Oops…I think I just admitted to something. [erase erase]

I agree that it is pretty offensive. It was not part of the official No on 8 Campaign and, as best I can tell, it hasn’t actually run on television. I believe it’s an internet ad only.

At least I hope it hasn’t run. In addition to being insulting to a religion, it’s poorly acted.

Frankly, I am a bit embarrassed by the crass and demeaning tone of the commercial. The message could have been handled with more tack and focused on the merits of the issues involved.

If the commercial had used Monks or Nuns it would have been viewed as anti-Catholic. This commercial is just as offensive to Mormons.

Please…we can do better than that.

Will enough people read them? Will enough people comprehend the editorial and the letter? I’m afraid we have to go for the lowest common denominator: People who only watch TV. (And I put the people who watch political ads on youtube.com just slightly above them.) The visual media is king in politics. How do we get those ideas expressed in the editorials and letters translated into visuals?

Today, I’m appalled at one video where Pro-Prop-8 people claim they are right simply because of vandalism to their signs. Where does being vandalized equate with being right? There is no correlation.

I’m going to predict something. Mark these words. Sometime in the near future and after the Proposition 8 is defeated and the rhetoric starts to decline, the Mormons will still claim their righteousness and their actions justified. The Mormons will start (as some already are) to distance themselves from the bad logic used by some of the proponents for Prop 8. The Latter-Day Saints will rationalize their zest and zeal was/is for defending the definition of “marriage” and nothing more.

What our good Mormon neighbors fail to realize or refuse to comprehend is the basic civil rights issue we are fighting for here. Mormons are ignoring the how civil rights are being compromised with this Proposition. How their “pronouncement of family” edict is fine for their congregations but it is not for everyone.

The Mormons will have a tough time erasing the bigotry tag that will be pegged on them.

For public release
Presbyterians Against Proposition 8
October 28, 2008

Brothers and Sisters of many faiths,

Let us be absolutely clear that in our opposition to Proposition 8 we are asking nothing more than what already exists in the respectful balance between the beliefs and practices of our many faiths and California constitutional law.

Within the many communities of faith in our State we have conflicting doctrines and beliefs that already govern the practice of marriage.

Our Roman Catholic, Mormon and many of our evangelical churches do not and will not marry persons who are divorced. But that does not mean that those who are divorced are constitutionally prohibited from the right of legal marriage in our state.

Likewise, our Roman Catholic, Mormon, and some Jewish and Muslim faith traditions will not marry persons of different faith traditions. But that does not mean that interfaith couples, or those of no particular faith tradition, cannot be married in our state.

Our California constitution honors all religious traditions by respecting our differences about religious marriage while at the same time providing and protecting the right of all couples to marry the person of their choice.

Prop. 8 would ELIMINATE the constitutional right of same sex couples to marry. That is unfair and unjust. California constitutional law already honors and respects religious differences. No religious institution is forced to marry anyone. But that does not mean that any person in our state should lose their constitutional right for legal marriage.

I urge you to protect our constitutional rights as well as our right to religious diversity and pluralism by voting NO on Proposition 8.

Thank you.
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Rev. Daniel E. Smith
Pastor, West Hollywood Presbyterain Church
7350 W. Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Ph: 323-874-6646
E: dsmith@wehopres.org

Worship Service: Sundays at 11 AM

West Hollywood Presbyterian Church
7350 Sunset Blvd at Martel St