Why does Harry Reid say that the Mormon church shouldn’t be involved in a divisive issue? Should churches only be involved with issues that aren’t divisive? And who decides?
Why does he say they should be involved with other things instead? This has been a common refrain in the same-sex marriage debate for the past few years. Gay activists, who are the ones filing lawsuits, and forcing the debate about marriage in our society, then become passive aggressive and say “why are we talking about gay marriage? It’s a small issue. We should be talking about education, healthcare, and the war in Iraq instead.”
Was there any controversy about defining marriage until about the past 10 years when gay activists forced the issue? Why are they allowed to get away with saying that those who support traditional marriage are the divisive ones??????
Is this a Saul Alinsky tactic? Stir things up and then say, why is everybody upset about something? That’s exactly what happened with marriage. The definition and structure of marriage was not in doubt or controversy until the lawsuits on the subject started.
Well, Reid is only taking the line by some of the outgoing top 70 general authorities in the Lds church.
I'm sure if you sat them down in a room, SOME of the Lds general authorities and Reid would actually agree on the following:
"Yes, religion is relevant in politics;
yes, church and state are connected;
yes, the church should stand up for what it believes;
but DON'T push your values into the political sphere"
Don't believe me when it comes to the Lds general authorities? Well, just read this brief excerpt from what an ex-top 70 said when he was lecturing BYU students last Friday...note the bold-faced reference:
Robert S. Woods, president of the Boston Temple, former member of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy and professor at the University of Virginia and Naval War College, lectured on the relationship between politics and religion on Friday. President Woods first began his lecture by clearing up any misconceptions about the link between politics and religion.
“In my experience, over the years when people thought about the relation between politics and religion, they thought it was irrelevant,” Woods said. “Religion is not irrelevant to the political process of this country, and will continue to have more of an impact throughout the years.”
There is an undeniable connection between church and state, he said. However, there are several countries and civilizations that will continue to deny this link.
“The basic unit of analysis should be and has not been the state, nor the local political community, but civilization itself,” said Woods. “It shapes the state and local political communities.”
Woods said that we, as Latter-day Saints, have a responsibility to stand up for what we believe without pushing our values into the political sphere. ("Temple president speaks on the link between religion, politics," BYU Daily Universe, http://universe.byu.edu/node/2871)