The French have a saying “who steals an egg can steal a cow”.
I wonder where they’ve hidden the cow.

Feb 2, 2009 at 10:49 am · @Reply · Flag

And to think that had the Yes on 8 succeeded in their Federal Lawsuit, this disclosure wouldn’t have seen the light of day. Who exactly were they trying to protect?

Feb 2, 2009 at 10:58 am · @Reply · Flag

This is not surprising in the least. There have long been reports and rumors about the amount of work the LDS church put into ensuring the defeat of the ERA back in the 70s – much of it sounding a lot like their anti-gay work. Of course back then there were not the same campaign finance laws nor the 24/7 news cycle nor the blogosphere to reveal the extent of their involvement. Even though this comes too late for CA, it might bode well for my own DC, where a marriage law (already supported by a super-majority of the council) was delayed out of concern that the Mormons would weild an even stronger campaign in the Nation’s Capital. If we can shame the Mormons enough to keep themselves out of that potential fight, we could actually have equal marriage in DC by year’s end.

Oh, and as appropos as that quote may be, Andrew Bell, it is a bit of an insult even to fundies to equate them with Mormons. Even as a recovering Catholic and nearly-atheist, I have a problem with Mormons calling themselves Christian. The religion made up by Joseph Smith just under 2 centuries ago may have perverted the Christian religion for his own purposes, but its final form looks nothing like Christianity, either good or bad.

Feb 2, 2009 at 11:17 am · @Reply · Flag

And as if to endorse those of us who argue that religion is utterly evil, here we have a story from Ethiopia, where all the filthy sky pixie religions have got together to call for a ban on gay sex!

Fucking filthy bigoted sky pixy worshipping bastards. Ban the lot of them.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news…..10986.html

The leaders of the Roman Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant churches have called on the government of Ethiopia for a constitutional ban on homosexuality.

At present the constitution makes no mention of homosexuality.
Male homosexual behaviour is illegal and carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment. Although there is no provision under Ethiopian law for lesbianism there is the presumption that the punishment would be the same.
“For people to act in this manner they have to be dumb, stupid like animals,” an Orthodox leader told journalists after the meeting.

“We strongly condemn this behaviour, they have to be disciplined and their acts discriminated, they have to be taught a lesson.”

Christians make up around 63% of the country’s population with of them 43% Ethiopian Orthodox. Muslims make up almost 34%.

According Sonic Casuist of ETHIOGLBTI, a gay rights group in Ethiopia, homosexuality is still perceived as taboo and nonexistent in that country and many homosexuals are still in the closet.

“It is hidden, no one is out. The general population would like to claim that it does not exist,” she told mask.org.za.

“For those of us who live here we make and build our communities. We get together and we have places to go in the evenings however nothing is out in the open, it’s a hidden community”

Feb 2, 2009 at 11:42 am · @Reply · Flag

@Andrew Bell: I’m not shocked about their lies. They still continue to lie. There is more that they’re hiding!

Feb 2, 2009 at 12:58 pm · @Reply · Flag

Off topic.

@tallskin: I read your “sky pixie worshipping bigots” on a lot of Queerty posts and it’s pretty obvious you really want your phrase to catch hold.

I’d suggest dropping “pixie” which is totally distracting and takes the punch out of your phrase. In today’s mythological parlance, pixies are in Peter Pan, not in Mormonism nor other forms of Christianity. These people worship imaginary beings called “gods” not imaginary beings called “pixies” and there is a big difference.

I suggest you try “sky-god worshipping bigots” or simply “sky-god worshippers.”

Feb 2, 2009 at 1:42 pm · @Reply · Flag

What a contorted story. There were no lies involved. They still haven’t spent “a substantial amount” of their total finances toward campaign or political purposes and have every right to have done what they did. Be grateful they didn’t spend more! They could have just bought the whole state of California, called it Zion and forced everyone out, with the amount of money it holds.

Feb 2, 2009 at 2:05 pm · @Reply · Flag

Off topic

@tallskin: And by using this term ‘god’ you thus play right into their hands, awarding them special language privileges that the religious have come to expect from the rest of us.

I disagree. There is a vast difference between a “sky god” and “God.” The former marks the worship as a primitive remnant from our Bronze-age period. Putting “sky” in front of “God” changes the meaning of the latter as much as putting “doll” in front of “house” changes the meaning of “house”.

“Sky-god” is, I think, even more mocking (and accurate) than “pixie” because these people do, in fact, worship a sky god. They do not, in fact, worship a pixie.

I understand using pixie in the context of a conversation about Dawkins. But, outside the context of a discussion of the God Delusion, please believe me that “pixie” does not add to your argument. It’s distracting and therefore it detracts. Even though it’s cute. Who doesn’t love pixies?

:-)

Feb 2, 2009 at 2:35 pm · @Reply · Flag

And I just wanted to clarify, for any who think that enumerating the unpaid clergies man hours in an attempt to reach the ‘significant’ threshold you’re wasting your time. Any comparisons of time spent on prop 8 relative to their other duties and the overall time given by the totality of our lay clergy to other, non-prop 8, church related issues in California is massive. What I’m saying is that while Church members put in a lot of hours on prop 8 relative to what they put into their other Church obligations it’s a very small portion indeed. When the average time given to Church activities by an active member is around 8 hours a week EVERY WEEK and then for a month or two out of the whole year they spend two hours a week working on prop 8 then your ration of time spent that year on political events in contrast to other Church related activities is a ratio around 1:26. If One to Twenty-six for one year is something considered ‘significant’ then I’d dare say there’s ne’er a non-profit that could weather that kind of scrutiny on political issues and come out with it’s tax exempt status intact.

Feb 2, 2009 at 3:03 pm · @Reply · Flag

It’s easy to rake religion over the coals when people use religion as an excuse to take people’s rights away and generally behave like douchebags.

However, rarely do self-identified atheists go unhinged over religion when people’s religious beliefs influence their decisions to feed the poor, take care of the sick, sacrifice their lives to help the oppressed, build schools, or love people unconditionally.

Atheist are often just another form of fundamentalist. Ugly. Smug. Chosen. And always right.

Excuse me while I barf.

Feb 2, 2009 at 3:36 pm · @Reply · Flag

What the article failed to say, was that they didn’t donate 1 dollar to the campaign. They used their staff, buildings, etc., but didn’t give any money. What about the churches that donated to the No on 8 campaign, or provided services? The church didn’t lie. I don’t remember them ever coming out and saying this is all we spent. Lists of expenditures take time to recover. This is a red herring. And Obama’s not taking away tax exempt status, he doesn’t even like gay marriage. And with the economy like this, no one is going to care about the LGBT community. Be honest with yourselves.

Feb 2, 2009 at 10:17 pm · @Reply · Flag

@Kevin:

Thanks! Exactly what I wanted to say. No matter how tempting, we should not meet intolerance and bigotry with even MORE intolerance and bigotry.

Feb 3, 2009 at 6:09 am · @Reply · Flag

@tallskin:

Tim, I went to the link you kindly provided and this is what I got:

Not Found, Error 404

The page you are looking for no longer exists. Perhaps you can find what you are looking for by searching the site archives by page, month, or category:

I have, however, read about the Draconian laws banning gay sex in Ethiopia that you commented about in your post. Just when was it decided, in so many countries, including the US, that the power of the church would supercede that of the government?

With every passing day, it is beginning to sound, more and more, like the planet is returning to the middle ages.

Feb 3, 2009 at 7:15 pm · @Reply · Flag

@Pragmatist:

“No matter how tempting, we should not meet intolerance and bigotry with even MORE intolerance and bigotry.”

And pray tell, why not, Pragmatist? Have you not read your bible?

From the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was King of Babylon, 1792-1750BC. The code survives today in the Akkadian language. Used in the Bible, Matthew 5:38 (King James Version):

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

Or, is my quoting from the very same bible that the religious right uses to condemn me as a gay man, meeting intolerance and bigotry with even more intolerance and bigotry?

Feb 3, 2009 at 7:49 pm · @Reply · Flag

This is a bit stupid. The total spent on one side (as I recall was something on the order of 75 million. And this is less than 200k.

There may be some reasons for you to be upset with the Mormon Church, but the spending of money doesn’t look like a big deal here.

Feb 5, 2009 at 4:23 am · @Reply · Flag

Tallskin: “Fucking filthy bigoted sky pixy worshipping bastards. Ban the lot of them.”

That sounds really intolerant and prejudiced. Do you really think that everyone who believes in a God is a bigot?

Feb 5, 2009 at 10:55 pm · @Reply · Flag

With the economy the way it? I think that allowing gay marriage would only booste the economy. If the average (Straight)American couple spends 20,000 dollars on a wedding…. just think how much money would be spent if all the gays and lesbians were able to marry!

Apr 16, 2009 at 8:00 pm · @Reply · Flag

Bottom line here is a higher percentage and number of minorities voted for this measure than Mormons so why are you attacking the Mormons. Because your all to weak to face the hard reality that minorities oppose gay marriage more than Mormons. I guess that wouldn’t fit into your PC world so its easier to ignore the real facts. The mormon church is an easy target but they never claimed to believe anything else so what did you expect. Why is noone attacking all the Babtist, Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, and Jewish synagoges,mosques, and churches that backed this measure? 2% of California is Mormon so how does 2% get the majority of the vote? If no Mormons vote it still passes. Better go back back to the drawing board and factor in that most of the voters weren’t Mormon and just maybye the majority of Californians agree with the Mormons on this issue. BTW if you show up at my door you better bring more than candy.

Jan 26, 2010 at 2:48 am · @Reply · Flag

Anyone that investigates mormons for any amont of time will tell you that whether its stealing kids in fraud adoptions, or prop 8, they don’t do anything unless they stand to make money on it. The real question everyone should be asking is not what did they spend, but what did they make on prop 8. I’m sure if it is fully investigated it will be revealed that they made a lot of money on prop 8.When that’s known the rabbit hole will be revealed.

Oct 14, 2011 at 2:56 am · @Reply · Flag