Saturday, November 8, 2008

Proposition 8. Again.

And I'm not the only one who thinks so! (If you just jumped in, I'm talking about my last post about Proposition 8 and people's biased attacks on the LDS Church for supporting it.)

Go to the link http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4728411 for a story on the latest protests held at the LDS Salt Lake Temple. Notice, especially, the last few paragraphs. Even other religious leaders are saying that the singling out of the LDS Church is unfair since there were many other religious and civic organizations involved. The LDS Church was just one of many. (If you'd like to read the statement released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concerning the protests, you can find it at http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-issues-statement-on-proposition-8-protest.)

Why is it, then, that the Mormons get the brunt of the attack? Think about it for a little while. Why? Could it possibly be that the Mormons are seen as an easy target? After all, they've been persecuted and singled out for a long time now. So many ridiculous statements have been made and circulated about the Mormons that people will pretty much believe anything they hear about them, no matter how far fetched.

So next time someone whispers a juicy did-you-know about the Mormons (or some other religion like Scientology or Jehovah's Witnesses), take it with a grain of salt and, until you hear it from an actual, faithful member of that church, don't give it much credence. And don't pass it along. Stop the flow of misinformation and rumors. It's the most well-masked form of religious intolerance.

Friday, November 7, 2008

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.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Put the Suitcase Down. Let's Talk.

To all of you who are about to pack up and flee to Canada today, I'd like a moment of your time.

Yes, Barack Obama won the election. Was he my choice? Not the point of this blog. The point I would like to get across is that, for all of you who think the world has come to an end and that we have Lenin as our president-elect, calm down!

Many times during the campaigns of both Barack Obama and John McCain, I listened to the promises (and vague platitudes) and thought to myself, "No matter how well-intentioned a candidate is, they're not gonna be able to fulfill all of these promises." The President of the United States is not a dictator (despite what some people say about our current commander-in-chief), because we have checks and balances in place to make sure that he (or maybe she, someday), doesn't run around making laws and passing decrees willy-nilly. Their ideas have to pass through Congress, and even the best, most ideal bills are going to get watered down in the give-and-take of political maneuvering.

The same goes for whatever evil people believe that Obama is waiting to spring on us: it's gonna get watered down. That's what makes our system of government the greatest on earth. We have safeguards in place to filter out the wildest ideas. Do some of them still make it through? Well, yeah, a few. The system isn't perfect, but it's the best there is.

So before you start brushing off your copy of 1001 Ways to Use "Eh" In Everyday Conversation, take a deep breath. I refuse to believe that President-elect Obama is as conniving and dangerous as some people say he is. I'm sure he has a good, patriotic heart and genuine concern for every American. I'm sure he'll do his best. Now let's do ours. At the end of the day, America is still the greatest country on earth.