Proposition 8 opponents to make case at Mormon temple in Oakland

I'm hoping it is because they were anticipating protests and are finally "getting it" how unpopular their their support of Prop 8 was! It really irks me how they are saying "the people of California have spoken" with the vote. Utah, LDS, stay out of California Supreme Court decisions! Only 2% of Californians are Mormons, yet they want to tell us how to run OUR state.

Mormon temples are closed on Sundays. No one will be at the Oakland Temple on Sunday so you shouldn't disturb anyone.

Mormon temples aren't really churches in the traditional sense. They exist to marry live people (called celestial marriage - or just marriage) or marry dead people (called sealings). In addition, special initiation rites take place there (non-traditional but tame stuff - like learning secret passwords and handshakes that will get you into heaven, etc.). The dress code for a Mormon temple is very strict. All white must be worn. Shoes, underwear, belt, everything.

On Sundays, Mormons go to their Ward Houses where they hold religous ceremonies, tell their testimonies, and listen to directives from Mormon authorities (such as vote for Prop 8 and give all you can to make sure Gay people can't marry, etc.). Other than the "mormon underwear" that adult Mormons who have entered the "priesthood" (any adult Mormon in good standing with the Church is a member of some priesthood -basically a cell within the church structure), people wear what Protestants would consider to be 'normal clothes'.

It is unfair to single out the LDS Church. The LDS Church is only one church that was pro 8. So why does nobody speak about the other churches?

The largest funder of Prop 8 was the Knights of Colombus (Catholic organization). Why isn't there a focus on them? Yes, by all means, go after the Mormon bigots, but let's give credit where credit is due. The Catholics have blood on their hands as well. Let's repeal their tax exempt status. That will get the world's largest landowner where it hurts the most....their pocketbook.

LDS provided extremely active support for Prop. 8: $9M (40% of the total pro-8 funding) and organization (mailers, video conferences, church meetings, an army of volunteers, out-of-state phone banks, etc). By contrast, the Knights of Columbus provided $1M and nowhere near the active organizational support.

It would be great to see data re other organizational support. Please publish.

Are you out of your minds??

This is war. We should react to the mormon scum with as much hostility as is legally allowed. We need to fight them back strongly and do everything to make their lives difficult.

I hope the mormons suffer greatly for what they've done. Persecution is what they deserve.

The votes of a minority should not be put to a vote of the majority. Democracy exists to protect minorities from bullying by ignorant groups like the Mormon cultists.

Your religion and your theocratic state of Utah will suffer for this. The backlash is only just beginning. Just watch.

The anti-prop 8 bigots need to start telling the truth.
The LDS church hasn't donated a single dime to passing prop 8.
It did encourage it's members to do so.
There is a distinction.
When you react like intolerant bigots (like you are)
You solidify us in being against gay marriage.
All of the comments about making Utah suffer, or taking away our constitutionally derived rights to freedome of religion, only makes you all look like a bunch of crazies.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_chsc.htm
Here's a different cult you could join.
"2004: Ethel Baker, manager of local activities for the Christian Science Mother Church in Boston, MA, said: "There's no question specified in the Church's manual about sexual orientation." She said that the Church's position is to not take a position. Members are expected to work out their own questions of human sexuality. Referring to the membership or employment in the Mother Church, she said that sexual orientation is: "...just not an issue." She concluded: "We're not even individually to judge each other - that's just not Christianity. That's the only way that we'll begin to move forward - that non-judgmental, unconditional love of each other."
bullet 2004: Bob Minnocci, an active Christian Scientists for over two decades and an ex-employee of the Mother Church wrote in mid-2004:

"I can say emphatically from what I've observed and experienced that a person's sexual orientation is simply not an issue at the church - in employment or membership consideration. I can also say that at no other time in the past 20 years have people from all walks of life - gay and straight - been more welcomed and warmly embraced by The Mother Church than they are today. And from conversations I've had with church officials, I know that the welcome is nonjudgmental and profoundly sincere, based on a simple principle established by church founder Mary Baker Eddy - 'Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals'." "

Hey Truth,! The Mormon church has had an organized campaign against gays since 1994. Go read their literature if you have not already.

"Democracy" - as such - protect minorities? I think not! By its very definition, it's a contradiction in terms.

However, safeguards in our democracy - such as the constitutional provisions of the Bill of Rights - do (protect minorities). Among of these protections are guarantees that all people can vote, and that all people can speak freely on issues.

I can't help but wonder (as the Mormons are attacked for supporting something they felt deeply about - in a way fully supported and protected by the laws of the land) how many of their attackers were as deeply involved in the political process before the election.

Since the LGBT population of California is nearly twice that of the Mormon population, it seems there should have been ample resources to fend off any/all of the claims of a "stolen election."

I suppose many on the "No" side did contribute time and money to supporting their position, but it seems to me that the "No" side fought as if they knew they would win (and therefor lost); whereas the "Yes" fight fought as if they knew they would lose (and therefor won). It seems to me that if you "lose a battle you didn't fight" you shouldn't run around crying "foul" when it's over.

But they WILL suffer the consequences of their actions. As I said, just watch. Millions of people are filing out IRS form 13909 in order to protest the cult's tax-exempt status. Boycotts of Utah are being planned. A lot has happened in just under a week. Imagine what damage we'll do in a year.

Go ask Coors what the gays can do to an organization. We will vilify the mormons. They have no idea what they've stepped into.

I can't wait for one of those young men cult members to come to my door.

Revoke LDS Cult 501(c)(3) Status

Enjoy, Mormons.

The KKK was simply expressing deeply held beliefs when they waged war against blacks. That's comparable to what the Mormons are doing. The difference is that the Mormons are doing it with tax-exempt status.

That will likely change. The cult is losing it's religion status in Great Britian. Can't be long until we do the same here.

The Oakland Mormon bused kids down to Grand/Lakeshore/MacArthur with the Yes on 8 signs- they did it for weeks. They provided logistical and financial support as well. They are complicit and have indoctrinated their young people in the ways of intolerance

"Only Mormons that possess temple recommends are allowed in Mormon Temples. In the United States, this poses no significant legal problems as the temples are considered necessary for worship. The situation in Great Britain is different, as churches must demonstrate that building are required for public worship or administrative purposes if the religious organization wants to be exempt from having to pay property taxes on a building that it owns.

"Many of the other buildings used by the Chorley Stake maintained the protected status. The majority opinion held that because even Mormons are excluded from access from the Preston Temple in Chorley, the building is not eligible for being exempt from property taxes, states a recent decision of the British House of Lords, Gallagher versus the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (http://mormonism.suite101.com/article.cfm/chorley_temple_loses_property_tax_exempt_status)

So it's the temple that lost its tax exemption, not the church. Many other buildings are still protected.

I think you might need a quick lesson in the KKK - so as to clarify the differences.

The KKK is notorious for its history of violence:
1) lynching
2) terrorism
3) secrecy
4) vandalism
5) murder

The "Yes on Prop 8" campaign is notorious for
1) running television ads
2) making phone calls
3) standing publicly in broad daylight with signs
4) voting in a free election
5) sending emails to friends and neighbors

As soon as we find a way to "silence the Mormons" (an even smaller minority than the LGBT population), we should all begin worrying about who will be silenced next - and why! Just because you disagree with them, doesn't necessarily justify forcing them not to say it.

And as you contemplate ways of "making the Mormons pay" for "what they've done" do consider which list your proposed retaliations will fall into... You may be surprised to find that you are more like the KKK than the Mormons (or the rest of the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign.

Mormons are a cult! They believe they wear "magic Under Garments" which protect them from harm. They believe that each man (but not gays or women) gets his own planet to be lord over after death. They are a cult and are becoming mainstream enough to be running the boy-scouts and to decide who deserves civil rights? This is scary stuff! check out mormoncurtain.com and find out what his cult is about.

There are some of us Mormons who are more liberal and more willing to support gay marriage. By threating violence and vandalizing our churches you are only going to polarize the liberal mormons (yes- the one's that you will need to pass future legislation in your favor) to the side that you don't want them to be on, which is already happening. Let's calm down and play a little more nicer. There are other ways to protest what you don't believe in other than what you have been doing.

If one wants to know more about the LDS church why not go to their websites as well? Why not go to the source? As an LDS friend what they are all about. Ask someone you may not know very well but is LDS what the church is about. I am a firm believer in going to as many sources as possible and then making an informed decision about a subject. When you honestly want to understand something you will.

Ew. All the scarier if LDS donations, pushed strongly by elders (who provided extensive organizing support, including phone banks, demographic data, and social reinforcement), were made predominantly—democratically—by individual members rather than simply by a few old, deluded creeps. This would make LDS (5.5 M American members; $8 M donated by democratically individuals) 5,400% more homophobic as a religion (re Prop. 8) than the famously-homophobic Roman Catholicism (67.5 M American members; $1 M donated by the church organization). What is wrong w/ Mormonism? Why is it, evidently, especially homophobic? What is taught? God's love? Acceptance? Fear? Bigotry?

What some people don't get: marriage rights is not a baseball game. In voting to discriminately eliminate the civil rights (and particularly personal ones at that) of one minority group—to no social benefit—the mob does great harm to these individuals and to the notion of equality. A minority religious group would have done better to have thought of the consequences before becoming such bigotry's biggest backer.

Think about what it would mean if a narrow minority invalidated your marriage, your parental rights, your religion. Shame.

Er, "narrow minority" -> "narrow majority."

For all you mormons who think we're going to roll over and fall for your bullcrap story about how you were just participating in the democratic process, FORGET IT. You managed to TAKE AWAY RIGHTS from another group. Rights that they were given by the courts who interpret "the rule book" we have lived by for centuries in this country. And you see the fury you have unleashed as being unwarranted? Wars are fought over such things and rightly so.

So dont' freak when we take the fight from our homes where you took away our rights to marry who we want and take it to your sacred cult temples. You can't run and hide behind your gaudy real estate and bible.

This is war. Think of it as such. Remember why you started it and don't whine when things don't go your way in the future.

Hey Dino, get a clue

Are you trying to help the anti-gay marriage people with their next tv commercial. "So dont' freak when we take the fight ...to your sacred cult temples. You can't run and hide behind your gaudy real estate and bible.

This is war. Think of it as such."

The pro Prop 8 campaign peddled fear of what would happen to religious people and churches if gay marriage was allowed to stand. You just confirmed that they had reason to fear. Idiot.