Proposition 8.

It's sad, really. So much bigotry still exists in America. I'm not talking about the (supposed) overstepping-of-bounds by the LDS Church. I'm talking about America's reaction to it.

I was on a national news website today and happened to see that someone had posted a video of an anti-Mormon protest outside the gates of the LDS Church's Los Angeles Temple. The video was sad enough, but it was the comments that were posted in response to the video that saddened me especially. The very people that were decrying the LDS Church's involvement in the effort to pass Proposition 8 in California as bigoted and uninformed were, in the same breath, saying the most horrid, bigoted, and uninformed things about the Church. "Mormons are Unamerican [sic]and need to be removed from the country," said one such commentator.

So much anger. I could just visualize the contorted, red faces of the dozens and dozens of people as they typed out their bitter accusations. And some of the few declared members of the LDS Church who left their reactions on the website weren't helping to cool off the already charged atmosphere. Many of their comments were proud, arrogant, and defiant. Seemed like not too many people on either side of that comment chain were concerned with living the quiet dignity that was demonstrated by their professed leader, Jesus Christ. Sadly, the poor example of a few members of the LDS Church will be the only contact that some people ever have with a Mormon. And so the uninformed, uneducated cycle continues.

Why is it not okay for members of a church to vote their conscience and even support passage of legislation that would protect their beliefs (especially beliefs that they view as a important part of their religion and society)? And why is it wrong for a church organization to ask its members to dedicate their time, money, and talents to supporting that legislation? People seem to forget (or overlook) that Christian pastors, ministers, and preachers have been openly supporting political causes and even specific political candidates for centuries. But heaven forbid that the Mormons should do so. The people on that website are hurling unfair and prejudiced lies about how the Mormons are such horrible, un-Christian bigots. But where is the freedom from religious persecution for the Mormons? Should it matter in the way that they are treated, even if they aren't Christians (which is, by the way, a very erroneous claim)? Here, then, is a recurrence of the very thing that we as Christians (and Americans) the world over have been accused of: not practicing what we preach.

I believe that the bottom line is this: we live in a democracy, and as such we have the right (and responsibility) to vote our conscience. If we do not agree with the voice of the people, by all means we have the right to legally combat it. We do not, however, have the right to resort to petty slander and libel, especially against another person's sacred religious beliefs. As far as other people's religious views and doctrines, I think it is always safe to assume that we know less than we think we do.

So before people start accusing other people (or religious organizations) of being unthinking, uneducated, biased pigs, maybe they should take a look at themselves. How would their own, purest beliefs dictate that they should act?

Seems that we as Americans still have a ways to go before we've removed the beam from our own eye.