I got banned from the thread over there after my re-phrasing of my NAMBLA comparison.
With no way for me to reply over there (he wouldn't have known that though), Stemelbow replied to it thusly:
Stemelbow wrote:Did I just see someone try and change the scenario to try and get LDS to see why it might to offensive to some by using NAMBLA as an example? Seriously, do people see us as equivolent as NAMBLA? If that's the case then we're the ones who should be offended. This is ridiculous.
This shows a paucity of imagination. I can use NAMBLA as an example without implying that the LDS Church is the equivelant of NAMBLA. It is called an argument ad absurdum. I used NAMBLA because it is an organization that almost anyone can see is offensive, and that nobody could really fail to see that people would not want their relatives associated with it, even posthumously as Honorary Members.
Thus we see that associating someone posthumously with an organization they would not have associated themselves with in life can in fact be offensive to people. Plug in the LDS Church, and there will be some set of people who will be very upset at having their relatives associated with it in any way, shape, or form. And this despite the fact that it's a meaningless gesture in reality.
If the imagination still fails, Stem, think of it this way: there are many people who think the LDS Church is evil, as in run by Satan. These people would not want their relatives even made tentative, optional honorary members after their deaths, simply because to do so they might feel would stain their relatives honor or reputation or be a slap in the face to what their relatives stood for in life. It's not me, you'd have to go ask them. I'm just pointing out that such people exist.
And some people might object not because they think the church is evil, but silly, or of low repute, or whatever.
The NAMBLA argument merely takes away the option for the LDS to say that nobody should ever be offended at what some other organization does for and on behalf of their dead relatives. Clearly some things would cross the line. Whether the LDS Church also crosses that line is up for debate, but some people clearly think it does, and I don't think they're being entirely unreasonable.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen