Mormon Church can no longer hide - Donations to Proposition 8.

[KitchenWitch]

http://gaytheistagenda.lavenderliberal.com/2009/01/29/mormons-not-only-bigots-and-bullies-but-hypocritical-liars-extraordinaire-now-find-out-what-they-were-desperately-trying-to-hide/

It’s common knowledge that the Mormon Church spearheaded Proposition 8, the campaign to eradicate marriage rights for same-sex couples in California. The Church handed down orders to it’s members to donate to Yes on 8 and to advocate for the ballot measure. Websites and multimedia efforts filled with anti-gay propaganda and outright lies (not to mention extortion attempts) were prepared by the Church and by Mormons under the direction of the Church to ensure the passage of Proposition 8. Yet when the measure passed the Mormons played innocent.

Mormons only comprise two percent of the California population! they exclaimed. How can you hold them responsible for passing Proposition 8? They ignored the fact that Mormons contributed at least 40% of the cash to the Yes on 8 campaign (possibly as much as 70%) and had put in significant non-monetary efforts to the fight to eradicate our rights.

SNIP

On November 3, 2008, ProtectMarriage.com received a contribution of $30,354.85 from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You read that right. The Mormon Church donated more than $30 thousand dollars to eradicate the right of same-sex couples to marry.

[EFerrari]

1. There's something dirty here somewhere.

They're fighting hard to keep names secret and when I went back to get the names of Protect Marriage endorsers after the election, that whole page was down. :shrug:

[KitchenWitch]

2. This whole thing never passed the smell test.

[EFerrari]

9. It's got to be something besides that the Catholic and Mormon

leadership colluded because that's not illegal. Maybe money laundering? There's something here. :shrug:

[Initech]

27. Got that right.

I definitely smelled a rat from day one - for one thing this was way too fucking soon for it to even have been considered for a proposition. The superme court decision was made in March (?) and the prop was on the ballot in November. There had to have been some outside play involved in getting this thing rushed so quickly.

I spent most of election day cheering for Obama's victory and cursing because I was so pissed off at my state for passing this disgusting piece of legislation.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Anything in google cache? Wayback machine? n/t

[EFerrari]

8. I've come up empty. May be here somewhere but I haven't found it. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

10. What is it with the GOP and secrecy? Damn. n/t

[rufus dog]

4. There is a family in my neighborhood who donated $2,500

They also gave Mitt a similar amount during the primaries. A big Mormon family, living in a high cost area, single income yet they have 5k free in one year!???? It does seem strange that they have 5k of cash available for political campaigns.

[KitchenWitch]

5. That kind of tactic is not surprising

If you are insinuating what I think you are.

x(

[rufus dog]

6. yup, I am

Outwardly they seem to be very tight on cash, driving older cars, inexpensive clothes. Hell I had a pretty good run and have two kids compared to their five and I couldn't have coughed up 5k for Obama.

[KitchenWitch]

7. That is what I thought...

gods I hate people sometimes.

[GentryDixon]

29. They pay much less tax

based on their "little deductions".

[hunter]

30. Sign your name here, support California's Proposition 8...

...and you'll receive your very own "No tithing for a year card!"

Something like that?

[NMMNG]

11. Kick

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Boy, it's a good thing nobody's hurting out there

otherwise they would have been forced to use that $30,354.85 to house the homeless and feed the hungry and stuff. :mad:

[Starry Messenger]

13. I think they donated a whole lot more than that.

http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=13628

"The complaint says the church failed to report money invested to organize phone banks, send out direct mailers, provide transportation to California, mobilize a speakers bureau, send out satellite simulcasts and develop Web sites as commercials and video broadcasts.

According to Karger, who organized Californians Against Hate to track donations to the Yes on 8 campaign, the Mormon church organized out-of-state phone banks in Idaho and Utah to educate voters about Proposition 8 and solicit donations. Karger said a Web site affiliated with the church produced more than 13 videos and commercials designed to be shared and forwarded among Internet users.

“ position has shifted 180 degrees; they’ve gone from saying they’ve reported everything and worked with California and their attorneys to report all expenditures, to saying they don’t need to report expenditures – only their members do,” Karger said. “It will be interesting to see if the FPCC gets to see all of their records and if they will be forthcoming.” "

I've also read on a couple of Mormon blogs that regular church events (picnics, etc.) were canceled if they were not working to support Prop 8 in the month leading up to the election. It was an all out effort. Time to drop the innocent act Mormon church.

[shintao]

14. Time to Tax the Mormoms as a political Organization!!

Yes indeed, sic the IRS down their throat, get their butt in court, and watch these religious folks lie their arse off. I would tax them, all their buildings, etc. Not a church, a political organization conducting politics from the pulpit.

[Starry Messenger]

15. I agree. n/t

[Radical Activist]

25. Think about how much land in Utah

is owned by the Mormon church for buildings. The state and cities in Utah will have so much new property tax revenue they won't know how to spend it.

[Le Taz Hot]

42. Not likely to happen. Why?

Obama selects Pastor, 26, to Head Faith Office

Source: Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein and Michael D. Shear
President Obama has named Josh DuBois, the 26-year-old who ran religious outreach for his presidential campaign, to head the White House's new office of faith-based programs, a White House aide said today.

DuBois, who has worked as an associate pastor for a small Pentecostal church in Massachusetts and received a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University, was widely expected to get the position and is considered close to the president, for whom he also worked in the Senate.

DuBois's appointment to run the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships -- first reported today in the New York Times -- is the first publicly known detail about the future of the office, which partners with faith groups on social service issues and helps advise them on applying for federal funds.

Obama aides have said the president's effort will expand the faith-based office at the White House. Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives made a priority of placing faith offices within federal agencies, but was criticized by some former high-ranking staff for becoming politicized.

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/29/obama_se...


I'm assuming Mormons will be included in his faith-based shit. Wiccans? Not so much.

[KitchenWitch]

21. I know for a fact that the big Mormon church here postponed a "Trunk or Treat" event for the kids

until AFTER the election (um Halloween is October 31, but the election was November 5).

But these people are all about the CHILLLLLDRENNNNNNN.

[Starry Messenger]

38. Wow, that's really sad.

:(. Gotta wonder how they explained that to the kids.

[KitchenWitch]

39. Yeah, voting down peoples rights was more important than a family event.

They have their priorities straight...

x(

[Mari333]

16. Prop 8 donors, get your Prop 8 donors here....

http://www.eightmaps.com/


names and all.

[nichomachus]

17. Or you can go to this site

And do a more specific search

http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

20. I found another reason NOT to buy a Dell

[EFerrari]

26. Thanks!

[nichomachus]

18. The hypocrisy of the Mormons (and others)

One of the main claims of the pro-Prop H8 people was that we couldn't "redefine" marriage.

What they failed to mention was that the Mormons, in their 150-year history, have redefined marriage three times.

[Radical Activist]

24. The hypocrisy is endless

I've posted this before but it's worth reminding people that what the Mormon Church is doing even violates what their founding prophet believed. Probably no one here is debating Mormons but if you find yourself in a conversation with one you might bring up what Joseph Smith wrote in a book they consider scripture on par with the Bible.

Doctrine & Covenants, Section 134:

4 We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul.

9 We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied.

http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/134

[SidneyCarton]

31. And yet, same-sex marriage is also against Mormon doctrine.

So one is forced to choose between hypocrisy and hypocrisy. Either one infringes on the rights of others, or admits that a key tenet of Mormon doctrine, (the idea of ongoing revelation and prophetic succession) is utterly bankrupt.

If no stand on Proposition 8 was taken, then the doctrine presented in the "Proclamation on the Family" is considered a non issue, and non-important.

If it is not important, then the prophetic calling of President Hinckley (the Church leader who put forth the Proclamation) is called into question, and by extension that of his successor, President Monson.

If President Hinckley, and by extension President Monson are not Prophets, then the Church has no reason to exist. Hence the Mormons are left in the logic bind of having to support a ballot measure which gains them nothing in the end but trouble.

For Example...

What did the Mormons gain from Proposition 8.

Our street cred with the Fundies is no better, we are still a non-Christian cult destined for hell. Mitt Romney is no more likely to gain the 2012 nomination for President than you are (I would suppose it will be a toss-up between Palin and Huckabee) The FEC is looking into the matter of donations and the Church's tax-exempt status is in question, and the CA Supreme Court will possibly overturn Prop 8 in March, making this whole mess an extremely expensive (in terms of public relations as well as money) exercise in futility. Ergo, politically the Mormons have gained nothing here.

This can really only be understood by considering the logic of a church that believes in revelation and prophetic succession. I realize that such issues are essentially considered superstious foolishness here, but in order to understand why people do a thing, one must understand that it isn't what is so that matters so much as what they believe is so.

[Radical Activist]

32. The third option

is to continue the church's usual policy of staying out of political matters as it does on almost every other issue. One can believe that gay marriage is sin and still accept that we live in a free society where people have the free agency to do things you find immoral. That would be the most theologically consistent thing to do.

Furthermore, the prejudice and hate that inevitably result from these marriage amendments is a clear violation of the first and most basic commandment to love one another. That should be easy to understand for a religion that was persecuted and ostracized for believing in its own nontraditional form of marriage.

[SidneyCarton]

34. You make an excellent point, and I do not disagree.

You will note that the Church also opposed the legalization of Same-Sex marriage in Spain, (and likely did so as well in the Netherlands and Canada) in each case, same-sex marriage was legalized, and the Church moved on. When the CA Supreme Court strikes down 8 (as it seems likely it will) there is reason to believe that we will adapt to the changed circumstances.

One can also oppose change, yet deal with it when it comes.

[Strong Atheist]

19. K&R.

[SidneyCarton]

22. There is nothing to hide.

Take this to the FEC and see what they will do. If it is illegal we will lose our tax exempt status.

[Radical Activist]

23. wow.

Encouraging their members to donate and get involved isn't new or surprising. But a large donation directly from the church itself. That could be a scandal even among Mormons, if any of them ever hear about it. I wonder if the IRS will get involved.

[EFerrari]

33. You have a lot more confidence in the Feds than I do.

:shrug:

[Initech]

28. The Mormon church should lose its tax exempt status for this.

So should Rick Warren's megachurch - he was another huge cheerleader for Prop (h)8, and even at one point wound up sending a mass e-mail to his 40,000 member congregation urging them to vote yes on Prop (h)8.

[KitchenWitch]

36. Rick Warren does not run a church, he runs a business.

He sells his church "model" to other churches for boucoup bucks.

[anonymous171]

35. Revoke their tax free status now. nt

[DevonRex]

37. And Focus on the Family well over 50,000. And some Dish Network guy

here in Colorado who lives close to me, gave 2,500. Those were the only 2 Colorado donations I found but I didn't go all over the state on that map.

[KitchenWitch]

40. Not that I agree with them but isn't Focus on the Family a lobbying group

and not really a church?

[NMMNG]

41. Focus on the Family

They're a 501(c)(3) corporation (a charity) which means they're not supposed to engage in any political lobbying or similar activities. But they have their offshoot, "Focus Action" which is a 501(c)(4) social welfare group. That lets them get around the restrictions of the 501(c)(3) regulations and essentially get away with murder while still raking in $$$$$$ for their "churchy charity" crap. It's the perfect scam.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_on_the_Family_(United_States)

[KitchenWitch]

43. Thank you for the clarification.

I hate these people and their fucking loopholes.

[NMMNG]

45. Me too

They're wolves in religious garb, nothing more.

[Mendocino]

44. Marriage is a sacred right between one man and...

...multiple teenage girls!