Clueless AND missing the boat
Tom Hanks recently made a bit of stir by calling Mormons un-American. Apart from the minor issue I have that that seems to be the ultimate slur anyone can sling these days, whether right left or somewhere in between, it was the Church's official response that just boggles the mind.
Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets. (Fox News)
What most members of the Mormon church just don't seem to comprehend is they are not just "expressing an opinion." They can write letters to the editor till the cows come home. They can stand on the street corner and exhort passers-by to heed their call. They can stand on the roof-tops and shout their message of "the restored gospel" all they want and no one would even care (except perhaps their neighbors). People might complain about the little boys knocking on their doors, but no one is trying to make it illegal.
What they have done in California is not simply express an opinion. They've conspired to make their beliefs the law of the land. What Tom Hanks' comment missed (because he isn't LDS) and what members of the Mormon church deliberately ignore is Prop 8 is not just un-American. It's un-Mormon.
The LDS Church has what is known as The 13 Articles of Faith, sort of a Mormon creed originally written down by Joseph Smith, intended to summarize the beliefs of the church. Every good Mormon child has them memorized by the time they are twelve. Article of Faith #11 states
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
I wonder if they've started teaching the kiddies the 2008 addendum to #11: "...unless you live in a jurisdiction where we have enough political clout to give our beliefs the force of law, in which case we will do everything in our power to make sure you live as we see fit."