[Almost] My Last Word on the Subject
So, there was a bit of an epiphany the other night regarding my own spirituality, prop 8, and the Mormons...
I grew up devoutly Mormon, to the point that at the age of 17, I had attained the highest role available to one of the youth group, that being First Assistant to the Bishop. When I came out, I realized that I could not honestly continue in the Church because I knew I was gay. In fact, at the time, my Uncle who was a journalism professor and the oldest male relative on my mother's side sent me an article he wrote that he thought would be useful in helping me with my "problem." I found it even more confusing.
Throughout the article, one phrase kept jumping out, "The honest homosexual.."
"The honest homosexual cannot marry in the temple."
"The honest homosexual cannot hold the priesthood."
"The honest homosexual cannot be a bishop, stake president, etc."
To me, that was telling me that they [the Church] would rather you be dishonest in order to remain an upstanding member. Although, I knew deep down inside that I would never return to the Church, a part of me longed for the familiarity of the gospel principles I knew growing up. But, after Proposition 8, I can honestly say that is no longer true.
I became very aware this week when I tried to sort out the position of the Church regarding Prop 8, that the God that I had been taught of growing up does not correlate with the activities of the LDS Church. Growing up, I had been taught principles of honesty. It would seem to me that if same-gender marriage was against God's will, His followers would be able to argue their position without resorting to half-lies and deceptions, certainly His Church wouldn't resort to that, but that's exactly what they did.
Even now, they are trying to downplay their involvement. I posted as a comment on another LJ, but I think it's important that people understand the organization of the LDS Church as those who want to drive us back to the closest will surely use this model again.
What I don't think the people on the No on 8 side understood was the immense network that the Mormon Church has. Unlike pretty much every other religion, the Mormon Church tracks its membership, shall we say, religiously. They have the address, phone number, every life event, every ecclesiastical event of every single member on file and go to great lengths to keep it current. The only way to decide which congregation you want to attend is by moving into its geographical bounderies. It is next to impossible to have your membership transferred to a different congregation. And if you move without telling them, they will find you. I don't know how, but they found me when I was finally excommunicated. All of a sudden, there was a letter in the mail sent to me in a completely different state. I have no doubt they used this network to mobilize and track the activities of its members in regards to Prop 8.
That being said, I now would like to bear my new testimony. I no longer have any doubt that the LDS Church is not true, that Thomas S. Monson is not the living prophet, but the president of a major corporation. I don't know where the Book of Mormon came from, but that's not really important. It is clear that the Bible was a series of fables that have been misinterpreted to mean something more than they do and has been used throughout history to justify the "haves" from withholding whatever they want at the time from the "have not's." I believe that Jesus was a groovy liberal who taught love and forgiveness and that those who claim to speak for him today know nothing about the man he was. I believe my great, great, great grandfather was the scapegoat for the atrocities perpetuated against the Fancher party by Brigham Young and the Church at Mountain Meadows. Lastly, I believe that nothing exists that has any more value than love and that those who try to undermine the love shared between two (or more) people are truly evil people and that their followers are just as much victims as the people that are oppressed. Religion is a powerful drug and those that deal that drug for their own gain need to be held accountable.
Prior to this week, I would have had a difficult time putting that into writing, but now, I have no issues with it.
I grew up devoutly Mormon, to the point that at the age of 17, I had attained the highest role available to one of the youth group, that being First Assistant to the Bishop. When I came out, I realized that I could not honestly continue in the Church because I knew I was gay. In fact, at the time, my Uncle who was a journalism professor and the oldest male relative on my mother's side sent me an article he wrote that he thought would be useful in helping me with my "problem." I found it even more confusing.
Throughout the article, one phrase kept jumping out, "The honest homosexual.."
"The honest homosexual cannot marry in the temple."
"The honest homosexual cannot hold the priesthood."
"The honest homosexual cannot be a bishop, stake president, etc."
To me, that was telling me that they [the Church] would rather you be dishonest in order to remain an upstanding member. Although, I knew deep down inside that I would never return to the Church, a part of me longed for the familiarity of the gospel principles I knew growing up. But, after Proposition 8, I can honestly say that is no longer true.
I became very aware this week when I tried to sort out the position of the Church regarding Prop 8, that the God that I had been taught of growing up does not correlate with the activities of the LDS Church. Growing up, I had been taught principles of honesty. It would seem to me that if same-gender marriage was against God's will, His followers would be able to argue their position without resorting to half-lies and deceptions, certainly His Church wouldn't resort to that, but that's exactly what they did.
Even now, they are trying to downplay their involvement. I posted as a comment on another LJ, but I think it's important that people understand the organization of the LDS Church as those who want to drive us back to the closest will surely use this model again.
What I don't think the people on the No on 8 side understood was the immense network that the Mormon Church has. Unlike pretty much every other religion, the Mormon Church tracks its membership, shall we say, religiously. They have the address, phone number, every life event, every ecclesiastical event of every single member on file and go to great lengths to keep it current. The only way to decide which congregation you want to attend is by moving into its geographical bounderies. It is next to impossible to have your membership transferred to a different congregation. And if you move without telling them, they will find you. I don't know how, but they found me when I was finally excommunicated. All of a sudden, there was a letter in the mail sent to me in a completely different state. I have no doubt they used this network to mobilize and track the activities of its members in regards to Prop 8.
That being said, I now would like to bear my new testimony. I no longer have any doubt that the LDS Church is not true, that Thomas S. Monson is not the living prophet, but the president of a major corporation. I don't know where the Book of Mormon came from, but that's not really important. It is clear that the Bible was a series of fables that have been misinterpreted to mean something more than they do and has been used throughout history to justify the "haves" from withholding whatever they want at the time from the "have not's." I believe that Jesus was a groovy liberal who taught love and forgiveness and that those who claim to speak for him today know nothing about the man he was. I believe my great, great, great grandfather was the scapegoat for the atrocities perpetuated against the Fancher party by Brigham Young and the Church at Mountain Meadows. Lastly, I believe that nothing exists that has any more value than love and that those who try to undermine the love shared between two (or more) people are truly evil people and that their followers are just as much victims as the people that are oppressed. Religion is a powerful drug and those that deal that drug for their own gain need to be held accountable.
Prior to this week, I would have had a difficult time putting that into writing, but now, I have no issues with it.