When will reporters be required to know what they are talking about? Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government. That means direct influence on elected reps, etc. It has nothing to do with influencing the people who vote. That is called free speech.

Either the reporter is ignorant, or is purposely trying to deceive.

When will reporters be required to know what they are talking about? Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government. That means direct influence on elected reps, etc. It has nothing to do with influencing the people who vote. That is called free speech.

Either the reporter is ignorant, or is purposely trying to deceive.

When will reporters be required to know what they are talking about? Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government. That means direct influence on elected reps, etc. It has nothing to do with influencing the people who vote. That is called free speech.

Either the reporter is ignorant, or is purposely trying to deceive.

Although not the only religious group opposing same-gender marriage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) has received a great deal of attention concerning their active opposition to marriages for same gender couples. This website (http://GayMormon.net) seeks to help people understand the Church’s stand on this subject, and on marriage in general.

Marriage was ordained by God from the very beginning of time. He created two people, a man named Adam and a woman named Eve. They were married by Him, not just during this lifetime, but forever. Together, they were told to begin a family and raise their children together. From the first days of the earth, God set the pattern for family life—a man and a woman, and, if possible, children. This basic family structure creates an appropriate foundation for all other units of society and for an eternal life.
Mormons teach that gender is an essential part of who we are, and that it was determined long before birth. However, they do not teach that having homosexual inclinations is a sin. Only the practice of homosexuality is a sin. Feelings are not sinful; practice of inappropriate feelings can be.
Members of the church with homosexual inclinations who choose not to act on them or advocate for the acceptance of such actions can be members of the church in full standing. They may hold any role in the church that may be held by any other unmarried person of his or her gender, which means that most positions are open to them.

The church teaches its members to love and to respect those with homosexual inclinations, just as they do anyone else, and make it clear that mistreatment is not tolerated. However, this does not mean they feel inappropriate behavior must be condoned. Churches are, by nature, in the business of defining right and wrong. If they refuse to do so, to remind people of God’s teachings on any given moral subject, and to stand for something, they have no real reason to exist.

With this in mind, the Mormons, as representatives of God, must take a firm stand on anything that affects the sanctity and well-being of the family, one of God’s most sacred creations. This site will help you understand more about this eternally critical subject.
In order to entirely understand why Mormons object to changing the legal definition of marriage, one must understand a number of critical doctrines of the church. With a complete understanding of these doctrines, while you might still disagree, you will better be able to understand why we feel obligated to fight for the traditional family. Please follow the following path of articles to help you build a foundation for your study.

Child of God—Mormons know that what you consider to be your defining characteristic has a powerful impact on your life. Mormons with homosexual feelings do not consider same gender attraction to be what defines them. They consider the primary defining factor to be that they are a child of God.
Gender was determined prior to birth. What this means to Mormons struggling with same-gender attraction.

Gay Mormons: A summary of what the church believes about homosexuality

Attitude Toward Trials

Mormons and Marriage: How Mormons view marriage and why they don’t want the legal definition of marriage changed.

Mormons and the Same Sex Marriage Battle

Can Churches Participate in the Political Process?

Is Polygamy a Valid Gay Marriage Argument?

The remaining articles on the site ( http://GayMormon.net ) are about basic beliefs of Mormons, for those who want to know more, and they may be read in any order.

How can the losers be so outraged about money when they spent more than their opponents?

This “discovery” of “hidden” contributions by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is old news. The phone centers were already set up for other purposes, and phone tolls were paid for by the “Yes on 8” campaign – not by the Church. The rest of these so-called “political” expenditures were directed at educating and rallying the members of the Church to a moral cause – purposes which are fully aligned with the mission of the Church. I suppose these people will not be happy until every mention of moral values by any church is classified as “political” or, worse, as is happening in Canada, as “hate speech.”

Regardless of whether or not the enemies of the Church succeed in getting these in-kind religious expenditures reclassified as “political” contributions, it is obvious that they are insignificant in proportion to the non-tax-deductible contributions provided directly to the campaign by individual citizens from their already-taxed disposable income. The real agenda of those pursuing this case is to intimidate those individuals from exercising their constitutional right of free speech.

The threshold for “significant” political activity by a 501 (c) (3) organization is typically 20% of expenditures. The Church is obviously way below that threshold.

As for the individual contributions, under the First Amendment of the Constitution, no campaign finance law will ever require disclosure of the religious affiliation of donors to a political cause. It was a dissident Mormon who created the web site targeting identification of individual donors as Mormons. Disclosure of religious association is a matter of constitutional protection and a privilege held by the member against disclosure. (Church of Hakeem v. Superior Court, CA, 1980). http://hedgehogcentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/cal…

Imagine the furor if any web site had “outed” individual contributors to “No on 8″ for any kind of private affiliation, such as, dare I suggest, for their sexual orientation?

You imply that the Church defines homosexual marriage as a “moral” issue to avoid having to categorize its teachings on the issue as “political.” Not so! Homosexual conduct has always been a moral issue with the Church. It is the homosexual lobby that has politicized the issue. Homosexuals are no more compelled to immoral behavior than are adulters or fornicators. Nor do they have anything like a “civil right” for their behavior. They may succeed in forcing man's law to approve of their actions, but they will never succeed in changing God's law.

Tracy Hall Jr
hthalljr'gmail'com