Can we weather tomorrow’s storms better if we adopt best practices from religious communities? Here's the Mormon perspective.
http://culture11.com/blogs/credo/2008/10/23/resilient-communities-the-lds-perspective/

I am sad that anyone would feel "forced." to donate against something they don't believe in.

If they are truly being coerced, then it is of their own free will and conscience. I understand that defiance of a the supreme authority is difficult; however,the president of your Church, as I understand it, still has Someone to whom even he is accountable, an Authority with whom he appears to not have comprehensively consulted on this issue.

I have a copy of a bible distributed in care of the Mormon church, and it says, quite plainly:

Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Oh, wait, although that is in the Bible, although it's also a direct quote from one of Reverend Samuel Parris's sermons. For those of you who don't recognize the name, Samuel Parris was minister to the bucolic community of Salem Village, Massachusetts.

He, and some members of his community, were fond of witches, one might say. Or, perhaps land, say others. Who knows for certain? The evidence, however, closely scrutinized, reveals some coincidences that are more mundane than sublime.

The text itself can be found on pages 170 and 172, of The Sermon Notebook of Reverend Samuel Parris if you don't have the text, some of it can be found, for inspiration, on Google Books.

The Title of this series of sermons is Of Christ's Glorious Sessions at the Right Hand of God, sermon 1a.

He mentions it twice,threatening the congregation into compliance using the Bible as his weapon.

Personally, I would hope I would have been pretty freaked out myself, although I'm not sure I could have stood still while people got hanged for witchcraft--at least I hope not, however.

28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? [emphasis added] 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

How many Mormons have heard the former and not the latter; although they come from the same page, the point is they can be used for many purposes; if one doesn't question God's word, one is free to peruse dialog with the interlocutor, who is translating the book from one perspective.

Sadly, witch trials still exist, and sometimes we all partake in them. The question remains, how many people does it take to stop a witch trial? It is hard for me to place myself and that position and I feel sorry for any Mormon in conflict over this issue. This is the risk and joy of questioning authority. If one's stated values cannot stand up to his prescribed beliefs (as stated by Jesus in

However, you are not alone, reach out to us, and we will surround you like a fortress. Like your community, the GLBT community shares something in common that perhaps we can build on: Many of us know what persecution feels like and we protect our friends.

Please contact me if you need someone to reach out to, I will connect you with other Mormons who feel the same; you will no longer be alone.

I encourage anyone else who has dear Mormon friends to do the same. Life is to short for hatred, shorter sometimes for the hater or the hated, depending on the courage and numbers of those who stand up against it.

P.S.:Despite this, even Reverend Parris was shown mercy, he became minister to another community after this debacle. So, hold on to hope. Everyone deserves second chances. Just because he's President doesn't make him omniscient and omnipotent.

How many of these tens of thousands of Mormon families, who have contributed the $18.6 million, have gays and lesbians in their immediate family? How many parents are forced to give thousands of dollars publicly at the expense of their gay son or lesbian daughter? What about a gay brother or sister in the family? Or an aunt or uncle or cousin or brother-in-law who is gay? What permanent damage does this cause these innocent victims of the Mormon Church's power grab? How many families will be irreparably damaged by their actions?

This is exactly why I haven't said word 1 to any of my family members about Prop 102 or Prop 8. I don't need them to tell me that they gave money to this.

That's a lot of power for one organization.

I am a young African American man who is Mormon. I served as a Missionary in California and take great offense to the commercial presented in this article.
I also would like to say that NO ONE is the Church is forced to do anything. I pay tithing and give to the Church however I have never given to prop 8. Also even when someone gives tithing it is not given during church meetings. Not even in a public setting as in other Churches. However I support the prop.

I also would like to comment on this sensitive subject. I do have an issue with marriage being anything but between a man and a woman. However I encourage gay right supporters to come up with something else to compare your struggle with. Please use something else other than the struggle of african americans. There is no comparison in the two. First African americans could not "come out of the closet" there was no hiding, there was continual social, economic, and environmental racism. Gay and Lesbians still have a choice of "coming out" or keeping their private life private. There have not been groups seeking out to destroy you like the KKK or institutions like Jim Crow to keep you from Voting. Also as mentioned in the article there have been no killing of "gay leaders" much like Medgar Evers or MLK, and many other people fighting to help blacks get on equal playing fields with whites.

THERE IS NO COMPARISON!

TO be clear I am a "gay rights supporter" in the sense that I support basic human rights for all people, gays and lesbians included. However I do not feel that marriage is a right, it is a choice made between a man and a woman.
Now understand I have no problem giving gay and lesbian couples rights as to overseeing financial resources, to making tough decisions when a loved one passes on. If you are living togethere and love each other that is fine with me. You deserve to file taxes together or purchase a house together. However to change to fundamental law of marriage, I have to reject this idea. There is no need for the change. If you want to be, or feel that you are born gay, it is not a right for all people to be married. It is a choice. If you chose otherwise then there is no need to complain. no need to feel you are being discriminated against. You have all the rights necessary to be productive and successful person. In this way THERE IS NOT COMPARISON with African americans in this country.