Mormons and Prop 8

I normally like to keep this blog for issues religious in nature. But because of recent comments made by the actor Tom Hanks, I felt I wanted to make a statement here about our involvement in Prop. 8.

There are those, Tom Hanks included, who mistakenly believe that our church gave money to support Prop. 8. This is not true. Our church did not give any money to the campaign. However, the church did issue statements about our beliefs, and encouraged us as members to get involved. We were not asked to donate any certain amount of money, and the money was given directly to the campaign, not to the church. Anything that was done, was done on an individual basis. Some members chose to participate in the grass roots movements, others did not. Some members chose to donate money, others did not.

Tom Hanks accuses us of being "Un-American". What I want to know is, when did voting your conscience, and staying true to your religious beliefs become an un-American act?

The problem as I see it is in the use of the term "discrimination". Do we, in this country, in fact discriminate against people? Absolutely. We draw moral lines. We discriminate against those who cross those moral lines. Many states don't allow prostitution. Isn't that discrimination? If people want to be prostitutes, and people want to spend their money with prostitutes, shouldn't they be allowed that opportunity? No, they shouldn't because we as a people have decided that we don't want people crossing that moral line. In the case of Prop. 8, there are many of us who feel that making same sex marriage legal would not be good for society as a whole. In addition, we believe that opening that legal door would open the door for other forms of untraditional marriage, forms that we feel cross moral lines.

Just the other day I was talking with my dentist and we were talking about how Tom Hanks is a wonderful actor. My dentist said, "Everything he touches is gold". I agree that he is a talent actor, but frankly, I have lost respect for him as a person because of his uninformed, even predjudiced comments about my religion.