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Happy Thanksgiving, America! Eat yer turkey and giblets, then get yer gun out from the front hall closet and load'er up. The annual War on Christmas begins in 3..... 2.... 1...

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Catholics and Mormons Tag-Team CA Gays

Hooray! Catholics and Mormons have made common cause in the Great State of California to (pop quiz)...

1. Help the homeless find safe, decent, affordable housing?
2. Open up a statewide network of food pantries and health clinics for the poor?
3. Lobby the state government for greater state assistance to California's burgeoning immigrant population?
4. Engage in a Constitution-based version of Smear the Queer?
   

For all of you who answered Number 4, DING, DING, DING, you win!

So, the Catholic Church is perfectly comfortable making common cause with the Mormon Church against the right of gay people to enter into a civil marriage, the same Mormon Church whose teachings are otherwise rejected lock, stock and barrel by the self-same Catholic Church. Given the important Constitutional ramifications of this particular Proposition and related court challenges, and given the faith-based nature of this blog, I think it's important to point out the blatant hypocrisy and cynical opportunism represented by these two religions teaming up for the express purpose of codifying discrimination against an embattled minority. I mean, excuse me, but it's not as if Catholics or Mormons have never experienced state-sponsored discrimination at any time in American history. Given the respective histories of these two faiths, you would think that their leaders (and their followers) might be more empathetic and open-minded to the issue of the legal rights of homosexuals. Oh, well. Never mind. So much for, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I don't know how any Catholic can blithely ignore this command which cuts to the heart of the Gospel message of Jesus. Does this edict not count for Mormons since Jesus wasn't in North America when he said it? (Publisher's Note: That last comment is nothing but pure sarcasm.)

While the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco (o, irony of ironies!) worked directly with the Mormon Church to campaign in favor of Proposition 8, other faith-based buttinski's also sounded off in favor of state-sponsored discrimination, including:

• The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America;
• The American Family Association; and (of course)
• Focus on the Family

Do we need any MORE reminders of why the 1st Amendment wall that separates the workings of the United States government from the whims of any one religion is so important? It is one thing for various religions to prohibit same-sex marriage and to otherwise condemn homosexuality per the precepts of their respective beliefs and teachings. Fine, that is their right to enforce their beliefs within the confines of their respective faiths and places of worship. What isn't fine, what isn't right, is for a religion, any religion, to impose on civil society the beliefs and practices that it imposes on its own members. The right of gay couples to enter into a civil marriage is of NO concern to the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, or any other such religious institution. If you are looking for a way to help push back against this effort to discriminate against and marginalize homosexuals, please take your pick from the following advocacy organizations:

• Let California Ring
• Facebook: California Against the Gay Marriage Ban
• Freedom To Marry

As a nice post-script to this whole mess, James Dobson's Focus on the Family has had to lay off over 200 employees as a result of dumping almost three-quarters-of-a-million dollars in organization funds into the pro-Prop. 8 campaign. Talk about instant karma! Let's hope- no, let's pray- that the good karma keeps on rolling, as the California Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments challenging the validity of Proposition 8. Shalom.

- Doug L.

"Prop 8 - The Musical" (Funny or Die)

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE (UPDATED, November 24, 2008):

California to investigate Mormon aid to Prop 8 (San Francisco Chronicle, November 24, 2008)

Mormons' Uneasy Victory, by Stephen Stromberg (The Washington Post, November 24, 2008)

Bigotry on the Bus, by Dan Wentzel (The Washington Post, November 24, 2008)

Proposition 8 (2008 Voter Guide, California Secretary of State)

Catholics, Mormons allied to pass Prop. 8 (San Francisco Chronicle, November 10, 2008)

Human Rights Campaign

Advocate.com

Newt Gingrich, Divorced Lover of Family Values, Warns America of "Gay Fascism" (Gay.com, November 17, 2008)

Christian Group Lays Off Hundreds After Spending All Money on Prop 8 Passage (Wonkette.com, November 17, 2008)

Ted Haggard Opens New Business Blocks from Old Church (PageOneQ.com, November 23, 2008)

GOP leader: Rebuild party on 'sanctity of marriage' (RawStory.com, November 9, 2008)

Vatican Absolves Lennon: Former Beatle Immediately Released from Hell

"Are you there, God?
It's me, Lennon."

I don't know whether it's true or not that the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano actually did this- I haven't been able to find the article online- but apparently, in a 40th anniversary retrospective of the Beatles' 1968 release entitled The Beatles (aka "The White Album"), the paper reportedly described
Lennon's "the Beatles are bigger than Jesus" comments from 1966 as little more than a joke made by "a young English working-class musician who had grown up in the age of Elvis Presley and rock and roll and had enjoyed unexpected success."

I suppose that the paper is right. Although he made it pretty clear in his 1970 song God, and his 1971 release Imagine, that he was not a religious man in any traditional sense of the word, and may well have been an atheist, the following quote from 1969 makes it clear that Lennon had some appreciation for the Gospel message of Jesus as a force for good in the world:

"We're all Christ and we're all Hitler. We are trying to make Christ's message contemporary. We want Christ to win. What would he have done if he had advertisements, T.V., records, films and newspapers? The miracle today is communication. So Let's use it."

God, by John Lennon



So, we're left with two questions: did the Vatican actually absolve Lennon of his so-called sin? What did John Lennon actually believe with regard to who or what God is or isn't? Of these two questions, we can only ever truly know the answer to one, that of course being whether the Vatican actually wrote the article in question. As for Lennon's beliefs, well, he may not have been a religious man, but he clearly believed there are forces at work in this life of a spiritual nature, and that the energy we put out into the world always comes right back to each of us. So just be sure to keep putting the good stuff out there. We all shine on, baby.

- Doug L.

Instant Karma, by John Lennon


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

John Lennon.com

L'Osservatore Romano

Vatican 'forgives' John Lennon (BBC News Europe, November 22, 2008)

Mother Superior, jump the gun (dotCommonweal, November 23, 2008)