AMERICAN DYSFUNCTION: I wish Orson Scott Card were dead so he could turn over in his grave over the NYT headline, Senate Bill on Bias Against Gays Finds Support in Mormons. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah... voted against a similar bill the last time it came up in the Senate - 17 years ago - but changed his mind earlier this year after Gordon H. Smith, a fellow Mormon and former Republican senator, convinced him there was nothing in it that violated church doctrine. The church does want to be helpful where we can be, without violating our own conscience, Mr. Smith, a former bishop, said in an interview... In the end, all but two of the Senates seven Mormons voted yes. While the ultimate result was positive, progressive, and consistent with Americas founding ideology of Liberalism, the process was not. Why are our secular leaders voting principally on their understanding of their own, peculiar religious doctrine? Your religion ends at my rights. Freedom of religious expression is not license for the religious to impose their beliefs on other Americans. Ultimately, the Mormons in this case are standing up against discrimination, but not for marriage equality because Unlike the issue of marriage, which the [Mormon] church views as an inviolable doctrine, nondiscrimination law has become one subject that Mormons of all political stripes can safely seem to support. Ultimately, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) may never see the light of day, because even though it passed the Senate 64-32 (including 10 Republicans), even though 80% of Americans think its already the law, the overwhelming majority of Americans support it, and 56% of Republicans support it, House Speaker John Boehner has announced his refusal to present it for a vote at all in the House. nytimes/2013/11/08/us/politics/senate-bill-on-bias-against-gays-finds-support-in-mormons.html
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 20:53:47 +0000
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