I’m not going to accomplish anything by debasing the tenants of the Mormon religion. There is not one gay person I know who cares about LDS Church and its “next-life” Temple marriage and baptism for the dead.

(pffffth!)

But when they step over the line by promoting laws that take my civil rights away I want to fight back. I get into that automatic “lashing-out” mode which is just juvenile. The intelligent way to fight this is by showing the flaws in their logic (legal-wise), quell their baseless fears and educate them on where civil marriage is an equality issue.

The money that has been spent on this issue was a big waste. That’s what is so insane. The answer was so simple. Let gays marry and have the same choices and benefits as their heterosexual neighbors and I won’t step one foot onto an LDS Church property. I promise.

But…I can’t wait to tell people about the “no deduction for political contributions” IRS rule. Mormons can only get a tax receipt from their Tithing Settlement. (Thanks Mr. CPA Kincaid!) That made my day.

I’m about to gloat. I shouldn’t but I am.

And I’m glad you were able to understand what I was trying to communicate, cowboy.

Cult or not, we shouldn’t care. That’s not the point.

Getting involved in taking people’s civil rights away because of their religious belief (cultish or not) is the point.

Protests against this cult are warranted. One reason is that the sect is very deceptive in how they do things. They wanted a stealth campaign where they fund it but Catholics front it. Publicity is what they didn’t, and don’t want. Such publicity is bad for them and raises the costs of their actions. Higher costs on their part, in the form of bad publicity, will make them less likely to do it again. At the very least they will have to consider a very big downside for the sect, which is very conscious about their PR image.

As for Mormon theology, which is very bizarre even by religious standards. It is fair game as well. The Mormons are well outside Christianity with their beliefs that Mormons will become gods. Other religious groups they worked with are uncomfortable with Mormon theology. Publicizing Mormon cult teachings makes it harder for these other Christians to work with the sect in antigay campaigns. Highlighting Mormon teaching helps splinter the Religious Right coalition.

Since Mormons told lies to win their campaign I see no reason we can’t tell the truth.

…protesting the breakdown of separation of church and state rather than the “beliefs” of the church.

…and highlight those issues rather than becoming sidetracked in religious doctrinal arguments.

…our governments allowance in the first place to allow the imposition of religious beliefs to influence public secular policy at all.

…the state has no legitimate interest for refusing gays marriage.

Thanks Stefano A. I see what you mean.

From shandrew.livejournal.com
In the 2004 election, 360,000 San Francisco voters, around 75% of registered, voted.

2008 was predicted to have similar or higher turnout in SF. However, San Francisco ended up with only 50% turnout, 240,000 San Francisco voters! 1/3 less than in 2004.

In comparison, turnout was 64% for Santa Clara county, 55% in San Mateo county, 69% in Santa Cruz county, 63% in LA, 66% in San Diego. Nationally turnout was 64% and in California it was 60%, far below estimates of 70-80% that the Field Poll predicted.

Seems fairly credible to me. Perhaps these were people (gays) that wanted Clinton and refused to vote Obama and just skipped voting altogether?

Or those gays that don’t believe in marriage at all and didn’t want it for gays, especially.

I’ll tell evangelicals what I think of their beliefs. I’ll tell Catholics what I think of theirs. I’ll tell Mormons what I think of theirs. And I don’t care if they don’t like what I have to say.

My thoughts exactly.

I’m with Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Bill Maher on this matter.

If these guys were willing to just keep their homophobic garbage in their churches but still vote on the basis of respect for individual differences and rights, I wouldn’t care. But no, they have to shove their beliefs down our throats.

When they use their religion to oppress us, when it’s clear that their religion is based on fiction, then they forfeit their entitlement to respect and tolerance.

[Ed.: comment removed]

Political contributions are not deductible on Schedule A of your 1040. I’m assuming that any LDS members that made significant contributions will have professional tax assistance and will not make that mistake.

Mark F,

I do not know whether using gay couples in advertisements would have helped us or hurt us. I assume that there was testing of commercials before they were aired but I don’t know for certain.

It’s tempting to assume that because we lost that means that our commercials were ineffective. But I don’t know whether or not this is the case. Considering the other side’s willingness to lie, I don’t know what would have worked best against them.