“State election officials announced Wednesday that an initiative to legalize marijuana will be on the November ballot, triggering what will likely be an expensive, divisive and much-watched campaign to decide whether California will again lead the nation in softening drug laws.” Certainly the time is right to piggyback on that controversy by giving voters a chance to reverse Prop 8? [LAT]
Will the Mormon Church Take an Official Position on California’s Marijuana Vote?
Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...
We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?
Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated
Cam
No, they won’t because they haven’t tried to go after caffine or alcohol. Any vices that their members are in danger of actually DOING they will kind of stay away from. It’s only when they have a chance to be bigoted and place themselves as superior to others in danger that they will pull out all the stops.
B
No. 1 · Cam, “No, they won’t because they haven’t tried to go after caffine or alcohol.” They’ll even sell it in Utah,
but they make it a bit awkward to get. Just because they are not supposed to use it doesn’t mean they can’t make some bucks off of it.
BTW, it seems the marijuana growers don’t want it legalized
(see https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=165951 although I read about it this morning in a low-quality but mainstream newspaper – more of a free rag, actually). They are concerned that, if marijuana is legalized, the price will drop and so will their profit margins. They don’t mind it being illegal as long as nobody catches them.
Stenar
The Mormon church will probably issue a letter to be read in all congregations suggesting that members vote against legalizing marijuana, but they won’t go all out wacko over it like they did Prop 8.
Stephen
The only reason that the growers (and anyone else currently involved in the illegal cannabis business) are against legalization, is that regulation will mean licensing fees and taxes that have to be paid. Plus they will have to start paying their workers properly, with benefits and taxes etc., as opposed to paying them in cash or weed as they do now.
Meari
The leaders of the Mormon church don’t tell their members to vote against something, they tell them to vote as they know is right, which does not imply the same thing to all Mormons. They choose according to their own dictate of conscience.
Generate Think Nuture
Mormonism is a religion like no other. When I think of Mormons, there are three beliefs that generalize it all: 1) Families and making legitimate babies, 2) the ability to choose and children’s ability to choose and 3) Hell does not exist (as most religions and spiritualists would describe it.)
Like all people who have a right to vote and encouraged their members of their groups to vote against prop 8, the Mormon church will play it safe and encourage its members to vote as well. The church will never support marijuana because it will always affect “free agency” and the ability to choose; two possessions the church holds onto for dear life.
I doubt they will spend as much energy on the pot case as they did on the definition of marriage as they perceive marriage and having children as prime “commandments.” In fact they perceive that drug users, thieves, liars, sins of gluttony, envy… will all go to heaven… just not the head office of the main man.
As far as I know, Mormons believe that the only ones that won’t are murderers and adulterers, which would probably include most gay people at any bar. So, if you just call yourself “gay” and don’t have sex, then Mormons would expect you to go to a gay heaven.
Mormons typically don’t believe in hell as a place; it is perceived as nothingness or outer space: no light, no earth, no sun, no stars, emptiness and technically a non-violent and just way of punishment. Mormons definitely do not believe in the whole Catholic violent myth of “fire and brimstone.”
Like several biblical passages, Mormons believe this and other passages are metaphors or similes, especially words “like” and “as”. “As a dove” would not mean that a person turned into a dove, but moved gracefully LIKE one. “As a thief in the night” or “as a mother giving birth” would not mean that someone was a thief or a baby, but comes unexpectedly without much warning.