WP: The Mormons Are Coming

[MountainLaurel]

As more states take up the debate on same-sex marriage, some advocates of legalization are taking a very specific lesson from California, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominated both fundraising and door-knocking to pass a ballot initiative that barred such unions.

With the battle moving east, some advocates are shouting that fact in the streets, calculating that on an issue that eventually comes down to comfort levels, more people harbor apprehensions about Mormons than about homosexuality.

"The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!" warned ads placed on newspaper Web sites in three Eastern states last month. The ad was rejected by sites in three other states, including Maine, where the Kennebec Journal informed Californians Against Hate that the copy "borders on insulting and denigrating a whole set of people based on their religion."

"I'm not intending it to harm the religion. I think they do wonderful things. Nicest people," said Fred Karger, a former Republican campaign consultant who established Californians Against Hate. "My single goal is to get them out of the same-sex marriage business and back to helping hurricane victims."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803573.html?hpid=topnews

[jeremyfive]

1. Mormans Sneaky and Clandestine

I am one of those who is seriously frightened by the secret and cloaked-in-superiority manner in which the Morman Church organized against Proposition 8. For a "church" body which is inseparable from a past (and present) that includes poligamy, disparagement of women and abuse of children, this "church" has a long way to go to gain acceptance and respectability. The fact is that this group that is disparaged and suspect by many, is simply more likely to condemn others.

If the Mormon Church is now a Political Organization to be reckoned with, they certainly should be stripped of their tax advantaged treatment, in that they are no longer a "church" in the true sense. Tax dollars of the individual should never go to fund an political organization.

Our tax dollars are being hijacked.

[roguevalley]

9. personally, as long as they do this, demonize them. they baptize

the dead as well including holocaust dead. kill them twice. I can hardly stand it and there are mormons in my family and among my friends my whole life. demonization is the price they pay for their hate mongering.

[keepCAblue]

2. the copy "borders on insulting and denigrating a whole set of people..."

And yet the Mor(m)ons and Catholics are allowed to run print and tv ads full of lies, deception and slander about LGBTs wrt same-sex marriage. These states that rejected the CAH ads sure have a double standard -- it's okay to insult and denigrate people based on their sexual orientation but not on their religion. What effing hypocrites.

[NMMNG]

3. Oh, but that's their "deeply held religious beliefs"

You can say anything you want in the name of your "deeply held religious beliefs" and that's just fine. But nobody dare say a peep in protest or they're "persecuting you on the basis of your religion". Isn't that a nice trap they have set?

[Wednesdays]

4. K&R

:kick:

[beaglelover]

5. Like I said on November 5th.....

FUCK THE MORMONS!

[Hepburn]

6. Maybe there is a god?

"...more people harbor apprehensions about Mormons than about homosexuality."

Righteously so! :hi:

[ShadowLiberal]

7. Such an attack just seems... counter productive to me, especially in New England states

The fact is the New England area is more socially tolerant of a lot of persecuted minority groups. While a strategy of trying to use hate/fear of Mormons against the antigay people may work in some states, I don't see how it would in states that tend to be so socially liberal and less religious.

I would think a better line of attack would be attacking the long history of intolerance of the religious right, and we should reminding people of other stuff now widely accepted that they strongly opposed then. Interracial marriage sure pops into my head as one thing to hit them on (although I'll admit, I'm young so I'm not 100% sure if they lead that fight or not), as well as being intolerant of people of other religions (like Muslims), racists in America used to use religion to justify their hatred and superiority to.

[xchrom]

8. recommend