PUBLIC AFFAIRS: At the outset, can you explain why this whole issue of homosexuality and same-gender marriage is important to the Church?
ELDER OAKS: This is much bigger than just a question of whether or not society should be more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle [Jacob: Homosexuality is not a lifestyle, it is an attribute of a person's identify. Making a middle-class income is a lifestyle, residing in a city or in the country is a lifestyle; being gay or straight is not.]. Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle [Jacob: Elder Oaks fails to acknowledge the "unrelenting pressure" of the movement he belongs to.] to accept as normal what is not normal [Jacob: The idea of normal is very abstract. Every person on the planet has their own idea of "normal." In some people's opinions what the Mormons believe about god, heaven, marriage, the afterlife, etc. is abnormal.], and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable [Jacob: This is called free speech. People are still free to call anyone a bigot regardless of whether or not gay marriage is legal.]. Such advocates are quick to demand freedom of speech and thought for themselves, but equally quick to criticize those with a different view [Jacob: The same laws that give you the right to condemn gays as sinners gives someone else the right to criticize those condemnations.] and, if possible, to silence them by applying labels like “homophobic. [Jacob: No one can legally silence you accept you. Since when does being labeled silence someone? You label gays as immoral, does that silence them?]” In at least one country where homosexual activists have won major concessions, we have even seen a church pastor threatened with prison for preaching from the pulpit that homosexual behavior is sinful [Jacob: Just for the record, the plaintiff dropped the charges before this case ever went to court. Also, one incident does not represent a movement or the sentiments of an entire community. The gay community has no spokesperson. Gay people exist in every culture, race, religion and class. A single person does not represent the views or goals of the gay community.]Given these trends, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must take a stand on doctrine and principle [Jacob: A hundred incidents doesn't necessarily represent a trend, you have only cited one. That is not a trend]. This is more than a social issue — ultimately it may be a test of our most basic religious freedoms to teach what we know our Father in Heaven wants us to teach [Jacob: The initiatives you and your church support have written your own personal beliefs into law. There are many churches who affirm gay marriage, why should your beliefs matter more than theirs? You are not protecting religious freedom, you are destroying it.].
General statements to Elder Oaks and the Mormon church: You are free to believe what you want; you are free to say what you want, but writing your own beliefs into law goes outside of free speech.
1 comment:
Your last point, the one about many churches affirming gay marriage, is one I try to make whenever I can. Even President-elect Obama, when he explains his personal opposition to same-sex marriage, uses the same reasoning Elder Oaks uses.
Personally, I think the same-sex marriage movement needs to reverse its reactive stance and start being proactive.
By this, I mean the same-sex marriage movement should stop saying, "Keep the church out of making laws." That's reacting to the religious wingnuts.
Instead, we should be saying, "Let let the churches decide!" That's the proactive stance.
In other words, we need to make same-sex marriage legal so the churches can decide individually on whether to accept it or not. Our country was founded on religious freedoms. When the state starts determining which religious freedoms should be codified, and which ones should be outlawed, then we are on that slippery slope.
If a church wants to perform marriages between consenting adult opposite-sex couples, let them. If a church wants to perform marriages between consenting adult same-sex couples, let them. The government should have no role in deciding which denominations are wrong and which are right.
In this way, when the bigots complain, we can just reply, "So, you're telling us you want the government to determine which denominations are right and which one are wrong? That's all well and good until your church has been determined wrong."
Keep government out of our churches!
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