Farmington LDS chapel vandalized
There were a couple of stories that caught my attention today in Utah. One was a minor act of vandalism to a Mormon church that could be investigated as a hate crime. In the other, a suicidal man was found in front of an LDS temple.
The vandilism case seems clearly related to Prop 8. The words, “Nobody’s born a bigot” followed by a heart and smiley face were found spray-painted on a cement wall outside chapel. The vandalism was reported on Wednesday, and police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.
In the other incident overnight, a 25 year old man threatened to kill himself outside the Mormon temple in Provo, UT, home of Brigham Young University. He was distraught after being disciplined by the LDS Church and was taken to a hospital for a mental-health evaluation.
Comments posted on the Deseret News website included, “I hope he goes to see a professional shrink- not his bishop” and “this is yet another example of religion gone wrong.”
Except for the timing, there is no reason to believe it is related to Prop 8. But in the wake of the protests, I could totally see something like this happening with with a young Mormon questioning their sexuality. It’s somewhat erie that I wondered just a few days ago if something like this might happen due to the intense emotions in the air.
No related posts.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I consider myself Mormon even though I have not practiced my religion for a while. It is a difficult and disciplined way of life and my hat is completely off to the members who can walk the walk. I do NOT understand why a fair election has elicited hate crimes from the gay community. Mormons, Catholics, blacks…many different groups united to pass prop 8. It does nothing to dilute civil union, it just takes a ceremony that has always been a religious ceremony and keeps it in tact. It allows Religions of all kinds to worship what they actually believe, not what the minority dictates they believe. The gay community embraces a lifestyle that is different than the norm, and that is fine by me. I have many gay friends. But in embracing this lifestyle, they cannot claim a more traditional sanction on their union. Civil Union is the same thing, basically…it turns into a battle of mere semantics. Why is it worth it to the gay community that the word ‘marriage’ replace the words civil union? I know why Religions of most kinds want to keep marriage traditional. It goes along with biblical teachings, a union that is requested to ‘replenish the earth’. Obviously, that isn’t happening with gays, and for the gay community to imply that their personal relationships are the same as a marriage is disingenuous. I supported prop 8, but I was not influenced by the church, as I have not even been in 6 years, I don’t watch much tv, never saw a commercial and certainly never donated any money. It appears the gay community is upset because the Mormons as a whole were competent in standing up for their beliefs, and the beliefs of ALL the many factions that supported and passed prop 8.