Thoughts in a Haystack

Peter Montgomery at Religion Dispatches notes:

Mormon Church: High officials slam ‘counterfeit’ gay families

Not long after winning praise from Utah LGBT activists for a compromise in which the church supported legislation opposing discrimination in employment and housing, Mormon officials reaffirmed Church teaching against, in the words of apostle L. Tom Perry, “all of the counterfeit and alternative lifestyles that try to replace the family organization that God himself established.”

“Despite what much of media and entertainment outlets may suggest, however, and despite the very real decline in the marriage and family orientation of some,” he said, “the solid majority of mankind still believes that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”

This is amusing on a couple of levels. First of all, a solid majority of humankind doesn't believe in or, at least, doesn't live under liberal democracies that value freedom of religion as we do here in the US. Why should we care what a majority opinion across the world is, especially when we are constantly told, particularly by the Religious Right, of “American Exceptionalism”?

Furthermore, a majority of humankind here in the US and the rest of the world still believe that Mormonism is a “false religion.” Does that mean we don't have to protect Mormons' religious freedom … anymore than we have to protect the 14th Amendment rights of LGBT people to due process and equal protection under the law … simply because a majority of people disagree with their beliefs and practices?

Guys, you might want to rethink this ...