Check out this excellent OpEd in the Tribune this weekend:
Members of the LDS Church are right to point out bigotry against their religion that we’ve seen work against Romney during his campaign (though there are many reasons that people might choose not to vote for him that are not based in religion).
However, these same members, and their leadership, worked with others to ensure that homosexuals are treated as second-class citizens not only in spirit but also in the letter of the law. It is as if people do not understand that we are all in this together.
There is simply no way out of our current predicament unless we recognize that we do not have the right to ask to be treated with respect unless we grant respect to others. If we do not wish to be marginalized we must not marginalize others.
We should not be content until we see the poll results I previously mentioned replaced by results that are uniformly high for all groups. I’d love to suggest that they all be 100 percent, at least regarding the willingness to look at the candidate’s platform, but there will always be some jerks. We simply need to decrease the number of jerks by recognizing our own hypocrisy and removing ourselves from their ranks.
I do, however, take exception to the blanked indictment of all Latter-day Saints marginalizing atheists and homosexuals. While this is certainly true for a majority of active Mormons, there are many, myself included who wish to extend the golden rule to all maginalized groups, not just my own.
I would hope that out of this experience with Romney’s campaign, Latter-day Saints will be more thoughtful of other marginalized tribes. We all can do better, myself included.
It’s ironic that for years Mormons have desperately sought to be accepted by Evangelicals in the American experience. In that process of seeking approval we have willingly joined them in the marginalization of others, and now find ourselves the target of that very focus.
-Tom
Your last paragraph–there have been some in the LDS church (parishoners) that have joined other groups but I don’t believe it has been on the church. The church as actively joined other denominations in charitable effforts but not many political efforts that I know of.
David,
Nearly withouth exception, when there has been a state ballot issue regarding the definition of marriage and extending equal rights to same gender couples, the Church has joined with other groups to oppose equal rights. And the Church generally does most of the work as it is better organized than any other group and has better infrastructure and financial resources. The situation I am most familiar with was in 2000 in California when the Church joined a coalition of other conservative Christians in seeking to narrowly define marriage. I was a missionary at the time in Northern California. I also know that the Church has participated in similar coalitions in Hawaii and other states.
I would suggest that the church made its decision on that political issue and then joined with like minded groups to fight the issue. I don’t believe they joined to gain acceptance by evangelicals as your original post suggested.
You are spot-on when you say that a large number of individual members have felt the necessity to join the religious right, but you’re way out of line to say that the Church’s support of one amendment is the same thing. The Church stays silent on most political issues, and when it doesn’t it’s safe to assume that they feel strongly enough about it to make an exception. Obviously it conflicts with some libertarian beliefs, but if you accept a group of men as having more complete knowledge and direct inspiration than yourself, you don’t get to say “except for that”.