Pages

Monday, October 27, 2008

More Religious Discrimination in the Name of Equality

There is a campaign to punish Mormons who donate time and specifically money to the cause of Proposition 8 - specifically Mormons - not all Christians or others who support protecting traditional marriage.

An interesting letter came through the internet:

Dear family and friends,

I had a very disturbing experience yesterday that I would like to share with those of you that live outside of California (or outside of the San Francisco Bay Area).

This weekend we have stake conference. Our stake conference always begins with a stake Temple session on Friday or Thursday night. Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple, and to remind everyone to stay calm and to drive carefully. The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco, very close to the city of Berkeley.

Apparently the opposition to proposition 8, the amendment that seeks to make marriage in CA between a man and a woman again, has realized the deep involvement of the church and begun to protest right outside of the Temple and harass temple patrons.

The fastest way to get to the temple from our house is to take the 680 freeway,but the exit is a bit tricky. The off ramp is extremely short and straight uphill. You then make an almost blind left turn, an immediate right and another left into the parking lot. As we approached the off ramp, I realized there would be trouble.

There was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the off ramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the off ramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self-control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the Temple.

I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the Temple front door. Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying (which made me snap out of it and go into RS

President mode to comfort them). Later, as I was sitting in the perfect quiet of the chapel, I couldn't help but think of Lehi's dream, and the people who mocked the Saints from the big spacious building but

"we heeded them not." It was a truly surreal experience, I'd never thought that I would have to go through an angry crowd to get to the Temple. As we left late at night, the protesters had dispersed, temple security(who all looked very large and Tongan) stood by the gates. I never saw a single policeman.

Please pray for those of us in California fighting for prop 8--it's getting kind of scary out here!

If you are one of those who believe it doesn't matter since they are only targeting Mormons, keep in mind, the next target could be you.

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

If you want to read about this organized effort targeting Mormons, click the post title (and we thought we left the persecution in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois). In actuality I deal with it almost daily at work, right here in Utah but nothing as overt as this or even close to what early church members endured.

2 comments:

  1. The protesting at the temples is horrible. My pastor in Utah was actually one of the founders of the group of clergy in Salt Lake City that spoke out against all the protesting. (I wish I could remember the name of it right now. I could do some research online, but don't have time to look it up right now). In fact, at the time they got that group together they met with LDS leaders down at Temple Square and held press conferences with them and some meetings about stopping protesting. I know there's only so much they can do about the real "nutso" people out there -- just wanted you to know that my church was among the churches who stood up against the protesting, for what it's worth. There should always be free speech in our country, but it should never cross the line where it prevents other people's religious freedoms.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Ashli,
    I hope all Christians would support one another in this right no matter whose worship practices are being jeopardized.

    ReplyDelete

This blog does not allow anonymous comments. Please identify yourself. Thanks!