To the other posters who have used this thread to vent against Mormons: based on my personal experiences with my Mormon relatives as well as what happened in California and Arizona, I yield to nobody in my contempt for the LDS church. But when one of its prominent members has the courage – and it does take courage – to take a public position that varies significantly from the party line on one of the Prophets’ major crusades, he deserves and gets a hearing from me.

I distinctly remember when Utahns voted for Amendment 3 and they were reassuring gays that it wasn’t going to take away any of our civil rights.

Was that a lie?

ON RELATED NOTE:
Fred Karger is in Salt Lake City and eightmaps.com is graphically showing where all the donors to Proposition 8 live.

That’s not sitting well with some folk here. But, it’s public information and it’s fun to zoom in to find out which of my neighbors had contributed to Proposition 8.

Technology has opened up a whole new aspect to politics.

Funny you should mention that, Mark.
http://nowscape.com/mormon/negro.htm

We don’t need another like her that can’t recognize the civil rights of not only a distinctive minority, but a hugely PRODUCTIVE one as well.

Who could be moreso, but for Prop. 8.

She won’t participate in disqualifying the marriages that already took place, and big whoo.
So what?
She says that NOW, in hopes that perhaps those 18,000 couples will throw her their votes?
Oh cynic that I am!

She ain’t getting my vote, for sure.
And she shouldn’t get the votes of any gay person in CA!

That said, formal membership or affiliation with any anti-gay organization seems problematic to me. Suppose the Catholic Church taught that black people were evil–would you approve of membership even if a person did not personally agree with that stand?

I too could never vote for a devout Mormon, simply because of the devious, under-handed, brutal political tactics they have engaged in for the past couple decades.

My experience with most Catholics is that they are more independant from their church. With most surveys of American Catholics on culture war issues, they tend to mirror the general population in terms of their opinions. You also have a long history of high profile Catholics (Kennedy, Ferraro, Pelosi, etc.) who have been publicly criticized by Bishops and Cardinals for their political positions, but didn’t miss a beat and stood their ground.

So, for the Catholic, I would be more likely to evaluate what they had to say and what their track record was.

I also have serious concerns about the long term goals of the Mormon Church in general politcally.

So, I would say that comparing Catholic and Mormon politicians currently is not the same thing.

It would be a welcome sign if more Mormon politicians could demonstrate long term record of independence from their church, but I am not holding my breath waiting for that one.

This is not to say that the Catholic Church is a saint — ha — but the sins of the LDS Church are far, far darker.

The Catholic Church also took an active role in supporting Prop 8. Does this mean you won’t vote for any Catholic, regardless of their personal positions?

I would not cast my vote for anyone and for any position, if I knew that person was a practicing Mormon.

Especially for President of the United States.