Dbackers:
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Personally I believe that the Church may explicitly come out and state someday that one cannot be a member in Good standing and then declare publicly that Homosexual Marriage is a correct principle. That is of course my opinion. |
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According to the story, in June of 2006 Mr. Danzig published a letter-to-the-editor in the Tribune (and letters in other local newspapers) encouraging members to oppose Church leaders on the issue of same gender marriage |
LDS
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What about those members who think Gay Marriage is wrong but think we should NOT stop them from doing so because they do not believe we should impose our morals and principles to other people? |
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I hope that rank-and-file members of the church as well as members of the lay clergy who also find this troubling will have the courage to step forward and let themselves be known. |
Rather off topic, but... The Debate in the United states is not about protecting a historical precedent, or protecting a right that has existed for everyone and then giving to the few who did not have that right. It is about creating one that has never been there (The right of a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman.) Everyone in this country has the same right when it comes to opportunity to get Married. Any Man of age can marry any woman of age and vise versa (though it has not always been so). Homosexuals have the same rights as I do in this respect and I am conversely restricted in my right to marry someone of the same sex. There is not discrimination, because we have exactly the same rights and have the same restrictions placed upon us by the law of the land. Discrimination implies that I have a right that someone else does not have. |
I suppose we have to agree to disagree on this issue. Personally, I think he was clearly stating that those who feel the same way than he does they should make themselves known, implying and directly saying the members should rebel against what the Church says are two different things.
I also disagree with your comments about equality on marriages (but we have a thread about that).
To be completely honest with you, I think that the Church reacted harshly on the issue (as well as others) and I do find a double speech concerning disagreeing with the Brethren, it seems there is not really room for that. Are we a cult or something that we cannot express our thoughts and we MUST agree with what certain leaders say or else?
This is one of those topics that people have very strongly held beliefs on both sides of the issue. It is good that we can have these discussions in an open forum.
As to the Church being a cult,I would say no, but I believe there should be some doctrines or ideas, I would suppose, the the Church would need to be firm on. The Church, as any organization, should have the ability to set ground rules for membership and draw some lines. I think our disagreement would be where that line is.
Say for example a Stake President started teaching that we need to start practicing Polygamy in our stake to draw closer to the Lord. Most would agree that there would be some grounds for the church to question this man. If he continued to teach this doctrine would not disciplinary actions be an appropriate course of action if the teachings were continued.
I think we are having a disagreement on where the line is. When is it appropriate to encourage dissension of ideas and when is it necessary to say: in order to continue to be a member of the Church (a church that does indeed have conditions and requirements) one must not actively promote or practice certain ideas?