Posted on 11/24/2008 6:48:48 PM PST by Drango
California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state.
The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist. Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open an investigation does not mean staff members have determined there was any wrongdoing, only that Karger's complaint merits further inquiry.
A representative from the Salt Lake City-based church could not be reached for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Thanks for the explanation. It’s good to know.
I agree.
I guess the difference is that we have less free time than the average American...
Yes, that's part of what I was getting at.
But I would not call us “insular,” unless by “insular” you mean that you won’t find us in the local pubs after work, looking for company. We are counseled to be “in the world, but not of it.” We tend to be highly educated, and well involved in the business of the world.
Emphasis on education, oh yes. But the context of what we were talking about was voter mobilization. Your under-18 kids in public schools couldn't mobilize many...
...and your BYU kids, your Ricks' College kids, your BYU-campus offshoot in Hawaii kids will mostly run in Mormon circles...and even at secular colleges, if there's an LDS Institute there, that's where you'll find these same circles...
...And even certain geographic areas are very highly LDS...your Utah/southern Idaho, southwest Wyoming, Northern AZ, Eastern NV, for example...
We all are called upon to do volunteer work in our churches, too...Because most of our young people serve distant missions, Mormons tend to have greater experience in the broader world than the average American.
I guess by "insular" I didn't mean to imply LDS eschew all or most outside contact. Of course there are always "business" contacts. But even your own examples here doesn't counter my point -- things such as volunteering in church -- where you're not likely to find very non-Mormons...or, I could mention countless hrs spent in genealogical research -- where a lot of work is quite impersonal...or, even LDS mission work tends to be more "hit & run" style where certainly it is de-emphasized in spending significant time toward relationship-building.
They were also vastly overrepresented among those doing the volunteer work to pass Prop. 8.
******************
And I for one a most grateful. It would behoove those of us who are Catholic, Protestant and whatnot to pay attention to this issue. What applies to Mormons will also apply to us all.
(And so am I)
It would behoove those of us who are Catholic, Protestant and whatnot to pay attention to this issue. What applies to Mormons will also apply to us all.
Indeed. (It already does on this issue...and others)
The Mormons in California I know, including college kids, spent hours canvassing neighborhoods and manning phone banks. They weren’t just running in “Mormon circles.”
But I will give you your point about lack of time. I have lived outside of Utah most of my life. When I was a young housewife, I moved a couple of times into apartment buildings filled with young families. I was invited to joint the daily coffee klatsch, but I just plain didn’t have time.
I didn’t work then, but I had tiny kids. I used to sew and cook and lot from scratch to save money. My volunteer church responsibilities were pretty heavy. There weren’t enough hours in the day to complete everything I thought I should be doing.
Not to mention the fact that, most of the conversation at the coffee klatsches was just women running down their husbands and generally bitching about life, which seemed worse than a waste of time to me, it seemed destructive, although I never said so to them. They were perfectly nice women, otherwise.
Maybe to the women at the coffee klatsch, though, I was insular. It’s always seemed to me, though, that we have a finite number of hours, and we have to choose the most productive ways to spend them.
We really ought to assemble a list of pro-family NGO’s that Freepers can donate to. You can bet the homosexuals are organizing.
Campaign for California Families is a good one to which I have donated. savecalifornia.com It is headed by Randy Thomasson who, if I had to guess, I would guess is an Evangelical of some denomination.
Pacific Justice Institute is another good one. pacificjustice.org If I had to guess the religion of its founder, Brad Dacus, again, I’d guess Evangelical. I met him at the Council for National Policy when he was single and openly looking for a wife. I was with a very pretty, very smart single Mormon girl. He was obviously interested, but was pushing hard to see if her religion was negotiable. It was quite amusing.
United Families is another good one. I have worked with them a lot. unitedfamilies.org That one was founded by Mormons, although it is not exclusively Mormon.
Just imagine what could be accomplished if we could get all the churches really mobilized.
Another good one is World Congress of Families, organized by the Howard Center. worldcongress.org
Alan Carlson is an amazing man — Lutheran or Methodist, I can’t remember. He has been working for years to assemble just the kind of coalition that pushed Prop. 8 over the top in California.
I never signed up for an Immature Toilet Humor Ping.
Not interested. Please remove my name from that list.
That being said...
I will be the first to shoot any ________ (fill in the blank, use you most vivid language) opponent of Prop 8 that dare desecrate any Mormon Temple or harm any Mormon individual.
We will disagree among ourselves, that will always be so and our right. But against the Homo-agenda, the degradation of our once great society, allies we are and allies we will remain, as we are with our Jewish friends and others. To paraphrase from Full Metal Jacket, they maybe silly and a bit strange, but they got guts, and guts is enough.
Gee, do you have to hijack the thread and turn it into an Evangelical bashing right from the start?
What would your reaction have been if someone made a comment like that about the Mormons?
Something like this?
I’m very proud of the Catholics and Mormons Evangelicals who stood tall supporting prop 8. Kinda wonder why the evangelical movement Mormons was were relatively silent on the issue?
Why start? What was the point?
Also I find the term "Voluntary" EXTREMELY inaccurate. there is nothing voluntary about "accepting a call from God" as they call it.
???
Please explain further. Do you have an example of anyone ever being forced to accept a calling?
I have worked with a number of bishoprics also, and I can absolutely guarantee that such service is voluntary. People turn down callings all the time, much to their bishops' disappointment. Not a single one has ever received any form of punishment (other than their conscience?) for doing so.
No temple recommend, no going to the temple. No going to the temple, no going to heaven, according to Joe Sith. if that isn't punishment, I don't know what is !!
Nice attempt at spin, but it won't get past me.
I don’t know - what was post #33 that was deleted? Something offensive and against the rules?
I think the admin has decided we have no right to assemble here.
You said — “Today we are all Mormon”
Ummmm..., how about I just say I’m in the same political ball park, instead... LOL...
You said — “Dollars to do-nuts says that Freddie boy hates Mormons.”
You’re talking about this guy, in the article...
Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of work it did to support Proposition 8.
I would say, no, he doesn’t hate Mormons — but rather — he hates *anyone* who works politically against the gays and wants to label anyone who works against their agenda as “hate mongers”.
That’s probably more accurate...
In this particular political issue, it turns out that the Mormons had a high visibility which makes them an easier political target. This guy, “Freddie boy”, would pick on any group that provided an opening, politically, for him to do so.
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