Mormon Church Punishes Children For Having Gay Parents. Hundreds Respond By Quitting Church.
Some good news.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/11/16/3722461/mormon-resignation-protest/
Mormon Church Punishes Children For Having Gay Parents. Hundreds Respond By Quitting Church.
by Zack Ford Nov 16, 2015 11:16am
CREDIT: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Several hundred Mormons followed through on their promise to resign from the Church of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday in protest of Church leaders’ latest anti-gay policies. A new rule introduced this month declared that married same-sex couples were apostates of the Church and that their children could not be blessed or baptized until they are 18 — and only if they renounce same-sex marriage.
On Friday, LDS Church leaders attempted to tweak the policy in advance of the protest. They clarified that the policy only applies to children whose “primary residence” is with same-sex parents. If, for example, they only visit a parent in a same-sex relationship on weekends, they can still receive the same various blessings as other Mormon youth. The policy is also not retroactive to children who were already baptized but now live with same-sex parents.
“All children are to be treated with utmost respect and love,” the clarification letter asserted, offering that “All children may receive priesthood blessings of healing and spiritual guidance.”
Extra guidance issued about the Church’s Handbook change reminded, “It is not a sin simply to feel attraction to another person of the same sex.” However, “There is no change in the doctrinal position that sexual relations between people of the same sex are sinful.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Friday’s clarifications did little to dissuade the hundreds who gathered Saturday in a Salt Lake City park to have their resignations notarized. Reports suggest there were as many as 1,500 resignations collected this weekend, but it follows several other mass resignations that have taken place over the past few years.
For example, in June of 2012, a group of about 150 Mormons resigned over the Church’s positions on marriage. In July of 2014, another 500 or so resigned, issuing an open letter demanding more transparency from the Church.
...................
= new reply since forum marked as read
