Green Oasis

We just got a voice message from the John Birch Society that explicitly mentions Ezra Taft Benson, a fervent admirer of the JBS. I wonder if they got our number from an LDS church phone directory. (702) 951-7242 if anyone wants to call and find out.

This video of Todd Whitaker standing up and speaking his mind in sacrament meeting about the involvement of the LDS church in the fight against marriage rights has been making the rounds. The bishop eventually has enough and cuts off the mic. Here’s what you can’t hear:

…I Leave you today in hopes that maybe just one of you will take to heart and question the wrong doing and the rights that have been robbed from millions of Californians. I would never vote to take away your right to marry so why did you take away mine? Tolerance is not the same as love. Mormons confuse the two quite often. I know that God loves me unconditionally. He will be the final Judge in the end, so any church court, judge or jury cannot condemn me nor will I succumb to such evil ungodly treatment from this church. You have done enough damage to many lives and ruined many family’s because of your strict rules concerning gays. I am done being a hypocrite and will ask that you remove my name from all church records, as I am divorcing my membership here today in this church. I will not allow you to revoke me. Amen.

A longer video is also available if you want more context, though I wish I knew what happened immediately after he walked out.

Some may say that it is disrespectful to stand up in someone’s church meeting and criticize them. I can agree with that. I wonder if this kind of outspokenness would be necessary if the LDS church encouraged open discussion instead of the carefully correlated message that has been the standard fare since 1972. In any case, you can’t make omeletes without breaking some eggs, as we say. I think breaking down decorum is justified when fighting to have your civil rights recognized by an unwilling majority.