Windy Sydney

Spooky Bear Says, "Pay tithing? Are you kidding me?

Dear Bishop xxxxxxx,

Several days ago, the Yes on 8 campaign sent out letters to businesses that had donated substantial amounts to Equality California. These letters were sent via certified mail and signed by the Executive Committee of ProtectMarriage.com. In this letter, they have stated that they will publish any business that has donated to No on 8 unless they make an equal contribution to Yes on 8 to “correct the error” that these businesses made. Exactly what was their error?

It surprises me that the Yes on 8 campaign doesn’t know that donations made to Equality California is already public information? How else did they find the list so easily themselves? Did they honestly think that there would be a positive outcome of threatening businesses using scare tactics that have become so commonplace in their campaign? ProtectMarriage claims that many of these businesses clients support traditional marriage and by having their business names published, they will lose business. Do they not understand that this is blackmail? Of course they do.

If you take note to one of the letters that was sent out, you will notice that there are four signatures at the bottom. They are as follows: Ron Prentice, Yes on 8 campaign chair; Edward Dolesji, executive director of the California Catholic Conference; Andrew Pugno, attorney for the Yes on 8 campaign…and Mark Janssen, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

In the past three months, the church has used their members to fund millions of dollars into the Yes on 8 campaign, pressuring them to donate their time, energy, and money to the cause, while openly spreading lies and half-truths in an attempt to win support for the proposition. Let me ask this…has the increasingly large number of divorces and domestic disputes in America as well as around the world caused children to grow up outside the bounds of traditional marriage? Absolutely, so why has the church not called it’s members to these and other more worthwhile causes like the war on drugs? With the $26 Million Dollars raised, over 8,600 wells could be built in Africa or 6.5 Million mosquito nets purchased for the thousands of children dying of malaria every day.

I say, shame on Mark Jansson, and shame on President Monson for allowing the use of intimidation, blackmail, and extortion as their own propaganda tools. I have spoken with many members, like myself, who are appalled and offended with the attitude that the church has taken on this and other recent events. I am requesting that President Monson call Mark Jansson to repentance and a disciplinary council for “conduct unbecoming of a church member.” Blackmail and extortion violates not only the laws of the land, but basic principles of Christianity. Is this what Christ would do? The rationale behind Prop 8 is the equivalent to why white people didn’t want black people to drink from their drinking fountains or enter into interracial marriage, fear and bigotry. Has American society been utterly destroyed because of these changes in the past?

However, I think much damage has already been done by the church that is irrevocable. Personally, I find myself embarrassed with what the leaders have done and I know many other members who feel the same as I do. I think that many people’s eyes have been opened to the hypocrisy and bigoted propaganda of the church due to their involvement in Prop 8. I would ask that this be forwarded to the First Presidency and into the hands of Thomas S. Monson, but I know that will not happen as they sit behind an inviolable wall beyond the reach of the common member. However, I refuse to sit quietly while basic rights are being fought against. I have chosen the side of equality, what about President Monson and yourself?

Sincerely,

"Freeway"

OK, so the bishop just left. We got pretty much to the point of the visit right away. He stated that the SP wanted him to come over even before the "under the door" letter arrived.

As we started to talk, he was really digging at where we stood with the church. I told him that we did not believe the church to be the one and only true church and that so much of the history of the church is white washed and dumbed down for the common member. We went back and forth as he kept trying to say the resources we had were anti-mormon, of course that is when we said that most of the things we read did in fact come from the church's current and past teachings.

I started talking about my mission and how I was forced to push Prop 22 propaganda down people's throats while tracting. He was a bit taken a back by that. He wasn't sure what to think... "You did that?" uhhh yeah. We talked about Prop 8 and our issues with it. I told him how I felt it was my duty to rectify what I had previously done on my mission, which was to enforce the church's bigotry.

We brought up some of the original topics such as Joseph and the Amazing Colored Peepstone. I mentioned how it was not a direct translation and surprisingly, he agreed. He stated that it was a translation of sorts, not from one language to another. Not sure what that means.

We also brought up the fact that there is no transparency in the finanical records of the church. I asked him to show me the church's budget, but he replied was strictly confidential. When I asked him why, he said he was sure there were good reasons. Ha. I figure there are good reasons too. We also talked about the mall in SLC and the funding used for it, he assured us it wasn't from thithing, but he couldn't be sure. It sounded like one of GBH's "I don't know" statements.

He then decided to take a different approch and warn us of the dangers of not blessing our child and by not attending church. By doing so, we were breaking link for all of our future children and their children to be taught the gospel (brainwashed). Little did he know... that's the whole point! He probed us several times about blessing our baby. He even went as far as to say that if we died in a car accident, he wouldn't be blessed! After we told him that we didn't want to bless him in a church we didn't believe was true, he asked if we wanted to just put his name on the records. My kick ass wife said, "I'm not prepared to do that".

Also, I don't think that they are doing so well in our ward, he pushed us several times to pay tithing. Saying that we had to go to church and pay a full tithe in order to know if the church was true because God would only let us know if we were keeping the commandments. I replied with "Well, thats assuming the church is true," his face was priceless.

In the end, I think he pretty much understands that we aren't coming back. He left us saying that he hoped that we would think about the things he talked about (blessing our baby-gotta add to those numbers- and paying tithing) I don't think we will be doing either any time soon.