political advocacy. The CoJCoLDS is far from alone on this front, though. The common reply is that this is different because it is a moral issue. Well, all political issues involve moral considerations. That's a justification for involvement in any political issue.

I wonder how the church gets around have to form a 501(c)4? Oh, nevermind. I know: they don't lobby directly. They instruct the members to lobby. That way, their hands are clean.

It's my understanding that tax exempt religious organizations can take on issues, yet, not endorse or oppose candidates.

TrashcanMan79 wrote:I tried submitting the Church's memo to WikiLeaks via anonymous submission (figured it'd be a fun and interesting way to fuel the fire), but, alas, my government computer has restrictions placed on it preventing the upload.

Just planting a seed for anyone who might find this to be worth their time....

;-)

...already up...
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Mormon-LD ... tution_ban

The Dude wrote:
Is it right for any religious sect to seek to have it's theological teachings enforced on others who do not believe in the sect's myths and beliefs?

Further, what if a true believing animal rights folks got organized like these churches and tried to legislate their dietary rules for the rest of us? You know, for the sake of the animals.

Is it right for any group of people to have it's moral decisions which can be made into law enforced on others who do not believe in that stance's reasoning/purpose?

Yet this happens with virtually every piece of legislation out there. When the conservatives or liberals try to create legislation that they believe is right they are rarely accused of forcing their dogma on us (except of course that Coggins does it) but when religious people try to have their social and political views (derived from their religious beliefs) made into law everyone howls at the injustice of it all.

RenegadeOfPhunk wrote:

TrashcanMan79 wrote:I tried submitting the Church's memo to WikiLeaks via anonymous submission (figured it'd be a fun and interesting way to fuel the fire), but, alas, my government computer has restrictions placed on it preventing the upload.

Just planting a seed for anyone who might find this to be worth their time....

;-)

...already up...
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Mormon-LD ... tution_ban

Awesome! Thanks.

(Guess my searching skillz are really lousy....)