Oh, boy.....
Now the fight that has upended the rights of Gays and Lesbians to marry in California, (i.e. took away a right previously enjoyed by a minority group, simply because it makes some other people feel "icky" about it), is marching up to my doorstep.
Granted, this just happened today. And will come into effect in 21 days. And there won't be an appeal in the Iowa Supreme court, so it will likely come to pass. But, one more pea remains on the plate: The Ballot Initiative.
This is where the people of Iowa will get the chance to do just what California recently did: take away a right that will be enjoyed by hundreds of couples as they pledge their love for each other and commit to live together as spouses, gaining equal protection under the law. A ballot initiative to change the Constitution of Iowa will be for the sole purpose of stripping away a right from a minority group. Just cuz the Christian God is pissed.
I have no doubt in my mind that the Mormon church will once again work their magic here as they did in California, by pressuring the members here to oppose the Supreme Court's ruling that banning one minority group from marriage is unconstitutional. They will convince the Christian right that they must change the wording of the Constitution to reflect the popular opinion of the people residing in the state, whether it amounts to punishing gays or not isn't the concern. It's upholding the Christian standard above all else. They must prove how much they love Jeesus by showing up at the polls to be counted among his faithful. They must take and preserve the word "marriage" and only allow it under Christian circumstance. (Muslim-Judaism et all).
The Mormon Church is used to doing this because they've been in the biz for over 100 years! Check out some famous "revelations" from Brigham Young regarding the "cursed" Black Race of Cain, and the evils of intermarriage!
Brigham Young Journal of Discourses
February 5, 1852
But let me tell you further. Let my seed mingle with the seed of Cain, that brings the curse upon me, and upon my generations, - - we will reap the same rewards with Cain.
Where the children of God to mingle there seed with the seed of Cain it would not only bring the curse of being deprived of the power of the priesthood upon themselves but it would entail it upon their children after them, and they cannot get rid of it. If a man, in an unguarded moment, should commit such a transgression, if he would walk up and say cut off my head, and kill man woman and child it would do a great deal towards atoning for the sin. Would this be to curse them? No, it would be a blessing to them. It would do them good that they might be saved with their Bren. A man would shudder should they here us take about killing folk, but it is one of the greatest blessings to some to kill them, all though the true principles of it are not understood.
...Suppose we summons them to appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed, with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On that very day, and hour we should do so, the priesthood is taken from this Church and kingdom and God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain the Church must go to destruction,--we should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the priesthood until that curse be removed.
But say some, is there any thing of this kind in the Constitution, the U.S. has given us? If you will allow me the privilege telling right out, it is none of their damned business what we do or say here. What we do it is for them to sanction, and then for us to say what we like about it.
Even more disturbing is that just a mere 60 or so years ago, it was still ILLEGAL in a couple of states for a black person to marry a white person! All of the same arguments were used back then too, the family unit would be destroyed, God does not approve, blacks should stick with their own kind and be GRATEFUL that they have the privileges they've received so far, what's next PIGS and SHEEP wanting to be married?
I will repost part of what Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown commented just after Prop 8 passed in California:
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not... understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want -- a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Only now you are saying to them -- no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights -- even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?
The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry...black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.
You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are... gay.
What a sad day, indeed, when we can't just look at a fellow human being and say, hey, here's a human being, equal to me in every way, entitled to all the protections, freedoms, and privileges that I enjoy. Without looking at their skin color, or giving a rat's patooie about what goes on after 10 pm in their own bedroom.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
California and Proposition 8
Members of the Mormon church, who were strongly urged by church leaders to contribute to the Proposition 8 campaign, had an undeniable role in the measure's victory. Opponents of Proposition 8 have accused the church of discriminating against homosexuals, but the backlash against the denomination has also sparked accusations of discrimination.
During the campaign, a website established by Proposition 8 opponents used campaign finance data and other public records to track Mormon political contributions to the Yes-on-8 campaign. Opponents estimated that members of the church had given more than $20 million, but the amount is difficult to confirm since the state does not track the religious affiliation of donors.
Leaders of the No-on-8 campaign said they did not believe they were engaged in Mormon-bashing. "This is not about religion," said Jacobs. "This is about a church that put itself in the middle of politics."
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said she had grown up in the Mormon Church and thought it was "very disappointing what the church has done and the alliances they have made with churches that don't even like them and have called the church a cult."
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" made this topic the centerpiece of his nightly Special Comment segment. I really liked what he had to say. Even brought a tear to my eye. This guy is a giant of a man, over 6 feet tall, very menacing if he wants to be. But his emotional appeal to the folks who oppose spreading Happiness to all men (and women), because of their personal religious faith, really set him apart in my eyes. I admire him greatly for making a stand against Prop 8, and I sincerely hope that the California Supreme court does overturn it. A right that was once enjoyed by all has been selectively restricted and removed from some, based soley on religious beliefs of others. Church and State should remain separate, not infiltrate every aspect of our lives. And the Mormon Church should DEFINITELY loose their tax-exempt status for using their church as a political platform.
Transcript of Keith Olbermann's comments, as aired on November 10, 2008:
A Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.
Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics.
This is about the... human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not... understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want -- a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Only now you are saying to them -- no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights -- even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?
I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage.
If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal... in 1967. 1967.
The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry...black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.
You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are... gay.
And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing -- centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children... All because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage. How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?
What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.
It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.
And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?
With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then spread Happiness -- this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness -- share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
---
You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of...love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate. You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know...It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow **person...
Just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.
During the campaign, a website established by Proposition 8 opponents used campaign finance data and other public records to track Mormon political contributions to the Yes-on-8 campaign. Opponents estimated that members of the church had given more than $20 million, but the amount is difficult to confirm since the state does not track the religious affiliation of donors.
Leaders of the No-on-8 campaign said they did not believe they were engaged in Mormon-bashing. "This is not about religion," said Jacobs. "This is about a church that put itself in the middle of politics."
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said she had grown up in the Mormon Church and thought it was "very disappointing what the church has done and the alliances they have made with churches that don't even like them and have called the church a cult."
More than 40 people demonstrated in front of a Mormon church in Seattle's University District on Sunday morning, expressing anger at the role the national church played in the passing of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage in California.
They lined the sidewalk, chanting slogans such as "Tax the church!" and holding signs saying "Shame on the church" and "All marriages are equal."
"I don't tell them what to do in their religion. They shouldn't tell me what to do in my life," said Chris Campfield, 27, of Seattle.
Matthew Wilson, 26, of Seattle, who organized the protest, said: "We want to make it very clear to this church that Washington will not accept divisive or discriminatory actions."
Proposition 8 defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and overrides a California Supreme Court ruling that a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. It passed with 52 percent of the vote and throws into question the status of about 18,000 same-sex couples who wed in California.
Proposition 8 drew a range of opponents — including some Mormons. Proposition supporters, in addition to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), included the state's Roman Catholic bishops, some evangelical churches, and others.
But the Mormon church drew special attention after its top leaders issued a letter in June read in every congregation in California, asking members to "do all you can to support" the proposition by donating "your means and time." The church's position, the letter said, was that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and the formation of families is central to the Creator's plan for His children."
During the campaign, a Web site created by Proposition 8 opponents using campaign-finance data and other public records estimated that members of the LDS church had given more than $20 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. That amount is difficult to confirm, though, since the state does not track the religious affiliation of donors, the newspaper said.
Similar protests occurred Sunday around California — at the state Capitol in Sacramento and outside the enormous Saddleback Church in Orange County. In Oakland, a protest at the city's Mormon temple prompted the California Highway Patrol to close two highway ramps.
There are calls by gay leaders to boycott Utah and an online effort to challenge the church's tax-exempt status.
Section 501(c)(3) of US Code Title 26, which governs tax-exempt organizations, reads (emphasis added):
(3) Corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.
(The “otherwise provided” clause does not apply, as the LDS Church, being a church, is a disqualified entity as described in subsection (h).)
The LDS church, through inciting its members to donate time and means to support Proposition 8 (resulting in millions of dollars of cash contributions from its members and countless volunteer hours), and in-kind campaign contributions to a group that supports Proposition 8, has now made a substantial part of its activities attempting to influence legislation.
(Wanna Help? File a complaint with the IRS and protest the Church's involvement!)
Gay-rights supporters, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, along with cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, have filed lawsuits asking the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8. (YaY)
(oh, and listen to this crybaby)
"As a member of the LDS church we have known [and still do] the feeling of being ridiculed and mistreated because of our faith."
***My Thoughts***
Are you f**kin kidding me? Cries of persecution against YOU because you are persecuting the GAY community by stripping them of the rights to marry, have families, and be HAPPY!!?
Poor persecuted Mormons, getting picked on again for their faith. Maybe if you didn't overtly exercise your voting bloc power to make laws forbidding freedoms to those who don't share your particular views and faith, you wouldn't get "persecuted" in return. Haun's Mill Massacre was a great example of how Mormons brought persecution upon themselves by threatening to exert political voting power to control and limit the freedoms of the neighboring population, especially because they didn't share the same beliefs and faith. When will Mormons ever learn?
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" made this topic the centerpiece of his nightly Special Comment segment. I really liked what he had to say. Even brought a tear to my eye. This guy is a giant of a man, over 6 feet tall, very menacing if he wants to be. But his emotional appeal to the folks who oppose spreading Happiness to all men (and women), because of their personal religious faith, really set him apart in my eyes. I admire him greatly for making a stand against Prop 8, and I sincerely hope that the California Supreme court does overturn it. A right that was once enjoyed by all has been selectively restricted and removed from some, based soley on religious beliefs of others. Church and State should remain separate, not infiltrate every aspect of our lives. And the Mormon Church should DEFINITELY loose their tax-exempt status for using their church as a political platform.
Transcript of Keith Olbermann's comments, as aired on November 10, 2008:
A Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.
Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics.
This is about the... human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not... understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want -- a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Only now you are saying to them -- no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights -- even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?
I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage.
If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal... in 1967. 1967.
The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry...black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.
You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are... gay.
And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing -- centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children... All because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage. How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?
What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.
It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.
And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?
With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then spread Happiness -- this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness -- share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
---
You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of...love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate. You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know...It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow **person...
Just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ranting against the Mormons
Recently, an anonymous commentator to this blog (they're almost always anonymous) pointed out to me that I haven't spent any time cornering Catholicism, Islam, or any other major religion, just this one church.
Well, duh, DipShit. This is MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY. I focused on the Mormon Church because that's what I was raised with. And, if you haven't noticed, I haven't ranted about it for quite some time. And, one of my last posts was about Christianity as a whole being ridiculous. Why should I go on to bash Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or Buddhism? They are not part of my personal experience. Otherwise the blog would be titled: Everyone's Opinions on World Religions.
Poor Baby. Feeling persecuted again? Are all the Bloggers picking on Mormonism these days?
I'm sure if you dig around you can find some other blogs that target the other forms of religious beliefs (even anti-Wiccan ones), and then you can feel better about not being the only one persecuted for your beliefs. Unless feeling persecuted helps cement the belief that your church is the one-and-only true church on the face of the earth, which Mormons believe theirs to be.
That's a fact, Jack. Mormons are taught to feel special, feel select above all others, and feel like the "chosen" people. Kind of like Pharisees. And, they even get up in front of all the others one Sunday a month to talk about how blessed they are to be Mormons, and how unfortunate it is for the others who stay away, or leave it. As a matter of fact, it's actually better for those who remain outside and refuse to join, than it is for those who join and then leave it later. The first group still has a chance to be redeemed through Mormon proxy-baptism after their deaths. Those who leave after joining are cursed to spend eternity in the 'lake of fire'. Knowing this, it would seem more appropriate for missionary work to cease entirely, and just quietly process the dead into Mormondom, rather than spread the message, get them to join, and then condemn them to hell, torture, damnation, and 'outer darkness' for looking beyond the approved reading materials and speaking points and digging further into the doctrine, history and background of Joseph Smith and finding out he MADE IT ALL UP!!!
As to your assertion that your beloved prophet Gordo warned us all to get out of debt as soon as possible, you can say the same thing about Suze Orman on CNN, and she's no prophet. I don't feel any more pressure to obey Gordo than I do Suze, and it's just good grandfatherly advice as far as I'm concerned. What idiot WANTS to be buried under tons of debt, really? And because I am in debt for my house and my car (student loans, and some medical bills too), does that mean I'm going to HELL? What's your deal anyway? Everything Gordo speaks is a "prophecy"? Unless, of course, he's speaking as a man. Which he always did.
I don't live under a cycle of guilt and shame anymore. And I even quit bashing the Mormon ideology for a while. And all over this country, thousands of people like me hide their beliefs and practice in secret, because persecution of WITCHES is real. Documented history. Mormons also believe their persecutions were unwarranted attacks soley for their beliefs. My opinion is that if the Mormons hadn't arrived in Missouri haughtily claiming that all they survey would soon belong to them because "GOD" was giving it to them for being the 'chosen people', then maybe the current occupants of that land wouldn't have had any cause to freak out.
Imagine what would happen if some Muslim Extremists moved in to a house in your neighborhood, and brought with them ten other families who soon bought up all available properties in your town. Imagine hearing them speak to each other about how the whole town would soon be Muslim, by "Allah's Will". Then you might get an idea of what brought on the Haun's Mill Massacre in Missouri.
The Mormon Persecution Complex doesn't end there. Being driven out to Utah under disasterous circumstances (who the hell leaves for a cross country trek with handcarts in FEBRUARY??) , they arrived totally convinced that Utah was their own private country, separate from the U.S., and that they would be completely autononmous as a "Kingdom of God".
Rumors that the government was sending the U.S. Army to beat down the Mormons yet again, caused the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which incidentally happened on Sept 11, 1857.
I don't know any Muslims personally, but I don't have any reason to believe they all would take their religion to the extreme, and force everyone around them to adopt the beliefs or die. There are SOME radicals who would do just that, and feel justified in the work. Just as there are extremists in any religion, even Christianity. Right now, the Right-Wing Christian Conservative movement would do almost ANYTHING to turn over Roe v. Wade and bring women down to there most primitive biological level: baby machines. How far could women advance in the workplace if they had to take 6 weeks off every 9 months to pop out a kid? How much equality is there for women if they have ZERO ability to stop the 'Baby Train'? I'm not just talking abortion rights, but birth control of any kind. And they can just say no to sex, right? Tell that to the thousands who are raped and molested every year. Tell that to the twelve year old who has to carry a baby to term because her stepdad got her pregnant. Tell that to the woman who was gang raped and left for dead, only to live through it and then be forced to carry a baby to term, give birth, and raise it knowing that it was a product of violence, not love. Imagine being the child, growing up knowing you weren't wanted and came from an action of hate and violence towards your mother.
Look, there are TONS of things I could rant about on a daily basis. There is LOTS of injustice in the world. And Mormon or not, persecution will come your way. Injustice will cross you. Shit Happens. Thinking you're being tested on your affirmations of Mormoness when you come across something that makes you doubt your beliefs is a trap to keep you tied to those beliefs. The Mormon Church is more afraid that you will look behind that curtain and see the old man pulling the levers and speaking into the mike, pretending he's the Wizard of OZ.
Well, duh, DipShit. This is MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY. I focused on the Mormon Church because that's what I was raised with. And, if you haven't noticed, I haven't ranted about it for quite some time. And, one of my last posts was about Christianity as a whole being ridiculous. Why should I go on to bash Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or Buddhism? They are not part of my personal experience. Otherwise the blog would be titled: Everyone's Opinions on World Religions.
Poor Baby. Feeling persecuted again? Are all the Bloggers picking on Mormonism these days?
I'm sure if you dig around you can find some other blogs that target the other forms of religious beliefs (even anti-Wiccan ones), and then you can feel better about not being the only one persecuted for your beliefs. Unless feeling persecuted helps cement the belief that your church is the one-and-only true church on the face of the earth, which Mormons believe theirs to be.
That's a fact, Jack. Mormons are taught to feel special, feel select above all others, and feel like the "chosen" people. Kind of like Pharisees. And, they even get up in front of all the others one Sunday a month to talk about how blessed they are to be Mormons, and how unfortunate it is for the others who stay away, or leave it. As a matter of fact, it's actually better for those who remain outside and refuse to join, than it is for those who join and then leave it later. The first group still has a chance to be redeemed through Mormon proxy-baptism after their deaths. Those who leave after joining are cursed to spend eternity in the 'lake of fire'. Knowing this, it would seem more appropriate for missionary work to cease entirely, and just quietly process the dead into Mormondom, rather than spread the message, get them to join, and then condemn them to hell, torture, damnation, and 'outer darkness' for looking beyond the approved reading materials and speaking points and digging further into the doctrine, history and background of Joseph Smith and finding out he MADE IT ALL UP!!!
As to your assertion that your beloved prophet Gordo warned us all to get out of debt as soon as possible, you can say the same thing about Suze Orman on CNN, and she's no prophet. I don't feel any more pressure to obey Gordo than I do Suze, and it's just good grandfatherly advice as far as I'm concerned. What idiot WANTS to be buried under tons of debt, really? And because I am in debt for my house and my car (student loans, and some medical bills too), does that mean I'm going to HELL? What's your deal anyway? Everything Gordo speaks is a "prophecy"? Unless, of course, he's speaking as a man. Which he always did.
I don't live under a cycle of guilt and shame anymore. And I even quit bashing the Mormon ideology for a while. And all over this country, thousands of people like me hide their beliefs and practice in secret, because persecution of WITCHES is real. Documented history. Mormons also believe their persecutions were unwarranted attacks soley for their beliefs. My opinion is that if the Mormons hadn't arrived in Missouri haughtily claiming that all they survey would soon belong to them because "GOD" was giving it to them for being the 'chosen people', then maybe the current occupants of that land wouldn't have had any cause to freak out.
Imagine what would happen if some Muslim Extremists moved in to a house in your neighborhood, and brought with them ten other families who soon bought up all available properties in your town. Imagine hearing them speak to each other about how the whole town would soon be Muslim, by "Allah's Will". Then you might get an idea of what brought on the Haun's Mill Massacre in Missouri.
The Mormon Persecution Complex doesn't end there. Being driven out to Utah under disasterous circumstances (who the hell leaves for a cross country trek with handcarts in FEBRUARY??) , they arrived totally convinced that Utah was their own private country, separate from the U.S., and that they would be completely autononmous as a "Kingdom of God".
Rumors that the government was sending the U.S. Army to beat down the Mormons yet again, caused the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which incidentally happened on Sept 11, 1857.
I don't know any Muslims personally, but I don't have any reason to believe they all would take their religion to the extreme, and force everyone around them to adopt the beliefs or die. There are SOME radicals who would do just that, and feel justified in the work. Just as there are extremists in any religion, even Christianity. Right now, the Right-Wing Christian Conservative movement would do almost ANYTHING to turn over Roe v. Wade and bring women down to there most primitive biological level: baby machines. How far could women advance in the workplace if they had to take 6 weeks off every 9 months to pop out a kid? How much equality is there for women if they have ZERO ability to stop the 'Baby Train'? I'm not just talking abortion rights, but birth control of any kind. And they can just say no to sex, right? Tell that to the thousands who are raped and molested every year. Tell that to the twelve year old who has to carry a baby to term because her stepdad got her pregnant. Tell that to the woman who was gang raped and left for dead, only to live through it and then be forced to carry a baby to term, give birth, and raise it knowing that it was a product of violence, not love. Imagine being the child, growing up knowing you weren't wanted and came from an action of hate and violence towards your mother.
Look, there are TONS of things I could rant about on a daily basis. There is LOTS of injustice in the world. And Mormon or not, persecution will come your way. Injustice will cross you. Shit Happens. Thinking you're being tested on your affirmations of Mormoness when you come across something that makes you doubt your beliefs is a trap to keep you tied to those beliefs. The Mormon Church is more afraid that you will look behind that curtain and see the old man pulling the levers and speaking into the mike, pretending he's the Wizard of OZ.
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