After decades of being persecuted for their nontraditional marriages, Mormons were thrilled to organize their members to support Proposition 8, a California amendment which stripped gays and lesbians of their right to wed, a right which the California Supreme Court had granted. The Church of Latter Day Saints, renounced polygamy in 1890, but they continue to worship a text which exalts it and follow a religion which breads fundamentalism. The Mormons feared that, if not stopped, equal rights would creep into other states. Spokesman Mike Otterson said "If same-gender marriage is approved in California...other states will follow suit." The Church issued a letter, which was read in every congregation, urging members to donate their "means and time" to pass Prop 8. The Yes on 8 campaign estimates that up to 40 percent of its donations come from Mormons. And so, the people who had insisted that marriage is between a man and a woman and a woman and a woman...would not stand for a marriage between two men or two women.
In the letter grounded their argument in their founding texts, saying "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and the formation of families is central to the Creator's plan for His children." I wonder why they didn't quote their Prophet Brigham Young, who said "Marriage is a civil contract. You might as well make a law to say how many children a man shall have, as to make a law to say how many wives he shall have. It would be as sensible to make a law to say how many horses or oxen he shall possess, or how many cows his wife shall milk." Perhaps Mormons will next campaign for an oxen-based amendment.
Anti Prop 8 activists are fighting to repeal the Church's tax exempt status, which is a good move because, for Mormons, there is a holy alliance between the IRS and God.
Consider, for example, the long-held Mormon belief about black people. According to the Book of Mormon, blacks (the Lamanite race) received their dark skins and inferior status as punishment. According to The Pearl of Great Price, another authoritative text, anyone who was black or who had a black ancestor could not be ordained.
For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
And lo and behold, when the IRS threatened to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status, because of their policy against admitting black priests, God told the President of the Morman Church, through a revelation, that it was time to let black people in. . I will not attempt to tease out the theological subtleties--if the Creator speaks through the Internal Revenue Service, or if the Service itself is sacred in some central way. Suffice to say that the IRS plays a powerful role in the Church's evolving beliefs, and at the very least uses the same postal service the Creator. God moves in mysterious ways, often accompanied by IRS threats.