MoroniCo


Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. (Bierce)

Mormons are on the march. Mitt Romney, millionaire and mormon-fundamentalist, nearly captured the GOP nomination, running on a "McCain is really a liberal" ticket. Mormons also supported Prop. 8 in CA, spending about $20 million on the effort. That probably provided the margin enabling the proposition to pass.
As with most theocratic affairs, there was plenty of hypocrisy to the Prop 8 effort: consider Gary Lawrence, who led the Proposition 8 grassroots campaign for the Mormons. Lawrence's queer son, Matthew, resigned from the church to protest its anti-gay campaign.

The cult of Mormonism itself began with deceit and prevarication: while the Illinois pioneers who strung up Joseph Smith (and then mutilated his corpse) may have gone too far, Smith's deceit--specifically the bogus story of the golden plates, Angel Moroni, seer stones, etc--counts as one of the greatest frauds of US History. Mark Twain for one was not merely skeptical but troubled by the reign of Smtih's successor, King Brigham (Twain met with Young, his 20+ wives, 70 children, and then promptly climbed back into the train--or was it stagecoach). Twain's Roughing it, however quaint, features a few interesting reflections on Mormonism, and Mormon crimes--the Mountain Massacre only one (dead men tell no tales).

Secularists should keep in mind the dangers to liberty posed by expanding mormon theocracy (they are fairly thick in California), and Prop. 8-like measures. The liberal whines against 8 grew a bit tedious, but regardless of one's personal feelings on same-sex marriage, Prop 8 does "legislate morality" more or less. That it was placed on the ballot by fundies and mormons should bother anyone who values the First Amendment: which is to say, any measures supported by theocrats should offend. Paraphrasing Bonhoeffer, first they come for queers, then for the preterite (of whatever sort), and finally they come for you.

[Verstehen Sie das, Vacavillius?]