Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Proposition 8: The Fallout

There has been a lot of fuss on the 'net, and in the bloggosphere about the Church's efforts in the defeat of California's Proposition 8, a proposal to allow same-gender marriages.  The Church is really taking a lot of heat in the popular press and culture.  The documentary movie: "8: The Mormon Proposition" is the focal point of a lot of the buzz.  The most recent bit is the legal actions against the Church, including some relatively nominal fines for supposedly not reporting the money trail correctly.

A lot of people not in the Church seem to be wondering why so much effort and fuss and money was put into the defeat of the proposition.  Why does it hurt us if some others want to marry how they will?  Just because Mormons disagree with them, does that give them the right to tell people how to live their lives? 

Really, I think the Church Leaders have a lot in common with those promoting the agenda for gay marriage.  I think they're feeling the exact same thing.  They don't want someone else telling them how to live, either.  And that's what they're afraid of.

In a recent talk to a group of young LDS members, Elder Russell M Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve said,
"If civil law were altered to recognize so-called 'same-gender' marriage, you as believers in God and as keepers of His commandments would be regarded as exceptions to the rule," Elder Nelson said. "Your conscientious convictions would be regarded as discriminatory. For example, if you were a Christian schoolteacher, you could be charged with bigotry for upholding the Lord's law of chastity. In truth, dear brothers and sisters, if you lose marriage, you also lose freedom of religion."

A while ago, here in MoBoy, I wrote about my view of the "slippery slope".  It seems that I'm thinking in a similar vein to Elder Nelson.

What I'm afraid of at this point, is that Proposition 8 and all of the fallout may well be growing beyond the "Live and Let Live" point.  We'll just have to see.
share

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: A Dutch Oven Father's Day Feast, Making LDS Music: Affliction and Comfort,

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails