Catholics+Mormons= Prop 8

[L.Wood]

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Seems to be the winning formula in Calif where the two opposed teams, Team Jesus and Team Joseph Smith, canned their differences and joined forces. A further test of credulity is to even contemplate a Mormon preaching to others about marriage.

Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage

“We’re going to lose this campaign if we don’t get more money,” the strategist, Frank Schubert, recalled telling leaders of Protect Marriage, the main group behind the ban.

(see list of donors, by state, here. Wal-Mart/Ark well represented. )

"The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. The money allowed the drive to intensify a sharp-elbowed advertising campaign, and support for the measure was catapulted ahead; it ultimately won with 52 percent of the vote."

(Just in case there are any Freethinkers who are not up on Mormon basics then please click here for an entertaining audio/visual tour.)

"The California measure, Proposition 8, was to many Mormons a kind of firewall to be held at all costs.


“California is a huge state, often seen as a bellwether — this was seen as a very, very important test,” Mr. Otterson said.

"First approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco a few weeks after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, the Mormons were the last major religious group to join the campaign, and the final spice in an unusual stew that included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties.

"Shortly after receiving the invitation from the San Francisco Archdiocese, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City issued a four-paragraph decree to be read to congregations, saying “the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan,” and urging members to become involved with the cause.

Here's Team Joseph Smith's bidness plan:

"Jeff Flint, another strategist with Protect Marriage, estimated that Mormons made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts.

The canvass work could be exacting and highly detailed. Many Mormon wards in California, not unlike Roman Catholic parishes, were assigned two ZIP codes to cover. Volunteers in one ward, according to training documents written by a Protect Marriage volunteer, obtained by people opposed to Proposition 8 and shown to The New York Times, had tasks ranging from

“walkers,” assigned to knock on doors;

to “sellers,” who would work with undecided voters later on;

and to “closers,” who would get people to the polls on Election Day.

Like any good sales organization the players need a script:

" Suggested talking points were equally precise. If initial contact indicated a prospective voter believed God created marriage, the church volunteers were instructed to emphasize that Proposition 8 would restore the definition of marriage God intended.

But if a voter indicated human beings created marriage, Script B would roll instead, emphasizing that Proposition 8 was about marriage, not about attacking gay people, and about restoring into law an earlier ban struck down by the State Supreme Court in May.

“It is not our goal in this campaign to attack the homosexual lifestyle or to convince gays and lesbians that their behavior is wrong — the less we refer to homosexuality, the better,” one of the ward training documents said. “We are pro-marriage, not anti-gay.”

Oh BOY! That last statement said it all. Mormons are PRO-MARRIAGE, especially to unwilling 15 year old girls.

The entire story is at NYTclick here.

[tmiller51]

Early Prop 8 "Protector of Marriage" files for divorce:

"In July 2008, hotelier and developer Doug Manchester donated $125,000 to help gather signatures for a proposition that would ban same-sex marriage in California. The early money was crucial to getting the initiative—which ultimately passed—on the ballot. At the time, he told The New York Times that he made the donation because of “my Catholic faith and longtime affiliation with the Catholic Church,” which preferred that marriage remain between a man and a woman. Indeed, the Catholic Church has vehemently opposed gay marriage. Then again, it’s also not too keen on divorce.

On Oct. 9, 2008, Manchester ended 43 years, eight months and nine days of marriage to Elizabeth Manchester by moving out of their La Jolla abode. "

Full Article

Tim