The Latest "No On Prop 8" Ad: A Fine Example of Anti-Religious Bigotry
I think Prop 8's opponents have finally gone over the edge. Here's their latest ad, which we just received from our reader Bart:
Our reader comments:
Please forward - with my comments, if you want to - to every religious group you have dealt with. I would like them all to condemn this in very strong terms, as soon as day breaks. Once again, the opposition forces show that their true agenda is to attack religious organizations.Indeed. I am sure we will see efforts in the comments here to justify this ad. They should be amusing.
The battlefront is getting very ugly. If you haven't seen this latest No on 8 ad that will hit the California Television markets tomorrow, it is worthy of awareness. The direct attack against the Mormon church using faux missionaries is deplorable.
My great hope is that Californians will be repulsed by such a blatant display of religious bigotry, and that they will see the true agenda of those who claim they want free speech. Anyone who tries to equate the free exercise of a person's political rights with home invasion clearly has a twisted perception of the world. I hope that there is a firestorm of condemnation - from every religious denomination - of this raw display of intolerance. It's Mormons today, and who else tomorrow?
UPDATE: It's 12:15 p.m here in California and the No on 8 campaign has yet to denounce or disavow this ad.
The California Catholic Conference has denounced it. Other churches will no doubt follow.
posted by Lowell Brown at 5:52 PM
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44 Comments:
Thank you for showing this. It is simply horrible the depths opponents of prop 8 will go.
The entire no on 8 campaign has been a series of subtle and blatant deception. I love a campaign that decries any imagined intolerance...but uses it as a weapon of choice against any kind of viewpoint contrary to their own. Nice huh?
I want to say I'm shocked...but at this point... it's just frustrating.
Thanks for keeping us in the know.
1. Schools have a strict rule to remove all campaign signs promptly.
2. If anyone sees this ad play on TV - please document which station and time shown. LDS members everywhere should send a strong letter of condemnation to that station.
Thank you for showing your incomparable bigotry. This one video has made it crystal clear that your presentation of Mormon missionaries is not even what would be labeled a caricature. It's simple hate speech coming from those on the left who wish to redefine the sacred institution of marriage. Thank you for showing your true colors; you've made voting Yes on Prop 8 a certainty for all thinking people. I salute you.
By the way, my comments were aimed at the producers of the video, not those on this blog who alerted us to it. FYI
I actually thought this was so absurd that it was funny! I started laughing out loud and my six year old came over to see what I found so amusing! I took the opportunity to teach him again about Prop 8, about Heavenly Father's plan, and about how to respond to negative comments about the church. It was a great teaching moment!! :)
what in the world? this is so horrible!
Hm. That's very upsetting. I am so grateful that the election is over today.
I am SHOCKED at the intimation that it's wrong for church to take over government but not wrong for government to take over churches.
There is something seriously wrong with political education in our country if this kind of crap ad works today.
How is this bad? It speaks the truth! The LDS and other Christian groups *do* want to take away the woman's right to choose, as explained here: http://www.acouplethings.com/blog/2008/11/brilliant-prop-8-ad/
That video is so unrealistic. Those two women were both quite attractive.
So untrue. Fuzz Bumpers cant be that hot.
Thanks for this post. I've linked to it on my blog.
http://www.swampbrat.net/2008/11/hypocrisy-at-its-best.html
The church doesn't want to take away anyone's rights. They want to keep the sanctity of marriage between man and woman.
I'm not offended very easily.
This add is very offensive...
I'm sure Mormons will not be deterred...they have seen worse attacks on their religion in our history...unfortunately.
Soon Obama will be expanding the definition of "hate speech", arresting ministers who refuse to marry gay couples, and aggressively requiring all textbooks to educate (indoctrinate) children in the "goodness" of gay sex and gay marriage beginning in preschools.
Of course, this will be part of the broader "social justice" agenda promoted by Bill Ayers and much of our educational establishment.
Don't worry -- you can appeal to a Supreme Court with a majority of very liberal justices. Hopefully, you will get out of the jails being run by the new "internal" army which Obama is proposing. This group will do everything EXCEPT protecting our borders. Hmmm. Worried yet?
I don't agree with discriminating against gays and lesbians with respect to marriage, but I oppose this sort of religious bigotry, as well. Neither one is justified.
The Mormon Church can't expect to jump into politics and then complain when it gets dirty. Suck it up a little Lowell because a hyperventilating complaining response to it just makes you look a little like a (Z word).
"The church doesn't want to take away anyone's rights. They want to keep the sanctity of marriage between man and woman."
Yes, the church DOES want to take away people's rights. Today, gay men and women can get married in California. If this passes, tomorrow they can't.
Feel free to support this proposition, but please don't attempt to delude yourself or others.
I don't see what's offensive about this. It's rather juvenile, but it's a dramatic illustration of the facts. LDS has donated millions to support the proposition. If it passes, gays/lesbians lose a right they currently have today. That's pretty much all the ad says.
I don't see a deception at all. Where's the deception?
This will backfire big time. The bigotry inherent in this outrageous depiction is vile. The secular left have their own religion - called secular humanism and they are intolerant of any dissent from its orthodoxy.
Californians voted to restrict marriage to men and women by popular ballot. Gay friendly judges overrode the people's will. Prop 8 will restore the people's will. Name one legal right that gays are denied if Prop 8 passes except the right to call their union a marriage?
If Christians like Mormons think long-term and eternally, they will always remember that the world has to be taken over by evil before the Second Coming. So take heart -- it has begun. Liberal left organizations are the vanguard and a socialist Obama administration with a leftist Congress and activist liberal judges will help lock it all in. Think positively.
"Name one legal right that gays are denied if Prop 8 passes except the right to call their union a marriage?
Why should I have to? That's one legal right. The previous poster said that the Church does not want to take away anyone's rights. Yes it does.
What if you couldn't call your heterosexual relationship a marriage? Would you view that as inconsequential or important?
Gays/Lesbians view that right as sacred and important, just as you do for yourself. You may think it's important to withhold that right from them, but again, don't delude yourself into thinking you're not taking away a right that people care deeply about. That's just a fact.
Place the blame where it belongs. On the four liberal justices who overturned the will of the people of California by allowing this abhorrent practice of gay marriage "rights" in the first place. What you are seeing is a "correction" of a massive wrong against the people of California, the vast majority of which are contemptuously referred to as the gay left as "breeders". Prop 8 is the breeders cup. And today, it shall runneth over with YES votes to put things right again.
It seems like this is getting way out of control. Everyone is complaining about rights being taken away. The left, their right to be married; the right, their right to practice their belief that God has said that marriage is between a man and a woman. What I am wondering is if there is any ways to keep the rights of both. Those who are opposed to prop 8 can get married, while those who are for it can keep their children from being taught all about it in school and ministers, etc. to be forced to participate in something they don't believe. Surely there is a better way.
Personally I'm for prop 8, however, I have many friends who are against it. After a long discussion we figured that this issue can be solved amicably if we all just put our heads together. Any thoughts?
Finally some pushback against the seemingly inexorable advance of foolish theism.
Keep your imaginary friends and your lunacy to yourselves.
Your religion is your concern, not mine.
My sexuality is my concern, not yours.
Prop 8 will either pass or it won't. That changes nothing.
The acceptance of homosexuality is inevitable, I'm glad to inform you all.
Just as the acceptance of women voting, which was fought tooth and nail by bigots like yourselves, came to pass.
Just as the acceptance of desegregation, which was fought tooth and nail by bigots like yourselves, came to pass.
Bigotry always loses. Always.
You win battles here and there, but the outcome of the war is stacked against your hatred.
So there you have it. Continue your holy jihad of bigotry and hatred against your fellow Americans, against your fellow human beings.
We know you can't help it. It is part of who you are.
We know you don't understand homosexuality. We know you fear what you don't understand and you must destroy what you fear, yes?
Predictable. Sad, but predictable.
So, here we are again. Hatred versus the promise of a future with equality for all.
Lets tilt our lances one more time, eh? ;p
My heart hurts over this election...please God help us.
Anyway...two glaring problems with this video.
1: Mormon missionaries would never be seen with loose ties.
2: Lesbian couples do not look as good as this couple looks.
Trying to keep a smiling face...
"Place the blame where it belongs. On the four liberal justices who overturned the will of the people of California by allowing this abhorrent practice of gay marriage "rights" in the first place."
That would be valid if it were true. Except the California Supreme court is Republican dominated.
The 4 yes votes were:
Republican Chief Justice Ronald George, appointed by Pete Wilson, Republican
Joyce Kennard. Considered a moderate. Appointed by George Deukmejian, Republican.
Kathryn Werdegar. Considered a moderate. Appointed by Pete Wilson, Republican.
Carlos Moreno. Considered a moderate. Appointed by Gray Davis, Democrat.
This ad with Mormon missionaries doesn't surprise me. The looney left will stoop to any level to try to get their way. They are showing themselves to be the true bigots in this election. They want to force acceptance of homosexuality down everyone's throat, and anyone who doesn't approve of homosexual relations is labeled a bigot and hatemonger. They cannot get their tiny little brains around the concept that one can love a person and still not accept everything they do. The LDS church leaders, time and time again, have stressed the importance of loving our neighbors, whether they be gay or straight. We can love them without accepting their actions and choices. To do otherwise is to simply be a wimp and have no sense of right and wrong and just follow along with whatever the current PC crowd fads dictate to you is right or wrong. An analogy would be a teenager who tries to "shows their love" for their friends by following them into whatever trouble they get into vs. a teenager who sticks up for what they believe in and tries to persuade their friends to stay out of trouble. Which teenager really cares about his friends, and himself or herself for that matter? I would argue that the person with the greater love for their fellow human beings is the one who sticks up for what he/she believes in, instead of foolishly following every whim of others, in order to "be accepted". This is borne out by the low-life commercial which is the subject of this discussion. What kind of love is shown by the producers of that vile video? NONE WHATSOEVER
One post commented wondering if there was a way for both sides to get what they wanted. There probably is. It would be for the state to acknowledge that homesexuality is a faith based practice. It isn't based in science in that there are people with homosexual tendencies that embrace them, as well as, those that for various reasons choose to mitigate them. The decision is generally based on very personal beliefs as to who a person is, and other religious themes. If we just say the obvious, that this is faith based, it becomes subject to the same provisions as other religions. They have protection from religious discrimination in hiring, etc... but they can't have their faith promoted by the government. Contrary to the leftist trash talk, most of us don't care what others do in their private life. All of our beliefs should be equal before the law, not one above the other. The issue here is that the left wants to force others to embrace their beliefs by structuring this as a civil rights argument, so that their faith can be higher than every one else's.
Back in the spring of this year I was preparing to teach class when I noticed that one of my students looked despondent. He was normally upbeat with energy and with vibrant intelligence. "Are feeling alright, Tafari?"
"Yes, teacher." But his eyes told me something else. He continued, "I was thinking of what we learned the other day about the great Africans who were struck down by the white people. What if something happens to Obama?"
I paused. It was a question that lingered in all our minds like an unwanted guest. We didn't want to think about it but it continues to be a possibility now as President Obama prepares his administration.
"Be strong, Tafari. We are a strong people and we will always be a strong people," I told him. But I wondered if it was enough.
Thousands of years ago a remarkable African man traveled from present-day Ethiopia to the Middle East. His name was Jesus and he carried with him a message of justice and peace. By this time, most African peoples were aware of the white man from the cold north. The great African cities in Egypt, Libya and Morocco had been ransacked and largely destroyed by these strange beings. And they continued to travel south into the heart of Africa leaving destruction behind them. A large area of northern Africa was being transformed from lush farmland into a desert. (It is known today as the Sahara Desert.) Jesus traveled north to where the white man came from with the hope he could stop their destructive ways.
But Jesus was killed. There were only a few whites who accepted Jesus and heard his message. And Jesus was killed simply because he was a black African man.
Now as Barack Obama prepares to cure America of its sickness and bring forth justice we wonder if it could happen again.
Obama is well protected, of course. He is guarded by the Secret Service but can they be trusted? They are techically part of the Bush regime and can we trust a group of mostly white men called the "Secret" Service?
Obama is also protected by NOI guards and with them, I feel much safer. During my travels with Obama this year I have noted that they are always alert and ready to defend Obama with their lives. They share a bond with Obama that is not possible with the Secret Service.
There are less than three days left. Three days till hope. Three days till justice.
And peace.
Dude. I've NEVER seen lesbians that hot. For that alone this ad should be decried as misleading.
God is the ultimate judge. Relationships between two people are between those two people. My fear is the use of courts and legal action against churches and the like who are morally opposed to gay marriage. Pastors and churches sued because they are "intolerant" when they have a Biblical basis for their beliefs.
If marriage is indeed a right and based upon love between two people, then why not marriage between three people? Family members? Adults and children?
My fear is that in the zeal to push back the church, we show our true inability to be tolerant of others.
i am sorry, but you are all horrible people for wanting to take away rights from Americans! This is discriminatory and in direct contradiction to what our country is about! How can anyone with a good heart and any morality support this?
"All of our beliefs should be equal before the law, not one above the other. The issue here is that the left wants to force others to embrace their beliefs by structuring this as a civil rights argument, so that their faith can be higher than every one else's."
This is complete and total crap. How is someone else being married forcing anything on you? No one's forcing you to take a married gay couple into your house.
Your faith tells you gay marriage is wrong. Well, then guess what. Your faith shouldn't allow gay marriage. What does that have to do with the state allowing it?
You are using circular logic to cover up the fact that you are imposing your own religious beliefs on others.
You believe gay marriage is wrong.
Others believe gay marriage is fine.
You are still free to believe it's wrong if it's legal. You are still free to tell your children it's wrong. Why should people who aren't mormon be forced to live under the same system?
I wish you all would at least have to courage to admit this is discrimination, taking away of rights, and though you hate doing that in general, you feel it's important to do so in this case.
Completely lame of you to pretend that someone else, who you have no relationship with and will never meet, marrying the person they love somehow is imposing on you. Get out of everyone else's bedroom already.
Ridiculous.
If it was truly kept in the "bedroom" and my children and school didn't have to see nor teach about homosexuality and you as a homo only had to answer to your God, I would say kudos to you. But the truth is homosexuality portrayed in film, tv, parks, school, and every facet of life. There has been a ban on smoking in public restaurants in many areas because of it's potential harm on the innocent, don't you think that homosexuality becoming legal impedes my right to a morally clean environment. Clean up the air is the environmentalists comment - how about clean up morality? Good luck MORMONS and Christians!
What retard made such a stupid commercial. If you are a true Christen (which btw, Mormons & Catholics are)... then read Romans Chapter 1... particularly verse 26-27.
Now I know this will make some of you infuriated… but wicked/sinful people never like to hear the truth and will rebel against it.
-Myrna
Each time a person with same sex attraction (ie homosexual) comes to my church to express outrage over a sign that supports marriage between one man and one woman, they claim it is hate speech. How is it that the words, "marriage is defined as one man and one woman" hate speech? I honestly don't understand. There is a discussion about the integrity of Sacred Scripture ie, Genesis Chapter 1 and fundamental belief exchange ensues. When the person who has identified him or herself as a homosexual begins to see that they aren't winning over the pastor, they get really personal and begin using threats. Why is that?
If the state defines what marriage is or is not, then the state can in effect, define anything as marriage. Dogs, Cats, kids... Is anything marriage?
Rights are one thing. Definition is another. Rights aren't being denied in this debate. What has the reproductive system have to do with the digestion system? Sex is for fidelity and reproduction of a species, not merely the enjoyment of sex. Science doesn't see the connection, but the GLBT community does? I really don't understand. GLBT folks have every right to live together and live the way that they want. What rights are being denied?
Truth: The Mormon Church supports Prop 8.
Truth: Prop 8 will make it so that homosexuals, like those portrayed in the video, can not marry.
Truth: Sure, maybe missionaries aren't going to physically knock on your door, steal your rings and laugh maniacally on the front porch, but it sure feels like that level of violation to those people who are being told who they are allowed to marry.
Gosh, what will those people who want EQUALITY FOR ALL do next in the name of freedom and tolerance?
Further,
Truth: The Bible may allude to the fact that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But it also:
says to stone disobedient children (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ),
kill rape victims (Deuteronomy 22:23-24),
kill those who curse their parents (Exodus 21:17 ),
gives permission for slavery (Leviticus 25:44-46),
bans physically challenged priests (Leviticus 21:17-24),
to abandom children who have not been circumcised (Genesis 17:14),
among others. Where are the propositions to uphold THESE Biblical ideals?
Do not try to hide behind the Bible for this one.
People who happen to love someone of the same gender are not the ones who defy the sanctity of marriage; celebrities who are married for 55 hours do. Men who beat their wives do. Women who cheat on their husbands do. Couples who pledge their eternal love, and then divorce, do. The sanctity of marriage does not have a gender, it does not have an age, it does not have a template. It has only love. How can you live with yourself as you actively deny people you have never met the opportunity to marry the loves of their lives? How can you say a man and a woman are the only ones who can sustain a marriage when 1 in 3 ends in divorce.
How can you discriminate against an entire group of people and find it acceptable?
How can you hold yourself so high above everyone else that you take the freedom of choice away from others.
How can you live with yourselves.
God loves us. He created us. Sexuality is not a choice, it is a part of who you are. I am female, and quite happy with my long term boyfriend. But I have friends who are just as flawlessly happy with members of the same sex. I can not see how anyone could look them in the eyes and tell them that their love is any less real than mine.
How?
Well, as a member of the LDS church, I know things like this would be coming. I can pretty much garantee that this won't be the last nor the worst of it. The history of the LDS Church shows that even in the face of death will we survive. They might say that's impossible. I say that it is inevitable. God has spoken from the heavens and still does today. This is yet just another fruit of the deteriorated society in which we live. It was once said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." And indeed it is very easy to see the their fruit.
It's nice to know also that the majority still has morals. That's comforting. Thank you for eveyone supporting the the only thing that will hold this great nation together, the true family unit.
As I grew up in the LDS faith, I would read the Bible and the Book of Mormon. A large part of the Book of Mormon is devoted to historical events of the people on the South American continent. In the cover of The Book of Mormon it states that it was written for our day. When I was younger, I didn't see how or why those writings would be relavent for our society today. But I am seeing very clearly now. The writings in the Book of Mormon show what did happen and what will happen to any civilization that allows the family unit to be destroyed and sin to become legal.
I know there will be those that have their "comebacks", their rantings and ravings, and even their smooth words that decieve. They just cannot help themselves. In fact it is their expected behavior (to defame all that is right and good). But it does not matter. They will never know the true peace and joy that come to a person as they follow after righteousness. And no, I'm not perfect, but someday, I hope to be. As for those workers of darkness, they will eventually be subverted by the evil one (without even knowing it). The scales of blindness have already been heaped upon their eyes that they cannot see clearly.
"This is complete and total crap. How is someone else being married forcing anything on you? No one's forcing you to take a married gay couple into your house."
Because government considers civil rights more important than religious rights, if homosexuality is considered a civil right instead of faith based, in every situation where the two meet the right of those in favor of homosexuality will prevail. It should not be so.
You have the right to believe that your fulfillment can only come through a relationship with someone of the same gender. But you should not have the right to teach your faith to children of an opposing faith in public schools.
Churches of traditional faith should be able to continue to help communities in the ways they have for years, though for example adoption services without being forced to choose between living their beliefs and placing only to those practicing traditional marriage or closing their doors rather than accept the religious beliefs of homosexuals as was the case in Massachusets.
Those with faith in traditional marriage should not fear that a inadvertant display of their religion (whether it's a Catholic medal or book from Focus on the Family) at work could subject them to a civil rights lawsuit from those with a non-traditional faith in marriage.
It's odd that you say the idea is "crap" when it's already happening in states that consider homosexuality a civil right. If they were appropriately asking for
rights under religious freedom, I could support that because my religious freedom as well as that of others would be protected. But I can not support calling your faith a civil right so that my faith must legally yeild to yours.
Marriage has no gender?
Science says that all species exist to reproduce. Our species developed in a way that requires the genetic material of two genders to reproduce, and marriage has been based on this idea since the beginning of history. We should not seek to undo evolution.
Anon "Truth: Prop 8 will make it so that homosexuals, like those portrayed in the video, can not marry. "
FALSE: Homosexuals DO NOT look like the women in that video. At all. I am sorry but that's a fact. Ewwwww.
I'd love it if certain people would respect the voting AND the will of the People of California who already VOTED on this.
What if the will of California was against something you strongly believed in? Would you just say, "oh well, what's done is done?" Doubtful.
And the fact that people are saying that these homosexuals don't "look" like homosexuals is the most crazy stupid thing I've ever heard. You think what they LOOK like is the issue? Do you know how ignorant that makes you sound? What do you think gay people look like? Flashing neon sign above their heads? Tattoo on their face? There isn't a mold for what lesbians look like, so holy moly get OVER yourself!
I'm glad prop 8 didn't pass... and as far as attacking MY church for standing up for what we believe in is ridiculous. Grow up and stop trying to make the LDS chuch look bad just because we raised the most money. There are other churches standing behind us. The Catholic church and followers were just as against it, as were many others. So stop taking it out on the LDS church and creating lies. Our missionaries don't do anything close to what you guys portrayed in the movie and I'm really disgusted with whoever made this movie. Get your facts right.
Note to the most recent Anonymous Commentator: I know it's confusing if you are from out of State (or even a Californian), but Prop. 8 did pass, and that protects traditional marriage, because Prop. 8 amends the California Constitution to provide that marriage is between a man and a woman.
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