$22 million
In the days since the election, I've heard all sorts of people's opinions and/or rants concerning the passing of Proposition 8 in California. To be honest, the only thing that surprised me was how close it was, so while I have my opinions that anything restricting anything should be kept out of the Constitution (state or national) and while I would have voted against it myself had I had the chance, I kept my commentary to myself...until I read that the Mormon Church publically instructed its followers to donate time and money toward passing Proposition 8, and that they did so energetically, donating $22 million to the "cause."
It is this fact that, oddly, outraged me the most.
I might expect that most supporters of the Mormon Church would support Prop 8, but it really cuts at my conscious as a Christian to see them throw that kind of money and effort into it. Into denying people the right to marry? Really? That’s the best cause for your efforts you can come up with? Don’t you think that money and effort could have been better spent; aren’t there people hurting and in genuine need that you probably could have been helping? It always scares me a little when religious institutions get political, but this in particular really just doesn’t feel right. There, in Utah, they poured millions into a different place entirely just to “protect” some completely and utterly symbolic “sanctity of marriage.” Which is bogus because the Bible also is pretty clear about divorce (and not just in the Old Testament), and I don’t see them trying to make that illegal. It’s the “pick and chose” the rules you follow argument, except I'm not just picking obscure ones from Leviticus, this relates directly to “the sanctity of marriage", so if they're really so damn concerned about it, you'd think they'd be concerned about its "sanctity" in other ways as well. Where did that phrase come from anyway? I think that contradiction proves that it's not marraige they're concerned about, it's their own bigoted stereotypes.
It is this fact that, oddly, outraged me the most.
I might expect that most supporters of the Mormon Church would support Prop 8, but it really cuts at my conscious as a Christian to see them throw that kind of money and effort into it. Into denying people the right to marry? Really? That’s the best cause for your efforts you can come up with? Don’t you think that money and effort could have been better spent; aren’t there people hurting and in genuine need that you probably could have been helping? It always scares me a little when religious institutions get political, but this in particular really just doesn’t feel right. There, in Utah, they poured millions into a different place entirely just to “protect” some completely and utterly symbolic “sanctity of marriage.” Which is bogus because the Bible also is pretty clear about divorce (and not just in the Old Testament), and I don’t see them trying to make that illegal. It’s the “pick and chose” the rules you follow argument, except I'm not just picking obscure ones from Leviticus, this relates directly to “the sanctity of marriage", so if they're really so damn concerned about it, you'd think they'd be concerned about its "sanctity" in other ways as well. Where did that phrase come from anyway? I think that contradiction proves that it's not marraige they're concerned about, it's their own bigoted stereotypes.