It is no secret that Proposition 8, a proposed amendment to the California constitution that would remove the right to marry from gay and lesbian people, is being financed in large part by the Mormon Church, which reportedly has spent $35 million (so far), mainly on TV commercials. The Catholic Church and right-wing organizations like Focus on the Family are also funding Proposition 8. Their blizzard of money has funded misleading commercials which have closed the once-wide gap in the polls by making it seem to be a law protecting second-graders from being ‘taught gay marriage.’

I have two responses to this very sad state of affairs: one is that Proposition 8 is, at its core, a hate law aimed at a minority group, a vicious and pointed removal of rights from some 2.1 million Californians. It’s hard to express how angry this attempt to force Mormon religion into my state’s laws has made me (and a very large number of my fellow Californians). Religion, Mormon or otherwise, belongs in churches and temples, and has no place in government: indeed the United States was founded by people seeking freedom from state-enforced religion.

The second is that I happen to be a Christian, and find it hard to believe an organization that styles itself ‘The Church of Jesus Christ’ could possibly be doing something this evil. Consider these words from a recent sermon (not on the topic of Proposition 8, but relevant nevertheless):

When Jesus is asked which of the 613 commandments that are found in Hebrew scriptures is the greatest and most important, Jesus answers decisively, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

… sometimes religious people are so caught up in religious rules, and the niceties of religious observances that they convince themselves these are the essence of being a faithful person. The danger is always that we can turn loving and worshipping God into a kind of self-serving, self-centered activity. That is precisely why Jesus was quick to add that while loving God is first, the second part of that great love is loving our neighbor. And the definition Jesus gives of “neighbor” is that everyone is our neighbor, even our worst enemy.

This passage eloquently sums up my understanding of Christ’s teaching. Jesus also taught by example and famously shared his table with those in his community who were of the very lowest status – tax collectors and prostitutes and ‘untouchables,’ much to the disgust of the Levites, the priestly class of his epoch.

It is hard to imagine a group that suffers more discrimination and holds lower status in modern society than gay and lesbian people. Christ explicitly teaches that we must love and reach out to these brothers and sisters. The Mormons et al. are going far beyond merely ignoring the basic tenets of Christianity. Spending $35 million to officially turn a minority into an underclass is more than wrong. Christ weeps…

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