From a published article Nov 13, 2008.
California's Proposition 8 was the Right's latest attack on freedom and equality, asserting the legal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.
What's particularly ironic is that the leaders of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a formal request to be read in congregations to "do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time." Church members responded with a massive campaign that included donating a large portion of raised funds and going door to door to support the amendment.
In the past, the LDS church officials have asserted their reluctance to formally enter into political debates. One of the requirements for active membership is a profession of faith that these same leaders speak directly on behalf of God. Such power can be easily abused. When a church begins actively calling for a public policy change that affects the lives of millions, however, it invites criticism of its motives, history and its ability to persuade its adherents.
Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, once said, "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." No matter what, people just can't leave other people alone. The United States was founded by people who wanted equality for all white men and religious freedom for themselves. We haven't yet learned that you can't have real freedom without sharing it. These same Christians immediately resorted to persecution and attempted extermination of Latter-day Saints, atrocities that, although staggering, are largely overlooked in our history.
For its belief that the government should not enforce a definition of marriage as one man and one woman, among other liberties, the LDS church was driven from the country to what is now Utah, but was then part of Mexico. Even then, the U.S. government sent armies to prevent them from practicing polygamy, even seizing all their assets and disincorporating the church for a time.
However, the LDS church can't take on the role of an oppressed minority that merely wishes to practice its beliefs in peace if they go on to oppress others once the roles are reversed. From strict control over its membership to culturally damaging and oppressive missionary efforts in the Pacific Islands and throughout the world to the modern culture wars, they have shown a pattern of forcing their values and opinions on people. They no longer need the oppressed role anymore, as the church has become one of the largest stakeholders in the U.S.
The practice most found objectionable under Brigham Young's leadership, and which was decried against by every other denomination of Mormonism, was not so much polygamy, but the practice of "spiritual wifery" or polyandry. Under this system, the highest leaders of the church could "spiritually" marry women who were already legally married to living men. This spiritual marriage then gave said leaders sexual rights to other men's wives. Failure to comply resulted in persecution and excommunication, while cooperation ensured blessings. Not even King David enjoyed such power.
Is it not ironic that the descendants of this legacy are now championing right-wing conservative values on marriage? What's even more ironic is that using the law to limit freedom is in itself in opposition to LDS doctrine.
According to Mormon mythology, a war was fought in heaven over the topic of freedom to choose right from wrong. Lucifer proclaimed that, if chosen to be the Messiah, he would govern the people such that there was no freedom to even choose sin and thereby none would be sent to Hell. Total peace would reign on earth. Jesus' plan, on the other hand, would grant freedom, which ensured that war, crime, poverty, greed, corruption and wickedness would reign on earth, but that in granting choice, the people would be tried. Though many would be lost by their choice of evil, the ones who remained faithful in spite of these circumstances would have proven themselves worthy of exalted glory.
That is a excellent basis for a doctrine of separation of church and state, but unfortunately Latter-day Saints' policies do not reflect their beliefs. By giving in to paranoid views that God's ordained system of marriage and family is under attack, they and other Christians have shown a tremendous lack of faith in God, doubting Joseph's revelation that "the works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught."
Far from revealing the timeless truths of God, the doctrines of the Utah-based LDS church have been blown to and fro by every wind of social change, always reflecting the views of its leadership, from Joseph Smith's liberal and communist views to Brigham Young's prophesy of the downfall of America to the more modern leaders' embrace of capitalism, patriotism and conservative values. It is time that people stop placing blind faith in human beings and instead utilize their own powers of reason and seek to embrace love and human goodness.
Or as Joseph Smith wrote, "When we undertake to ... gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the ... Spirit of the Lord is grieved. ... No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, (except) by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness and pure knowledge ... without hypocrisy, and without guile."
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