My favorite thing about when churches change their minds, even slightly, on the subject of church teachings or sin or whatever else, they always move immediately into this “We have always been at war with Eastasia” stance, where the new definition of sin is, of course, timeless and eternal and revealed by the almighty Wizard God, and certainly not subject to the whims of the man behind the curtain, etc. It’s all so arbitrary.
So anyway, apparently the Mormon church now probably feels that their old guidelines on gayness were hurting their bottom line financially, so they’re tinkering a bit with the Revealed Eternal Truths to try to appear a little bit nicer. Don’t be shocked or anything, though — it’s not like they’re recognizing gay peoples’ dignity or anything:
Changes to LDS Church policy on homosexuality will be presented to LDS lay clerical leaders worldwide this Saturday, November 13.
The changes are being introduced through a global leadership training satellite broadcast for the release of the newly revised Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI), a 400-page lay priesthood manual reserved for use by LDS Church members in local and regional lay leadership positions.
Multiple advance copies of the CHI leaked on the internet reveal significant changes to Church policy on homosexuality.
Basically, here’s what’s changed: You’re no longer a hellbound sinner just for thinking gay thoughts, and they’ve decreed that if you are one of those homosexual thought-havers, but you promise to live under the authoritarian thumb of the church and never seek personal fulfillment, they will let you have all the perks of being a Mormon, which, from what I’ve heard, is quite a goodie bag!
Anyway, I don’t see that the fundamental message has changed. If you’re a gay person of integrity and love, you’re still unwelcome in the LDS church.
Enough is enough: from my Facebook page: No shame: HRC and other homosexual groups are exploiting the tragic suicides of sexually confused kids to attack religion.
Oh.
Peter LaBarbera is mad at the Human Rights Campaign for telling the truth and drawing the very short line between churches and politicians [and the blurry line between] who spend their lives engendering hatred against gay people among the most easily led, least educated members of our society, and the easily predictable result — that gay kids end up getting the message very early, and so do their bullies, that they’re worth less than the rest of the population, that God made them evil, etc., which leads to a much higher depression and suicide rate among gay teens.
So, I’m guessing Peter is saying he doesn’t like having this blood on his hands?
Well, there’s one simple solution for that: Millions have left the fundamentalist Christian lifestyle, and they’re happier, more well-rounded, more loving, and simply better people for it. Just pray this simple prayer:
“If I only had a brain…”
God I’m sorry, that’s a song from The Wizard of Oz, not a prayer.
My bad.
Here’s Kathy Griffin explaining how the bigotry and hatred that comes from places like the Mormon church turns into “trickle down homophobia,” which ends with dead children’s bodies. It’s very simple, and unlike “trickle-down economics,” it actually exists!
Same-sex attraction can be overcome and any type of union other than marriage between a man and a woman is morally wrong, an LDS apostle told millions of Mormons on Sunday.
Pope is Catholic.
“There are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature,” Boyd K. Packer, president of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles, said in a strongly worded sermon about the dangers of pornography and same-sex marriage. “A law against nature would be impossible to enforce. Do you think a vote to repeal the law of gravity would do any good?”
Bear shits in woods.
Packer, speaking from his seat because of his frail health…
Poor baby. Maybe he’d feel a little less poorly if he rested his vocal chords.
Some argue that “they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural,” he said. “Not so! Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember he is our father.”
Remember we are your masters.
By the way, that is the dumbest argument I have ever heard: It’s not so, because, really, why would God do that? Um, I do not know, perhaps the one doing the sermonizing is just a fool?
[I]t will be a pleasure to continue exposing how hateful and bigoted Mormons really are, and how they won’t be appeased until they force every American to live as Mormons. It’s the reason they tried to steal Anne Frank’s soul. It’s the reason they had the audacity to baptize Obama’s own mother into Mormonism without his consent.
As Dan Savage has explained all too well, bigotry like this helps convince gay kids to kill themselves. People who tell them that God would never have made them this way. People who tell them that they’re immoral, that they’re sick, that they don’t deserve to love or be loved.
I know the Mormons like to think of themselves as Christians (well, Christians who believe that Jesus had sex with Mary). But if they really want people to believe that they’re Christian, maybe they should start acting like one.
As P.Z. Myers says, here’s a pretty good reason not to attend a religious university. A Mormon student at Brigham Young wrote a letter to the school’s newspaper addressing the LDS’s positions on Prop 8 and gay rights, which was published for a hot minute before the paper decided to censor the student and pull the letter:
Yesterday, Brigham Young University’s student paper The Daily Universe featured a letter to the editor that argued that the legal case for Proposition 8 is “indefensible.” Its author, BYU student Cary Crall, also asked Mormons to admit that their only opposition to gay marriage is religious. The letter attracted enormous attention and praise from both the Mormon and ex-Mormon online communities. People were most impressed that BYU—in a refreshing display of academic freedom—published it.
But shortly after the letter was posted to the Universe‘s website, it was quietly pulled. This is disappointing, but not terribly surprising; the letter nearly didn’t get published at all. Crall told me in a Facebook message that he submitted the letter to the Universe a few weeks ago, but it was rejected by the summer editor who felt it was inappropriate for a “newspaper funded by the LDS Church.” It wasn’t until after some edits and the approval of a new editor that it was published, albeit briefly.
If you click the above link, the letter is posted in its entirety, and it’s probably getting more attention than ever for being censored, so that’s good. Here’s a key passage:
It is time for LDS supporters of Prop 8 to be honest about their reasons for supporting the amendment. It’s not about adoption rights, or the first amendment, or tradition. These arguments were not found worthy of the standards for finding facts set up by our judicial system. The real reason is that a man who most of us believe is a prophet of God told us to support the amendment. [This is a privately held religious belief that we are using to support legislation that takes away a right from a minority group. If our government were to enact legislation based solely on such beliefs, it would set a dangerous precedent, possibly even more so than allowing a homosexual to marry the person he or she loves.] We must be honest about our motivation, and consider what it means to the delicate balance between our relationship with God and with His children here on earth. Maybe then we will stop thoughtlessly spouting arguments that are offensive to gays and lesbians and indefensible to those not of our faith.
I tend to agree with P.Z.’s assessment — the letter is just a tad bit too honest for the Mormon church.
In a breathtaking display of lies and hypocrisy, a group of anti-gay culture warriors and long-time Mormon bashers placed a full page ad in the New York Times pretending to be both victims of alleged homosexual “mobs” and staunch defenders of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Both claims are absurd and a cruel attempt for the victimizers to claim the mantle of the victimhood – which is a manipulative and cynical political ploy.
The dishonest Times ad essentially claimed that violent mobs of gay protesters were attacking the Mormon Church and its followers in the aftermath of California voters narrowly approving Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state. They even launched a website www.NoMobVeto.org. (It seems they forget that they put basic human rights up for a vote, which is essentially mob rule)
This Times ad is full of blatant lies – much like the immoral television ads attacking same-sex families during the Prop. 8 campaign. The fact is, the vast majority of the rallies across America were peaceful. Considering gay families just got stripped of their basic rights by deception and deceit, the protests were remarkably tame. If any other group had been subject to such humiliation through a multi-million dollar smear operation, there would likely have been riots in the streets – not the fake “violence” conjured in the bogus Times ad.
The anti-gay organizations and individuals who sponsored this “Big Lie” ad are trying to pull off a remarkable feat: They are both crying wolf, while being the wolf in sheep’s clothing. The degree of chutzpah is remarkable and eye-popping. (Read More)
