The top 10 Religion Stories of 2009

16 December 2009 @ 4:02 pm | 5 comments

The top 10 Religion Stories of 2009, including an uptick in church-state policy issues.

5. Mormons in California come under attack from some supporters of gay rights because of their lobbying efforts in the November 2008 election on behalf of Prop. 8, which outlawed gay marriage. Later in the year, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire approve gay marriage, but it is overturned by voters in Maine.

(Possibly) Related posts:

  1. Elder Oaks on Religious Freedom and the Proposition 8 Aftermath
  2. Sen. Harry Reid may have trouble in 2010
  3. When are out-of-state phone banks wrong?

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  1. Stephen’s avatar

    Stephen on 17 December 2009 at 2:07 pm

    It looks like the writer of the Top 10 religious stories for 2009 needs to go back to Journalism school.

    The efforts of the LDS Church and its members in passing Proposition 8 could hardly be called “lobbying” efforts. A number of published reports have placed Mormon contributions to the “Yes on 8″ campaign at 40% to 50% of the total contributions (some place that number even higher)–with strong support for such efforts from the LDS Church’s leadership in Utah.

  2. David B’s avatar

    David B on 23 December 2009 at 7:50 pm

    @Stephen: How is that not lobbying?

  3. Stephen’s avatar

    Stephen on 23 December 2009 at 10:27 pm

    In the context that we are discussing, “lobbying” is seeking to influence the members of a legislative body to pass a bill (i.e. legislation). Proposition 8 was not a bill that was considered by a legislative body (in this case, the California state legislature — the Senate and Assembly), but was an initiative measure that was put to the vote of the voters of California.

    The efforts by the LDS (Mormon) Church and its members involved substantial political contributions to the “Yes on 8″ campaign as well as on-the-ground campaign assistance — definitely not lobbying in the traditional sense of the word.

  4. Stephen’s avatar

    Stephen on 30 December 2009 at 11:21 am

    Also, see the following from today’s Salt Lake Tribune:

    “THUMB DOWN: Marriage vows » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints thrust itself into the Proposition 8 campaign in California in 2008, which denied marriage to gays, then was shocked at the magnitude and vitriol of the reprisals. Protesters launched boycotts and picketed temples. When two gay men kissed on the church’s Main Street Plaza in 2009 and were cited for trespass at the behest of church security officers, the controversy reignited locally. Apostle Dallin Oaks then fanned the flames with ill-chosen words, comparing persecutions of LDS defenders of traditional marriage to those suffered by civil rights activists in the Jim Crow South. But the church extended an olive branch at year’s end, supporting ordinances in Salt Lake City that protect LGBT people from job and housing discrimination.”

  5. Stephen’s avatar

    Stephen on 21 January 2010 at 10:02 am

    This came from the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco:

    “Documents show links between Prop. 8 campaign and church leaders
    Documents unveiled during today’s federal same-sex marriage trial revealed close links between the Proposition 8 campaign and leaders of the Catholic and Mormon churches.

    Over the objections of defenders of Proposition 8, challengers presented an e-mail that said the Catholic Church played a substantial role in providing volunteers and money to get the measure qualified for the ballot.

    That e-mail, sent by the executive director of the Conference of Catholic Bishops to bishops and a cardinal, also said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided “financial, organizational and management contributions” to the campaign.

    According to a Mormon Church document entered into evidence, the church was telling its members not to take the lead in promoting Proposition 8 but to support the measure through Protectmarriage.com.

    The church document said a teleconference had been held in Salt Lake City with 159 of 161 Mormon leaders in California. The leaders were told to teach the church’s beliefs about marriage and encourage members to contribute $30 each for Proposition 8, toward a projected goal of $5 million, in addition to general fundraising.

    The challengers also presented a document that said Mormons were walking neighborhoods one day with 20,000 volunteers for Proposition 8, and that evangelicals organized teleconferences with as many as 3,000 pastors around the state in an effort to pass the marriage ban.”

    –Maura Dolan in the San Francisco federal courthouse
    January 20, 2010, 3:09 pm

    See http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/documents-show-close-links-between-prop-8-campaign-and-mormon-catholic-churches.html