Roman Catholic Bishop Steps Up in Defense of Mormons

Former Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City Decries Religious Bigotry in Political Ad; Defends LDS Role in California Ballot Initiative Protecting Traditional Marriage

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More Backstory on the Passing of Prop 8

This message was sent to me in reply to something I wrote on a message board concerning Prop 8.

"After viewing this mornings paper, we are certainly in the forefront of this issue. My friend sent this to me last night.

Dear Friends,

In the aftermath of the recent election, we may find ourselves oddly on the defensive regarding our support for the Yes on Proposition 8 cause. Our young people have been especially subject to mean spirited comments by high school friends and teachers. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We did nothing wrong. In fact, we did everything that a civic minded American can and should do. I have put together a few facts that help me to appreciate our position better. For example:

Mormons make up less than 2% of the population of California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total population of approximately 34 million.

Mormon voters were less than 5% of the yes vote. If one estimates that 250,000 LDS are registered voters (the rest being children), then LDS voters made up 4.6% of the Yes vote and 2.4% of the total Proposition 8 vote.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) donated no money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Individual members of the Church were encouraged to support the Yes on 8 efforts and, exercising their constitutional right to free speech, donated whatever they felt like donating.

The No on 8 campaign raised more money than the Yes on 8 campaign. Unofficial estimates put No on 8 at $38 million and Yes on 8 at $32 million, making it the most expensive non-presidential election in the country.

Advertising messages for the Yes on 8 campaign are based on case law and real-life situations. The No on 8 supporters have insisted that the Yes on 8 messaging is based on lies. Every Yes on 8 claim is supported.

The majority of our friends and neighbors voted Yes on 8. Los Angeles County voted in favor of Yes on 8. Ventura County voted in favor of Yes on 8.

African Americans overwhelmingly supported Yes on 8. Exit polls show that 70% of Black voters chose Yes on 8. This was interesting because the majority of these voters voted for President-elect Obama. No on 8 supporters had assumed that Obama voters would vote No on 8.

The majority of Latino voters voted Yes on 8. Exit polls show that the majority of Latinos supported Yes on 8 and cited religious beliefs (assumed to be primarily Catholic).

The Yes on 8 coalition was a broad spectrum of religious organizations. Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims – all supported Yes on 8. It is estimated that there are 10 million Catholics and 10 million Protestants in California. Mormons were a tiny fraction of the population represented by Yes on 8 coalition members.

Not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Our faith accords that each person be allowed to choose for him or her self. Church leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility, respect and love," despite their differing views.

The Church did not violate the principal of separation of church and state. This principle is derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." The phrase "separation of church and state", which does not appear in the Constitution itself, is generally traced to an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, although it has since been quoted in several opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court in recent years. The LDS Church is under no obligation to refrain from participating in the political process, to the extent permitted by law. U.S. election law is very clear that Churches may not endorse candidates, but may support issues. The Church as always been very careful on this matter and occasionally (not often) chooses to support causes that it feels to be of a moral nature.

Supporters of Proposition 8 did exactly what the Constitution provides for all citizens: they exercised their First Amendment rights to speak out on an issue that concerned them, make contributions to a cause that they support, and then vote in the regular electoral process. For the most part, this seems to have been done in an open, fair, and civil way. Opponents of 8 have accused supporters of being bigots, liars, and worse. The fact is, we simply did what Americans do – we spoke up, we campaigned, and we voted.

Hold your heads up high – you did a great job on this most important cause. We will have more opportunities in the future to participate in our democratic process. Let’s remember the lessons learned and do an even better job next time.

These are my personal opinions and thoughts; any errors are mine and in now way reflect official Church policy or doctrine."

Take Your Next Vacation to UTAH!

Please take a moment to read this ARTICLE and then continue reading my post.

Have you read it? Go back and read the whole thing.

Okay, now lets get back to business.

The radical homosexual mafia blames the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints for the passing of Proposition 8. They are planning a systematic boycott on the state of Utah, specifically in the areas of tourism. What we must do is consider taking our next vacation to Utah. There are beautiful ski resorts, national parks and monuments, state parks, and museums. Stay in Salt lake City and see the sites, rent a houseboat on Lake Powell, ski Park City, or raft the Colorado River. There is so much to do in Utah during every season of the year, so consider Utah when you plan your next vacation.

Maybe you have thought about taking a trip to San Francisco. Well, I've been there. It would be a great place to visit if you enjoy the smell of urine in the streets and the sight of now legal prostitution (hold on before you get all excited pal, these "prostitutes" are really crack addicted transvestites).

Vacation in Utah! It's beautiful, it's clean and you won't get any venereal diseases through common contact!

The Culture War in Action

In 2000 prop 22 was passed by 61% of California voters. Prop 22 was a law that distinguished marriage as being between a man and a woman. That is to say that Californians voted to not allow same-sex marriages to be valid or recognized in our state. Since that time the gay agenda and all it's lawyers have been embroiled in a battle to overturn that law.

Fast forward to 2008:

A proposition is being written that would reaffirm the law passed in prop 22 that would put an amendment in the state constitution that would state "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Even with the knowledge of the ballot proposition to come, the state supreme court decided to hear the case and by a 4-3 vote overturned the will of the people. They knew we would have the opportunity to vote on the issue in November, but they rushed to make a decision before that time in order to change the argument.

What argument do I mean? The wording of the proposition wasn't changed. That's right, the side upholding traditional marriage didn't change their stance, the courts changed it for us. You see, they sited "a change in public opinion" as their reasoning for overturning the law we voted to enact, even when we had the ultimate judge of public opinion coming in the form of the 2008 election. The argument that the courts changed was our stance on reaffirming traditional marriage to ELIMINATING RIGHTS. That was the main goal of the court striking down prop 22 as it did just months before the 2008 election, when we would have the opportunity to see what real public opinion is.

Judicial activism is ugly and divisive, but the left has used it well in pushing forward their perverse agenda. We as Christians tend to say live and let live. We are charged with bigotry, but the evidence to support that claim doesn't typically ring true. We see the world differently than other groups, but not in a hateful way. In fact we believe in love for all as Christ taught.

You see, even with our courts and our State Attorney General in opposition to us, we stood up and let it be known, we are not backing down. We are not allowing our culture to be destroyed. We stand to lose religious freedoms if we allow the far left liberal agenda to become the culture. While they preach tolerance, they hate religion and actively lobby to wipe it out. In particular they believe Christianity is oppressive and wrong. I am here to tell you that there is nothing more right than having faith in Christ. We are founded on Christian principles.

Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

It is only by Christian principles that the freedoms we hold today even exist. Allowing our culture and our government to be subverted by those who strive to take away our religious freedoms is handing our way of life over to utter destruction. We have already seen in California how much they want to get to our children for their indoctrination. Have you ever noticed that the California Teachers Association is on the wrong side of every moral argument? That is because the California teachers are for the most part far to the left of center. Do you remember, not too long ago, the news reports stating that homeschoolers would have to become credentialed teachers to continue schooling in the home? Those are the kinds of ongoing attempts to take hold of our children so they can be reeducated. The fight for our children couldn't be to ensure a quality education. It is proven that quality of public education is on the decline while homeschooled children are succeeding.

You must be aware of what is really going on. It is not just about certain issues. We are fighting against a movement toward godless communism. Revelation 3:16 says, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." We must be active in upholding our religions and our culture or we stand to lose both.

Enemy of the State

The American Civil Liberties Union has proven itself time and time again to be committed to the destruction of our culture and our values. As Americans it is in our best interest to support traditional culture, not constantly redefining it.

As part of the ACLU's statement on "religion and belief" they state:

"Unfortunately, some people are now trying to use government power to promote religion in exactly the way the Constitution wisely rejected. The ACLU works to ensure that people remain free to choose which religious beliefs (or none) they wish to express and that governments, school boards, and legislatures do not become involved in deciding which religious beliefs should be promoted or in spending taxpayer dollars to support religious activities and symbols."

Our freedom to worship how we wish is now being used to promote the ideals of godless liberalism. Religious people don't want our churches to become the government, but we do expect that the government would not actively work to undermine our religious beliefs. The ACLU does all it can to use the government and our religious protections to destroy the civilization that God loving Americans worked to establish.

The biggest problem with the "separation of church and state" argument is that left out of the equation is the Church of Liberalism. It has many sects that come together united under the name of the Democratic Party. It is exactly what our forefathers fought against. Liberalism is anti-God, anti-religion, anti-culture, anti-life, anti-white and anti-traditional family. It is pro-gay, pro-death, and pro-criminal.

Religious belief is not offensive. Religious belief is about bringing a greater amount of virtue to our culture. Liberalism is about eliminating virtue and serving up intolerance to the religious population.

The ACLU has on it's website this statement under the title "Immigrants' Rights":

"The Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights and civil liberties of every person in this country and was designed to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. Yet, throughout history, immigrants have been the targets of discrimination, government abuse and divisive and inhumane immigration policies. Upholding the rights of the politically disenfranchised is important to us all. When the government has the power to deny legal rights and due process to one group of people, it puts all our rights in danger."

Wow, this statement is situated right next to a picture of a sign saying: "NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL"

That statement is true if each human being is standing in the country in which they are either A. a legal citizen or B. a legal guest of that country. The United States of America has no inhumane immigration practices unless you think requiring people to stay in their own country until invited to come makes us inhumane. We have a system of documents and forms, designed by lawyers, in which people from all over the world may apply for admittance into the U.S. When people come here illegally it slows down the system for legal immigration, creates an underclass which lives beneath the shadows, and puts undue burden on the true citizens of this country.

The ACLU could easily be plucked apart until all you have left is a pile colorful feathers laying next to the Communist Manifesto. What we must do as patriotic Americans is fight against the lies of the ACLU and unite for the restoration of TRUE constitutional principles and protections.

Obama's Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Reverend Wright, the anti-American racist, has crawled back out from under his rock and says it's the media's fault that Barack Obama severed ties with him during the presidential campaign and that his statements were taken out of context. In my church if someone said "God damn America" from the pulpit in any context you would not see people cheering as a reaction. I suppose we'll have to see if Obama believes his former pastor of 20 years or if he keeps his distance. If there is any instance in which I believe Barack Obama definitely lied during the campaign it is his complete denial that he ever witnessed any of the racist or anti-American stuff, or that he ever saw any of the literature of the same agenda which was prominantly displayed in the church. Lets just hope that Reverend Wright finds another rock and takes his place back in the shadows. The man should be standing in the unemployment line.

Interesting report from the Thomas More Law Center

Defeat for Radical Homosexual Agenda; Victory for Citizen Effort to Reverse Anti-Religious Law in MI
November 05, 2008

ANN ARBOR, MI – “Hamtramck Citizens Voting No to ‘Special Rights’ Discrimination” scored a landslide victory by overturning an ordinance enacted by their City Council in June of this year, which gave special rights to homosexuals and so-called “transgendered” individuals. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, represented the citizens group and joined community religious leaders in urging a “No” vote on November 4th.

Brian Rooney, a lawyer with the Thomas More Law Center, spoke at several events sponsored by the group and debunked the legal arguments made by representatives of the City Council in support of the anti-religious ordinance.

The “No” vote carried the day, 55% to 45 %.

The challenged ordinance had made it legal for men who perceive themselves as women to use women’s bathrooms in any school, business, or public facility. In classic Orwellian doublespeak, the ordinance defines such behavior as “Natural Rights of Hamtramck Residents.” Under the ordinance, any attempt to prevent such activity would have subjected the person to investigations, criminal prosecution, civil litigation, and fines of up to five hundred dollars per day.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center stated, “Radical homosexual groups have lost statewide attempts to impose their agenda on the public. They are now engaged in a strategy of putting pressure on municipalities –in many cases successfully – to enact draconian provisions like Hamtramck’s. In this case their new strategy failed as the will of the people prevailed.”