Interesting developments...

So yesterday was our stake's temple day, which was canceled after "No on 8" protesters showed up thinking that the administration of the church somehow had anything to do with the passage of Proposition 8. Thankfully, they were not allowed on the temple property, but circled it on the sidewalk/streets. Hopefully the temple missionaries/workers staying in the apartments behind the visitors' center were relatively unaffected by all of it. For the record, not one red cent of tithing was spent on pushing prop 8. However, millions were donated by members of the church at the urging (but not requiring) of church leadership. Yes, members participated in phone calling events, passed out and placed yard signs, held signs on street corners and in parking lots. There was no yelling at or protesting of people, simply support for the millenia-old definition of a marriage. Having been subjected to hate speech while growing up, I know what it's like, and I won't engage in it. I sincerely hope A.J. is not affected by all the media coverage. He was given two invitations to pass on to friends, inviting them to his Primary Presentation on the 16th. I will let him give them out of course, but I can only hope that he doesn't get any negative feedback about it.

You can read the church's position here and some of the less than helpful articles here. I linked to the most neutral article, though it's still rather skewed. It does at least point out that 52% of Californians who voted on Prop 8 were for it, and that number is much larger than the number of members in the state, as well as some of the other contributors and the fact that they are not being targeted with protests. The church wasn't even the first group to pull together support for Prop 8, they were invited by the Catholics and protestant churches already involved. It's just that our church is significantly more organized when it comes to spearheading movements than individual congregations could ever be.

Sorry for the rant, but it hurts to see angry people surrounding the most sacred building on earth and have no one else stand up for it. Here's a picture of the lovely temple when it is not the subject of attack.