Good morning, y’all. The skies were rumbling last night, so much so that it cut into my usual five hours of sound sleep. The rumblings were to the East of us, and I joked to Mulva that it sounded like the coaches at UGA were having a “come to Jesus” moment. I don’t think Mulva caught my attempt at humor about the complete disarray the Bulldog program seems to have fallen into. Mulva’s response was, “aaarrrghhh”, followed by pulling the pillow over her head.
I chose to get up and channel surf to see if I could lull myself to sleep via the droning of nonsense. I was fortunate that I was able to find some nonsense right off, it’s just that the message was not sleep inducing. It seems that the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have decided to exclude children of same-sex couples from receiving the church’s blessings. What a bunch of mean spirited wacky doodles.
As usual, my thoughts go first to the child. Imagine attending church with your parents, believing whatever tripe that religion churns out with regard to their heavenly standards, and then being told that because your parents don’t measure up, you’re going to be denied heaven. How cruel is that? And what is the child supposed to do, go home and kill their parents so they can receive God’s love? Clearly the Mormon’s homophobia didn’t go any further than sending a message to the gay community that the gays are not welcome, and to prove it, we’ll deny your children any thoughts of Heaven.
Hypocrisy is an easy topic when discussing religion, and I usually like to use the Bible to give an example of where practice varies from preaching. Luke 18:16 says, “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, ‘Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.‘” Now, I know not every Bible scholar knows every verse, and every verse is open to interpretation, apparently, but this one looks pretty clear to me. It’s also not the only time in the Bible that the phrase, “don’t prevent children from seeking my love”, appears. So, to see a policy put in place that directly contradicts the teachings of Jesus, one questions the validity of the religion to make any interpretations.
It’s not like the Mormons are without their other peculiarities. Multiple wives and overloading the welfare roles with children supported by the state are a couple of the traits that have dogged the Mormons for years. While the “official” church has tried to calm the public opinion towards the church in the last few decades, there are still many outliers that give rise to the public questioning whether Mormonism is a religion or a cult.
One of the more famous cases of “extreme Mormonism” is Warren Jeffs. Imagine being a religious leader and being placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Warren Jeffs gained worldwide attention in May 2006 when he made the list. He made the Top Ten list for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in Utah. The charges in Utah related to his taking underage girls and “marrying” them to his favored male followers. He was also charged with incest and sexual conduct with minors. Jeffs was found guilty of sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault of children, some as young as twelve. When an investigation was led into Jeff’s FLDS Church’s YFZ Ranch, it was revealed to be nothing more than a breeding ground for child brides for the elder loyal followers. Young males were routinely forced out of the compound, eliminating competition for the elder males. A very sick situation indeed.
My religious philosophy is a simple one, it has but one dictum, “Do unto others as you would have done to you”. It’s easy to see how if the Mormon church could apply the Golden Rule first, they’d avoid a lot of the other notoriety and controversy.