LDS push to ban gay marriage rankles some
by Jennifer Dobner - Associated Press
The Daily Herald
SALT LAKE CITY -- Lester Leavitt has made a request of his family: oppose their church's opposition to gay marriage. Leavitt, from Pompano Beach, Fla., is asking his siblings and children on the West Coast to choose family over a call from LDS Church leaders to support a November ballot initiative to define traditional marriage in California's constitution.
Since the letter began circulating on the Web last weekend, hundreds of Mormon blog posts have expressed disbelief, disappointment and outrage at the church's decision to wade into politics.
"Maybe I was just optimistic. I thought they might sit on the sidelines and not have any bad press," said Matt Thurston, a 39-year-old Mormon from Corona, Calif., who is not gay.
"There is that culture of obedience that once the proclamation has been raised, that's it," said Jeffrey Nielsen, a professor of philosophy who was ousted from the church-owned Brigham Young University in Provo in 2006 after criticizing the church's position on gay marriage in a newspaper column.
At the same time, Mormonism teaches that God blesses each person with the agency to make his or her own decisions, and some may not surrender that freedom so easily, Nielsen said.
The Daily Herald
SALT LAKE CITY -- Lester Leavitt has made a request of his family: oppose their church's opposition to gay marriage. Leavitt, from Pompano Beach, Fla., is asking his siblings and children on the West Coast to choose family over a call from LDS Church leaders to support a November ballot initiative to define traditional marriage in California's constitution.
Since the letter began circulating on the Web last weekend, hundreds of Mormon blog posts have expressed disbelief, disappointment and outrage at the church's decision to wade into politics.
"Maybe I was just optimistic. I thought they might sit on the sidelines and not have any bad press," said Matt Thurston, a 39-year-old Mormon from Corona, Calif., who is not gay.
"There is that culture of obedience that once the proclamation has been raised, that's it," said Jeffrey Nielsen, a professor of philosophy who was ousted from the church-owned Brigham Young University in Provo in 2006 after criticizing the church's position on gay marriage in a newspaper column.
At the same time, Mormonism teaches that God blesses each person with the agency to make his or her own decisions, and some may not surrender that freedom so easily, Nielsen said.
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