Gays, Marriage, Prop 8 and Tolerance

Article from the Sacramento Bee in Sacramento, Calif. -- The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on the Mormon Church for supporting California's Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:

"Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage -- the union of one man and one woman.

"The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included -- but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.

"Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.

"I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints -- coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.

"I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words -- and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8."

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Well said Bishop Weigand.

How is it that so often those who become enraged at others for not "tolerating" their opinions are hypocrites who refuse to tolerate anyone who doesn't agree with them? Tolerance is tolerance. It does not apply only to those who think they are right.

And then, you have to ask why - once again - the church is being singled out when most Christian churches were actively involved in the passing of Proposition 8? Of course we know the answer.

The adversary wants to keep God's children from knowing and understanding the gospel. That is why a criminals' religious ties are only mentioned in the media when the LDS church is involved, and why an upstanding citizen like Mitt Romney is ridiculed and denigrated for his religious beliefs but Obama, with his highly suspect religious history, is elected to the presidency.

It seems that the prophesy about the last days that says that good will become evil and evil will become good, has been fulfilled. These are the days when we are ridiculed for having moral values, when chastity is seen as weird and all manner of sexually perverse activities are purported as natural.

Shoud We Support Obama?

Abraham Lincoln once observed: “Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still, while they continue in force, they should be religiously observed.”

Christ gave us the great example of a law-abiding citizen when the Pharisees, trying to entangle him - as the scriptures say - asked him if it were lawful to give tribute money unto Caesar. Jesus asked whose inscription was on the tribute money, and the Pharisees noted that it was Caesars' image on the coin. Then Jesus said:

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Matt. 22:21.)

in Conference Oct. 1987 Elder L. Tom Perry said: “All members of the Church should be committed to obeying and honoring the laws of the land in which they live. We should be exemplary in our obedience to the governments that govern us.

and Elder James E. Talmage explained: “It is the duty of the
saints to submit themselves to the laws of their country. Nevertheless, they should use every proper method, as citizens or subjects, to secure for themselves and for all men the boon of freedom in religious service. It is not required of them to suffer without protest the operation of unjust laws; but their protests should be offered in legal and proper order”

Protesting particular laws should be done within the laws governing protest. Resorting to violence or any behavior that is immoral or outside the law is offensive to the Lord.

So even though many of us may have difficulty giving our allegiance to Obama our soon-to-be Commander and Chief, we need to remember that as members of the church we are bound to follow the laws of the land as stated in the 12th Article of Faith. However if we believe that a political leader is attempting to take away our freedoms or abuse his/her power to oppress us we should do what we can, within the law, to change things.

The government is supposed to work for us, not be our nurse maid. We need to be an independent people, capable of providing for ourselves, and able to detect immoral and ungodly governmental constraints instead of blindly or ignorantly following narcissistic, power hungry leaders.