A sunset couldn't save me now.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22: 36-40 (NIV)


The Mormon Church, a church that claims the Christian faith and is based in Utah, spent $20 million advertising dollars in California to abolish the constitutional right for gay men and women to get married. In early polling and trends in California, Proposition 8 - a proposition to amend the California Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman - had no chance of passing. Even the state's Republican governor has spoken out against Prop 8. It wasn't until the Mormon Church became involved that the tide turned. Why? Misleading advertising. I'm not sure if misleading is the right word. Innaccurate would be better.

Now. The Mormon Church has every right to speak for or against any issue it so desires. In fact, I wish more churches would open their status-quo, too polite, weak mouths and take a stance against the injustices Jesus preached against instead of being an advocate for them, or worse - being quiet bystanders. The churches who currently speak out resemble far more the pharisees than Christ.

So many churches are afraid to lose their tax-exempt status by taking a stance. Besides that I think being Christ-like is worth losing tax-exempt status, speaking is protected by the First Amendment. Unlike what Mormon advertising for Prop 8 said, no person, organization, or church would lose the right to free speech if the proposition were not passed. Where the church can get in trouble is when it spends its tax-exempt money to support an overtly political person or law. And even though I feel the Mormon Church did just this by spending their $20 million on Prop 8, it is very unlikely they will lose their tax-exempt status because the law is so loose. Though I completely disagree with them on this issue and think it's very wrong that they used lies to persuade the public, I, in a very general way, admire the church for taking a risk.

I can't even blame the entire vote on the Mormon Church. The Californians who allowed themselves to be scared and misled by the church are just as much or more to blame. Part of the blame belongs to the church because as self-proclaimed followers of Christ the church has placed itself at a higher standard/scrutiny than just "regular folk" who don't invoke Christ's name. In Christ's name the church should be working for social justice, not against it. Shame on you Mormon Church. (If you declared yourselves Paulians instead of Christians I may have less disappointment in you, but even Paul talked about love and equality.) The voters share the blame because (1) a minute or two of real research would have disproven the Mormon ads' claims, (2) a brief moment of common sense would have disproven the Mormon ads' claims, and (3) in their hearts they know this proposition is wrong. Shame on you California voters, for believing that sex education would be taught in kindergarten, that homosexuality would be forced on your children, and that churches would lose their right to free speech.

As a Christian I take to heart what Jesus said when he said the greatest commandments are to love your God and love your neighbor as you would be loved. The greatest commandments trump all others, negating any sentiment that does not align with them. We teach the golden rule but don't live it. I am guilty of this too, but I like to think that I at least try, and at the very least don't openly defy it.

Since no law can be based on solely the Bible or any religious text due to separation of church and state, Prop 8 will likely not make it past the courts. God willing. California judges now must uphold the discrimination, but maybe the amendment itself can overturned by a higher court. I'm not a lawyer so I'm not sure. I do know that the amendment can be amended by voters. I think it's worth a try.

And now that you've read all of this, here's commentary on the subject from Keith Olbermann of MSNBC (his is better than mine - that's why he's at the end).