The Coming Storm (SCOTUS Decision)

Dear Madame L,

Some friends of mine who are very religious are sending me links to articles about the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex throughout the U.S.

These articles are full of doom and gloom for Catholics and Mormons and members of other churches who are declining to jump on the bandwagon of performing same-sex weddings. They're predicting that members of those faiths soon won't even have a place in American society, will be shunned and even persecuted, and so on. What do you think about this?

Sincerely,

Also Religious, Also Worried


Dear Worried Religious Friend,

As a committed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a Mormon), I am also thinking about the ramifications of that Supreme Court decision. And I absolutely do not trust the Supreme Court to make any sense in their decisions or to reflect what the majority thinks or has voted. They seem like 4 really angry old men and 5 really puzzled other people, fighting it out based on personal opinions instead of the law and precedent. But that's just me, who am definitely not any kind of expert on any of this stuff.

However, no matter what the Supreme Court says and all the anti-religious activists do, I refuse to make those dire predictions that some are making.

I think we have to stay the course. I am glad to see a lot of LDS people are writing blogs about these issues, making sure our point of view is represented, along with the facts.

And I especially like it when LDS bloggers and commenters stick to gospel principles and avoid the kind of angry in-kind shouting matches some of them (us) are being goaded into.

It's not helpful to get hysterical, predict we'll be "living as exiles in our own country," and so on.

I am hoping it won't get that bad, and I believe we can help ensure that it won't get that bad by continuing to respond and be active in politics and express our views in a rational way.

I love the way the church leaders wrote about the court's decision. Here you can read the statement, the letter, and the background info, so inspired and full of love.

I'm afraid it may be true that there will be people coming out of the woodwork who, because of their own meanness and hatefulness and whatever agenda they have, and their desire to keep making money off of this "cause," will target us. But even if we are to see days of persecution ahead, we will withstand.

We will withstand through obedience and love, and by the shining light of our example.

I worked a few years ago with a young college student who said the Mormon church is horrible because we don't accept gay marriage and she has a sister who's a Lesbian and she loves her sister and her sister loves her "wife" and so on, so why don't we approve of their getting married.

I told her, "We don't have anything against gays or Lesbians. Does your sister want to become a Mormon and be married in the Mormon church?"

She admitted that her sister was very far from wanting to be a Mormon or wanting to be married as a Mormon. And she got the point: If that sister isn't interested in our church, then why does she care about what we will or won't do?

So that seems to me like an approach that might work in the future, too.

I'm interested to hear more of your thoughts about this.

Love,

Madame L