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Cali Coug · 03-03-2006, 09:12 PM

Well, I imagine I am about to freak out about 99% of you, but here goes.

I think the church is completely wrong to fight for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage. Here is why:

The church and its leaders have certainly been subjected to their share of discrimination. In the earlier days of the church when the church practiced polygamy, one cannot count the grievances committed against the church, both by private and government entities alike. At the end of the day, the church lost the polygamy battle (phew!- I can't even keep out of trouble with one wife!). For some reason, however, I don't think the church has learned a valuable lesson from that experience and others.

At a recent talk I heard given by the University of Utah's president and by Bill Atkin, LDS General Counsel, both expressed tremendous concern over the stifling of minority cultures within Utah. Their theory, which I absolutely agree with, is that the LDS church and its members have no room to complain about their religious freedoms being stifled outside of Utah if they stifle minority views within Utah. As an example, public pools in Utah county are not allowed to be open on Sundays in Utah County as a direct result of the LDS members' influence in lawmaking there.

So how does this relate to homosexual marriage? While homosexual marriage probably doesn't relate to religious freedom, it is a question of morality, a question with widely divergent viewpoints. Is the church right to enforce its moral views on others? How can the church then complain about others enforcing their moral views on the church?

To an extent, all lawmaking is based on morality- largely a Western Christian morality. That does not, however, open the doors up for all moral issues to become legislatively controlled. The church itself has had issues with defining what marriage is and what it isn't. In the 1800's, society disagreed with the church and the church lost. Now the church is disagreeing with much of society, though this time they may "win."

Why not leave this issue alone? Why is it not sufficient to say, "homosexuality is a sin, stay away from it"? I find this issue to be different from abortion. I think the church can legitimately be involved in advocating a legal position on abortion because, depending on your views, abortion could constitute murder in some instances. I tend to think abortion should be left alone legally, but I can accept the church's involvement in that area. Homosexual marriage does not fall within that same realm.

The church has been persecuted for its definition of a moral marriage in the past. Why would it now persecute others for their definition of moral marriage?

Thoughts? Apologies for the length of my comments.

03-03-2006, 09:12 PM	#1
Cali Coug Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 5,996	Homosexual marriage... Well, I imagine I am about to freak out about 99% of you, but here goes. I think the church is completely wrong to fight for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage. Here is why: The church and its leaders have certainly been subjected to their share of discrimination. In the earlier days of the church when the church practiced polygamy, one cannot count the grievances committed against the church, both by private and government entities alike. At the end of the day, the church lost the polygamy battle (phew!- I can't even keep out of trouble with one wife!). For some reason, however, I don't think the church has learned a valuable lesson from that experience and others. At a recent talk I heard given by the University of Utah's president and by Bill Atkin, LDS General Counsel, both expressed tremendous concern over the stifling of minority cultures within Utah. Their theory, which I absolutely agree with, is that the LDS church and its members have no room to complain about their religious freedoms being stifled outside of Utah if they stifle minority views within Utah. As an example, public pools in Utah county are not allowed to be open on Sundays in Utah County as a direct result of the LDS members' influence in lawmaking there. So how does this relate to homosexual marriage? While homosexual marriage probably doesn't relate to religious freedom, it is a question of morality, a question with widely divergent viewpoints. Is the church right to enforce its moral views on others? How can the church then complain about others enforcing their moral views on the church? To an extent, all lawmaking is based on morality- largely a Western Christian morality. That does not, however, open the doors up for all moral issues to become legislatively controlled. The church itself has had issues with defining what marriage is and what it isn't. In the 1800's, society disagreed with the church and the church lost. Now the church is disagreeing with much of society, though this time they may "win." Why not leave this issue alone? Why is it not sufficient to say, "homosexuality is a sin, stay away from it"? I find this issue to be different from abortion. I think the church can legitimately be involved in advocating a legal position on abortion because, depending on your views, abortion could constitute murder in some instances. I tend to think abortion should be left alone legally, but I can accept the church's involvement in that area. Homosexual marriage does not fall within that same realm. The church has been persecuted for its definition of a moral marriage in the past. Why would it now persecute others for their definition of moral marriage? Thoughts? Apologies for the length of my comments.