In response to the anger within Mormon ranks over Prop. 8, the president of the Oakland, Calif., stake (a stake is akin to a Catholic diocese) began organizing gatherings of gay and straight members to try to bridge the differences. In September 2010, the disgruntled church members received a private audience with one of the church's top officials, Marlin Jensen, who serves as the LDS' historian. The church members tearfully told Jensen their stories — of being shunned by their families, and the homophobia generated by the Prop. 8 campaign.
"We explained that [the church had] pitted father against son, mother against daughter, exactly the opposite of what we stand for," says Mayne, who attended the meeting.
After listening to them talk, Jensen did something almost unheard of in a church whose strict authoritarian hierarchy is unaccustomed to being challenged from below: He apologized "for the pain that Prop. 8 caused [us]," Mayne recalls, choking up at the memory. It was, he says, a "very meaningful event."
Ivy: TRAITOR!!!!!!
If you actually read that article, it's headline, as well as what you posted, are both quite misleading. Where do I even begin?
First, Elder Jensen's response wasn't traitorous or inconsistent with the Church's stance on the issue. One one hand, the Church has and continues to maintain it's policy that homosexual behavior is a sin. However, gay members who abstain from it are in good standing. On the other hand, it has supported laws here in Utah that prohibit discrimination against gays in hiring, housing, etc. and even supported the change to allow gay scouts participate in scouting (though not gay leaders.) In short, it's doing what true Christians do - loving the sinner but not excusing or condoning the sin.
Second, change in the Church doesn't happen because of outside social issues. The Church follows divine revelation, not public opinion, polls, social trends, etc. So the article's claim that a "remarkable, if somewhat invisible, transformation" is happening within the Church, and that it's due to Prop 8, is simply not true; as much as the article's author may wish it was.
Third, notice how the headline is based on the supposition of an LGBT activist, who says "It seems like the hierarchy has pulled the plug and is no longer taking the lead in the fight to stop same-sex marriage." He then goes on to say, "The Mormon Church has lost so many members and suffered such a black eye because of all its anti-gay activities that they really had no choice." This guy is either delusional, ignorant, or just a liar. The members that have left the Church were relatively minimal. And it's simply a case of the wheat being separated from the chaff. These were members who never really had a testimony to begin with. They were believers only so long as the Church agreed with them. Indeed, they were more concerned about bringing the world into the Church than bringing the Gospel into the world. And past cases have shown that the Church doesn't shy away from excommunicating apostates like these anyway. So, for this guy to argue that the Church is changing because a relative few fell away, or because of some "black eye" in the media or whatever, is more wishful thinking than anything.
Fourth, what this writer calls a "cultural shift" shouldn't be mistaken in any way for a "doctrinal shift." The doctrine is based on eternal law and cannot change. The cultural shift, as she puts it, is simply reaching out to gay members and their families in love and understanding - but not excusing. And those members who believe the Church will eventually "come around" and change it's doctrine are only fooling themselves. After all, it's not up to the Church hierarchy in the first place.
Finally, as I've mentioned before, I'm in a good position to comment on all this because I'm Mormon and have two gay brothers. Contrary to what some of these apostate ex-members think, one doesn't need to "choose" between gay family and the Church. You can love them but still hold to what you know to be true. Them being gay is only a product of this fallen, mortal life and will be removed through the Atonement of Christ and their resurrection.
Mods should mind their own business and leave poster's profile signatures alone.
