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Tracy Press
By Robert J. Christensen Mormon support for Proposition 22 is becoming religiously embarrassing. From the beginning the Mormon leadership has attempted to cloak its involvement. In Hawaii and Alaska the church's Corporation of the President directly contributed funds to the anti-same-sex marriage cause. In California, leaders chose instead to "call" members to "volunteer" contributions of time and money to the cause. The target for contributions of money has been estimated at $4 million; actual contributions appear to have reached about 2/3's of the target. Mormon contributions would thus be about one half of the total funds gathered by the Limitation on Marriage Initiative campaign, and five times greater than Catholic contributions. Many may be uncomfortable with same-sex marriage, but the Proposition 22 campaign is obviously running on Mormon-bought gas. Internet reports from all over California indicate many -- if not a majority of -- members have been reluctant to canvas door-to-door or by telephone. They have apparently felt that LOMI was not a matter of major moral concern, and the church was unfortunately letting itself become merely another special interest. One can therefore understand the embarrassed distress underlying stake president Rex Brown's comment. "Any organization would be against a member publicly accouncing opposition to the organization," the Tracy Press quotes him as saying. In fact, the only organizations I can think of demanding such unanimity are such totalitarian groupings as the Nazi and communist movements, and the Catholic church during the Inquisition. The Catholics are now embarrassed by their Inquisition excesses. Even prominent publicly-dissenting theologians such as Hans Kung and Charles Curran might have had their licenses to teach official catholic theology withdrawn but they have otherwise been left undisciplined. In a nation dedicated to freedom of speech, Rex Brown's is quaint notion that an organization might proclaim and act publicly while questioning members can only express their reservations privately. The whole ministry of Jesus, and of Joseph Smith, directly challenges Brown's "rubber stamp" concept of followership. Jesus, and Joseph, would ask more of us, and of our leaders.
Robert J. Christensen
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www.affirmation.org