Ranting: Give the church a break!

I write today in disgust at what is happening to my church. We are opposed to gay marriage and therefore we are being persecuted. Six churches in Utah have been vandalized and three in California. There have been huge protests outside of our temples. Just yesterday a Book of Mormon was found burning on the steps of a church in Colorado. All of this is happening because we oppose gay marriage. It seems as though those who disagree with us think that Mormons are the only ones that voted on prop 8 in California. I’ve done the math and if every member from the age of 8 up, whether they are active or not, had voted they still would have only made up a small portion of those who voted to pass this bill. The LDS church therefore is not solely responsible for its passage. Even if that were not the case the hate shown toward us is unjustified and prejudice. We live in a democratic society where issues that are brought up are voted on by the general populace. This populace has voted a certain way and that way is to uphold traditional marriage. Where is the news coverage? Is bigotry and prejudice only to be reported if it fits into a non-conservative ideology? The LDS church is not alone in being persecuted either. I find it ironic that those who are looking for acceptance or ‘tolerance’ can give none to those who disagree with them. Tolerance inherently means there is a disagreement on a subject. Conservatives disagree with liberals. We are not telling people they are terrible or going to hell, we are saying that we believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. Do we now live in a society where we can only have freedom of opinion if it agrees with the press or the left wing? What happened to religious freedom? The most disturbing thing to me is that these people, who ever they are, are targeting the places and things we hold most sacred and dear. I do not blame the gay community, I don’t think that there is a grand band saying ‘ok go out and get back at those Mormons’. I don’t know who these people are; I only know they are targeting my church, my beliefs because we believe in the sanctity of marriage. Our temples are our most sacred buildings and our churches are not to be defiled. To target these things, our buildings our scriptures, is to hit below the belt. Each person is entitled to having their own opinion. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways of going about and expressing those opinions. This behavior is disgusting. I’m hurt and angered that people seem to think its ok to destroy property or spew hatred because of a difference of opinion. Must they march around our places of worship, disturbing the services and scaring petitioners? Many do not understand who we are as Mormons. Many do not know our beliefs or what we are truly like. Instead of trying to find out who we are, we are met with prejudice and violence. We do not believe in violence or hatred. We believe you love your neighbor as yourself, you love your enemy. We believe in following Christ. We do not believe we have to sacrifice our beliefs in order to love those who disagree. If anyone who does not know who we are and wishes to find out what we truly believe all they need do is listen to our prophet. They need only go to our website and read for themselves. We do not promote prejudice or hate instead we are against it. This will be the end of my ranting I guess. I just wish that we could have respect for our beliefs as we give that respect to others. When you live in a democracy you, as the people, decide on the laws you will live by. Each of these laws is a moral choice. Therefore our decision about marriage is simply one more moral choice we are living by. Also, when you live in this land, you must, whether good or bad, go with the will or majority of the people. The majority decides the laws etc and therefore when the vote has been made (twice now) that is the will of the people and we need to respect it. Of course it is easier for me to say that when the will complies with my ideology. I just want the bigotry to stop. I just want respect on both sides, we dont have to concede our beliefs in order to respect others though. I just ask 'Where is the love?'