Hello Everyone,
I found an interesting article and stat while reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog. Apparently Mormons from all accross the country are fundraising and recruiting volunteers to support the YES vote on Prop 8. His blog states that 77% of all funds donated to the YES vote come from Mormons. Check out this letter sent from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Church leaders in California to be read to all congregations on 29 June 2008.
CCD,
Ben
October 28, 2008 at 8:11 am |
What I don’t understand is why this is such a big deal for religious organizations. Whether or not the government defines marriage as one way or the other for legal purposes does not affect how a Church decides to define and perform marriages within their congregations. Clearly this is ideological rather than pragmatic.
October 28, 2008 at 12:05 pm |
Okay, if I may be permitted to be VERY flip here, I think that Prop 8 is particularly vexing to Mormons, since it would be very confusing about who would play the role of the husband and who would be the wives.
October 29, 2008 at 10:18 am |
Here’s a thought. What would it take to get “Proposition 9″ on the ballot?… Basically, it would be the exact same proposition, except adding language to instead define marriage specifically as being “between members of the same sex.”
I get a real kick out of the fact that most people’s excuse for wanting to vote “Yes” on Prop 8 is that they want to “prevent people from redefining marriage.” And they are going to do this by…….. redefining marriage in the state constitution.
October 30, 2008 at 9:48 pm |
Prop 8 is discrimination against a minority group of individuals. I don’t know where this proposition is leaning at this time. The argument is far from over and the religious right want to legislate yet another moral issue. Could this end up at SCOTUS?
October 31, 2008 at 4:57 am |
I think this is very sad. The same is happening in AZ with Mormons and to be blunt, it pisses me off. These people are trying to pass of their bigotry as some kind of odd “protect marriage for future generations” crap. I’ve seen their ads on TV several times, they have signs up all over the place “Vote YES on 102!” and I saw the other day a few cars driving around my neighborhood going door to door and placing ads on peoples’ doors to “Vote YES on 102.” These, I saw, were put up by their children. I saw a few kids running up to my house and the neighbors and I was curious what they were doing. At first I thought they were early trick or treaters (a few days early!) but later on I saw the ad on my front door knob. When I saw those kids I wondered if their parents were passing their pointless and hateful bigotry on to their kids, and that made me remember what Richard Dawkins says about “child abuse” and letting a child decide what they are to believe. I’ve spoken with some atheists even who look down on Dawkins for that part of his book, but when you have parents who teach their kids this nonsense, what he says really makes a lot of sense.
If anyone is interested, here is their hateful TV ad here in AZ. I even wrote these bigots an email telling them just what I think, but I never heard back.
Anyone want to visit and help me tear down some BS “Vote YES on 102″ signs? : )
By the way, that’s a very good point Thor:
“I get a real kick out of the fact that most people’s excuse for wanting to vote “Yes” on Prop 8 is that they want to “prevent people from redefining marriage.” And they are going to do this by…….. redefining marriage in the state constitution.”
It’s nothing but a bunch of double speak to hide their true agenda.
October 31, 2008 at 4:58 am |
I almost forgot…
Here is that ad they have out here with the email I wrote them:
http://arizonaatheist.blogspot.com/2008/09/gay-marriage-in-arizona.html
October 31, 2008 at 5:01 am |
I had tried to post a link but that wouldn’t work. The ad is located in the Sept. archive as “Gay Marriage in Arizona.”
November 3, 2008 at 2:01 pm |
VOTE NO ON PROP 8! VOTE NO ON INEQUALITY!
I can no longer stomach people using circular reasoning to push their discriminatory agenda. It makes me sick!
From the LA Times:
Much has been made about same-sex marriage changing the traditional definition of marriage. But marriage has evolved for thousands of years, from polygamous structures in which brides were so much chattel to today’s idealized love matches. In seeking to add a sentence to California’s Constitution that says, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized,” Proposition 8 supporters seek to enforce adherence to their own religious or personal definition. The traditional makeup of families has changed too, in ways that many religious people find immoral. Single parents raise their children; couples divorce and blend families. Yet same-sex marriage is the only departure from tradition that has been targeted for constitutional eradication.
Religions and their believers are free to define marriage as they please; they are free to consider homosexuality a sin. But they are not free to impose their definitions of morality on the state. Proposition 8 proponents know this, which is why they have misdirected the debate with highly colored illusions about homosexuals trying to take away the rights of religious Californians. Since May, when the state Supreme Court overturned a proposed ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, more than 16,000 devoted gay and lesbian couples have celebrated the creation of stable, loving households, of equal legal stature with other households. Their happiness in no way diminishes the rights or happiness of others.
Californians must cast a clear eye on Proposition 8’s real intentions. It seeks to change the state Constitution in a rare and terrible way, to impose a single moral belief on everyone and to deprive a targeted group of people of civil rights that are now guaranteed. This is something that no Californian, of any religious belief, should accept. Vote no to the bigotry of Proposition 8.