I’m shocked and saddened that the very liberties my great- great- great grandfathers sacrificed for here in America (the leader of the French Hugenot Party is my grandfather) are being threatened back to the days when the Catholic church WAS the law in Europe, and the Church of England was it’s only opposition.

Is there any wonder the true Gospel was restored in a land not yet perverted by the lack of separation of church and state?

Then why would the LDS faith, which I dearly love, and which was horrifically persecuted by early Americans for their marriage beliefs (plural marriage), and for their very religious rights (they were oftentimes driven from County to County, State to State, a hated people) ever dream of touching the Political process or of ever judging, condemning, or dividing those who have a different belief in marriage than they do?

I only ask everyone in Utah this one question: What is the highest suicide rate in your State? Answer: It’s among gay Mormon men because the Church would rather them just “go away” than be organized and accepted. Is the Church committing murder with the sword of indifference?

A church that has taken liberties with marriage (multiple plural marriages) will never have a right to take those same liberties from others, ever, unless they opt to marry once again, “Church and State” in a very dangerous hypocritical, polygamous union taking us all back to the days when “Bloody Mary” (I bet most Mormons don’t even know the story) actually carried out violence in order to force the Catholic prayer coda.

And, truly, do believing members REALLY have a voice in this?! Ha!

The Church professses to want freedom of speech but it’s members are clearly denied it and made to feel that they are not “worthy” or “believing” enough and that they are being separated as wheat and chaff for the Last Days.

I’m shocked at how often sisters in the above documentary have been attacked on this website. I have yet to read an intelligent response from the angry “Armies of Helaman” who feel the need to defend the Churches stealth involvement in the Political process, while completely ignoring what is happening to children all over the world who would love to be adopted by a clean, trustworthy, loving gay family.

Homosexuality is against the revealed word of God through all time. No one should be stating that those attractions aren’t valid and real. Promiscuous heterosexual relationships abound as well. The Church does not condone those relationships either. As others have stated, God loves the sinner, and despises the sin. He wants all to come to Him, by their choice, on His terms.

The Prop 8 hysteria directed against the LDS Church, both from those who purport to be LDS and those who are adamantly not, is nothing more than religious bigotry. The hate crimes instigated by those who attacked each other are contemptuous. Those hate crimes seem predominantly to be started by those opposed to the Mormons and their Constitutionally upheld right to oppose same-sex marriage.

It is truly pathetic that these holier-than-thou Pharisees lack the ability to see how outrageous their statements are. They expect others to receive mere pronouncements of their theology grandiosely titled as “Proclamation To The World” and such, and they naively think it will be accepted by others as a sufficient basis to adopt viciously discriminatory laws denying the most basic rights to millions of their fellow citizens. They feel free to denigrate people different from themselves with inane terms like “lifestyle choices”, always a dead giveaway of masked bigotry and prejudice. The only “lifestyle choice” involved here is that of narrow-minnded religious belief, not of sexual orientation.

The decision of the Mormon Church to involve its members and their LD$ money heavily in the Proposition 8 campaign was cynically designed to curry favor with exactly those religious constituencies that continue to harbor serious reservations about their Church and its theology.
(”Hey, maybe those Mormons aren’t so bad after all … and they’re just as anti-gay as we are!”)
Unfortunately, they’ve caused enormous damage to the previously admirable reputation of their Church for intelligence and tolerance for those who believe differently than they do (”We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Articles of Faith)

We have no problem with the Mormons not marrying same-sex couples in their churches, just as we have no quarrel with Orthodox Jews abstaining from cheeseburgers or Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing blood transfusions. But when it comes to the equal protection of the law for all of our citizens, we don’t need religious bullies trying to force others to live in conformance to their sectarian theologies.

The problem is, that this Prop 8 has gone nationwide. People in states far away from any Mormons now know about the Mormons, or at least they think they do, and certainly have an opinion. And unlike me, who grew up in Arizona, and lived next to Mormons, the rest of the country will always remember you guys for Prop 8. When the country thinks of Mormons, they will think of Prop 8.

That group that denied gays the right to marry because it was too much a burden on your moral conscience. I would think that since the Mormons have gone through hell in this country with discrimination and being kicked out from one place to the other, maybe they would have some sympathy for a group that was just simply wanting to marry. I guess not so.

You guys have taken a huge step back in regards to acceptance. I live in AZ, so I know you guys are cool. The rest of the country, not so much. Most of the self proclaimed Christians in this country doesn’t even believe you’re Christians.

Prop 8 will live with you guys for a long time. You will be known first and foremost as “that group that hates gays”. You’ll have to live with that. As you paid for it, and championed for it.

One step forward, two steps back. No wonder your missionaries are getting the cold shoulder. People think when they open the door to Elder Right or Elder Wrong, it’s gonna be about gay marriage.

Don, in Las Vegas

Bob is free to make whatever judgments he will, but if knows his church teachings well he implies, he should know that once one is ordained a bishop, one REMAINS a bishop permanently. The “former” description suggests only that, for now, the Bishop does not have responsibility for a particular congregation.

Incidentally, “our lay church” is a phrase I’ve never heard before and I am a current life-long member with roots dating back to the earliest days of the church.

However, one’s former position does indeed mean something.

Years ago I considered taking a fairly a high-level position with a church-owned corporation. Part of the vetting process included interviews with several apostles, including the current President of the Church, Thomas S. Monson. During our conversation he noted that all of the senior officers of this particular organization were “former or current Stake Presidents and Bishops.” This was particularly memorable to me because, at the time, I had not previously served in either capacity.

Obviously, ones “former” callings means something to President Monson and other leaders of the church. And, I think they mean something to most other people on the planet. Except Bob.