New Figures: Catholics, Evangelical groups outspent Mormons on Prop 8

[WillParkinson]

New Figures: Catholics, Evangelical groups outspent Mormons on Prop 8

(San Francisco, California) Newly released figures from the California secretary of state’s office show that the biggest contributor to the campaign to approve a ban on same-sex marriage in the state was the Knights of Columbus, the political arm of the Roman Catholic Church, which gave $1.275 million.
The conservative evangelical Focus on the Family, which fights LGBT issues across the country, gave $657,000 in money and services.

The amounts vastly surpass the $189,000 in direct cash and compensated staff time from the Mormon church.

The new figures were turned over to the state weeks into an investigation by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission that institutional donors to ProtectMarriage, the umbrella group behind Proposition 8, had not reported the value of workers salaries and other expenses.

http://www.365gay.com/news/new-figures-catholics-evangelical-groups-vastly-outspent-mormons-on-prop-8/

[YOY]

1. Is Knights of Columbus really THE political arm of the Roman Catholic Church?

It has many...sometimes the 10 on the left doesn't know what one of the 20 on right is doing. Not defending...just saying.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

16. No, they're not

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. are you surprised? the catholic church is extremely homophobic. nt

[atreides1]

4. Except....

....when it comes to Catholic priests molesting boys, then they don't seem to have a problem unless they're caught!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. that has nothing to do with gays but it does show the immorality of the church

protecting pedophiles while discouraging condoms when there is an aids epidemic going on

[HowHasItComeToThis]

5. BUNK, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE GAY PREISTS I KNOW

[YOY]

7. I know a couple of gay monks as well.

They get pretty hypocritical about it.

"It's a sin if they have sex but not a sin to be gay" (along the sin-level lines of unmarried sex between straight folks) was they way they put it. So basically those dudes and dudettes have to be celebate, not even monogamous but completely celebate...yeah...you can see the attraction to the faith there.

They are in there though...no doubt about it.

I have a friend (most bitter Irish Catholic I have ever known) I have long suspected of being closeted in seminary school now...all set to be a bitter priest.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. LET ME TELL YOU HOW LITTLE THAT MEANS

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

17. Yeah, and most priests I know are way more liberal than the Vatican

So are most Catholics.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the states with gay marriage/civil unions are heavily Catholic.

[lightningandsnow]

21. MY CAPS LOCK, LET ME SHOW YOU IT

[BattyDem]

3. People out of work, losing their homes ...

no health insurance, trouble putting food on the table, etc. Families really need help and those churches could have made a difference in their lives, but instead, they chose to spend a ridiculous amount of money to prevent two people in love from getting married! :grr: :puke:

[Ian David]

6. The chrisTo-Fascist Zombie Brigade marches on. n/t

[FreeState]

10. Completely misleading article - LDS members donated in their own name at the urging of the church

The total donated by the Organization is nothing when you add up its members - the LDS church wanted to hide its financial involvement so it has each member donate to it rather than the church - even thought he donations are collected in the Church buildings etc.

[Cherchez la Femme]

18. Yep. nt

[NMMNG]

11. True

But did they flood the Internet, newspapers and TV with claims that they "only spent $2,000 to fly some church officials to a meeting" and vehemently deny any other spending--until pushed to the wire? No. The Mormon church's biggest offense was trying to hide what they did and lying through their teeth about it until they had no choice about it. I'd bet they still haven't fully disclosed all they put into it.

The Knights of Columbus is also not the official mouthpiece of the Catholic Church but merely the political arm of it. They didn't hand down orders to all Catholics to work on the campaign and to donate to it. They didn't make this the official crusade of the church for a year or more. While the money differed, the behavior was far different.

[FreeState]

12. Everyone keeps missing this

Knights of Columbus donated as a organization.

The LDS Church pulled its members one by one into the Bishops (minister/pastor) office and handed them an envelope and asked for a donation in the persons name rather than donate in the Church's name. THe LDS CHurch in effect donated 25-40 Million dollars total via this route that hid the fact that the church asked for the donation.

[xchrom]

13. and there it is... nt

[Zuiderelle]

14. Mormons recruited their members, and they are not nearly the same population as Catholics.

According to most sources I could find, there are about 12 million Mormons worldwide. The world Catholic population is over 1 billion. Mormons represent a very small fraction of what Catholics represent. So, per capita, the Mormon church (even without including all the Mormons they convinced to personally donate) donated SIGNIFICANTLY more.

[HurrahforHil]

15. Knights of Columbus isn't the political arm of the RCC.

KoC is a fraternal orginization originally set up to be a way for Catholic men to join a fraternal orginization since they're forbidden from joining the Free Masons. It was set up *by* Catholics but isn't related to the RCC hierarchy.

The article implies that the $189,000 sent by the LDS was sent directly by the centralized LDS hierarchy.

[Iggo]

19. I don't doubt it.

There's more of 'em.

[nichomachus]

20. Those were the official contributions

The Mormons contributed more by strong-arming their well-heeled cult members to donate in the millions. One Mormon guy in Utah gave over a million dollars.

The Mormons leaders know how much you make and when the call goes out for money, you either donate or you can kiss your temple recommend goodbye.

So, the Catholics and Talibanicals collected the money from the sheep and donated it. The Mormons just eliminated the middle man.