Mormon and Catholic churches complain about being the target of Prop 8 protests

[daddytodd]

by: Pam Spaulding

Sat Nov 08, 2008 at 05:35:19 AM EST

Hypocrisy much? The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints is unhappy about the fact that the media spotlight is trained on its participation in making Prop 8 happen.

In an official statement on the church's web site, bearing false witness and hypocrisy is the order of the day.

It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.

Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States - that of free expression and voting.

While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.

Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information.

Bzzt. Wrong answer. The people protesting the church's significant role in an another state's democratic process -- members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave millions of dollars to remove the civil rights of human beings -- are merely exercising their right to free speech to highlight that role.

And what is this "erroneous information"? Who knows, the church doesn't say. The amount of hot air and vapid defensiveness from an institution that has a history of bigotry and oppression against black people has earned every second of this bad press brought on by this media exposure and demonstrations. That the Mormons have trained that bigotry onto gays and lesbians families only confirms that the LDS is what is erroneous and it is repeating that sorry history.

More at Pam's House Blend

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

One thing I note - while individual members of the Mormon faith certainly have a right to participate in the democratic process... the church as a tax-exempt institution does NOT! Are they really that clueless about the concept of "separation of Church and State"??

And yes - as they did exhort their members to donate and whatnot, they are entirely deserving of the backlash they're getting. And frankly, I hope it gets bad enough they think twice about pulling this kind of crap again.

[daddytodd.livejournal.com]

Like the entire Yes on H8 campaign itself, their defense is completely fraudulent. They know exactly what they did that was illegal, so they're furiously spinning to try and divert attention from their crimes.

[blachubear.livejournal.com]

This is to the LDS & the Catholic church
Well Boo fucking hoo. They spend all of this money and now they don't like it when we protest in front of their churches and main offices? They got a lot of nerve to bitch. They can kiss my ass. We should also protest the African Americans church's in California who also put their two cents into this. With all the problems that plagues the black community like crime, education, unemployment, hunger, etc. etc., they're very silent. And let's not bring up how they avoid the HIV Positive problems that plague the community. It's a subject they really want to avoid. Someone need to give them a wake up call too. They think people are going to play nice & just take it. Not anymore, this was the final straw.
Did you & Papa Ron went out to protest last night? HUGS!!!

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

To avoid involving race in this - it's already been so in ways that make me really uncomfortable - any protests at African American churches should be LED, at least, by African Americans. Some messages get over better when they come from "family," so to speak....

[blachubear.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right about that and that's what I'm talking about Furr. Gay African Americans need to either protest or boycott these churches because what these pastors preach at the pulpit does affect African American families to shun their gay family members. What's funny is that the gospel choir is mostly lead by gay man and some members are gay but it's never discuss. I would like to see Gay African Americans to finally stand up against this tradition. I also would like to break the stereotypical presentation of gay blacks. Not all of us dress up in drag like Patti Labelle, Tina Turner & Diana Ross. LOL!!!
But again Furr, you made a good point about what's going on with the racial tension. I'm saying to myself, the media didn't have any idea that reportin that African Americans voted highly for Prop.#8 would spark racial tensions against blacks & gays. Or did they? That question has been haunting me for the past couple of days. Again Furr thanks for the advice. HUGS!!!

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

It all comes around to the old truism that if you know [kind of person], it's harder to hate them as an abstraction. It's certainly still possible - some people dividing up a group into "good [them]" and "bad [them]" but I do think it's more difficult. In a lot of ways, I've had the passive benefit of Pale Male Privilege, especially since I'm not stereotypically gay; that makes me cautious about telling minority groups "you should do this". I'm just saying that from my perspective, any protest at an African American church that didn't include plenty of non-white people would make me very uncomfortable, and I could see how those IN that church might react especially badly to that.

As far as I know, there was no single body representing African American churches urging Yes on 8 the way the LDS and RCC heirarchies were - that's why I feel comfortable protesting the LDS and RCC as large organizations. I may be wrong, but I think the approach to other churches and groups has to be more personal.

And while I wouldn't dress up like her - I'd love to be able to dance like Tina Turner! :)

[blachubear.livejournal.com]

I understand Furr.
Also you dancing like Tina? Now that's a sight to see your legs shake & wiggle. LOL!!!
HUGS my friend.

[daddytodd.livejournal.com]

I've had the flu for several days, so we weren't able to go. There will be another rally in Salt Lake on the 15th, we'll go to that one.

[fogbear.livejournal.com]

I particularly love this part of their statement:

"No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information."

Funny, that's exactly how I characterize the Yes On 8 commercials.

[daddytodd.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[elric-dewisant.livejournal.com]

The Extermination Order should never have been recinded.