[Photo of Mormon Temple from Dawkins Watch Files]The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka the Mormons, has been in the forefront of the campaign to ban gay marriage in California. Mormons have donated $20 million to the effort, and Mormon honchos put up almost $190,000 to help pass Proposition 8.
Why, one wonders, would a Utah-based religious organization care about what people do in California?
Well, because like religionists everywhere, they think they have the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of the population!
According to Tana Ganeva, writing at AlterNet, another "church," the Universal Free Church, which is a amorphous kind of group, has taken umbrage at such goings-on, and has begun a petition to ban Mormon marriage.
Said petition isn't going anywhere, but as Mary Cristos (love that name!) of the UFC Church mentioned, while Mormons can believe anything they so desire, the don't have the right to use their money and power to deny other people their rights!
"Any time you use the tax-exempt wealth and political power of America's religious majority to create any secular law that forces any religious belief on everyone else, that's religious fascism. It's evil, and it violates the 'establishment clause' of the First Amendment."
Ganeva points out we shouldn't tar all Mormons with the same brush; that she personally observed Mormons working against their church's messing with California's legal system. The trouble is they are very much in a minority.
Whether you're religious or not; whether you're a Mormon or not; whether you're gay or not; it seems that in this great land religious facism should be condemned and fought.
Read Ganeva's entire article here.
4 comments:
There is a section in the tax code that states that if a tax exempt establishment/organization/church becomes active in politics, which the Mormons have done in this case, the tax exempt status is to be removed by the IRS and the establishment/organization/church will have to pay federal taxes.
I think it's time to remove the tax exemption from any church that has at any time backed any kind of political action, political candidate, or campaigned for any law as the Mormons did.
I agree, Grandpa Eddie, 100 percent!
They are different. Maybe it is the magic underwear. We do not know what goes on in their undies. What if it is perverted in some way? How do you get a Mormon to drop their drawers so we could find out? I am merely curious and definitely not interested for any personal reasons.
From what I've found, they only lose exempt status if the political activity is with regard to a candidate's campaign. But, I read that a complaint had been made with the IRS.
Amii
Post a Comment