No on 8: Good Ideas Don't Need Lies to Sell Them

by: jsw

Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 13:58:57 PM PDT

Churches could lose their tax exemptions

This is a lie.  Want to know how I know it's a lie?  Here's what the California Constitution currently says, right now, in Article I:

SEC. 4.  Free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference are guaranteed.  This liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious or inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State.  The Legislature shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

SEC. 8.  A person may not be disqualified from entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation, or employment because of sex, race, creed, color, or national or ethnic origin.

SEC. 31.  (a) The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

The last time I checked, Catholic priests can refuse to marry a couple if they're not both Catholic (and I assume if they haven't completed the various sacraments and classes required). Only Mormons in good standing can even attend a Mormon wedding inside a temple, and Mormon bishops can refuse to marry non-Mormons.

So why haven't the Catholic Church and the Church of Latter Day Saints lost their tax-exempt status in California, like Law Professor Peter Peterson says they might if gay people are allowed to marry and those churches refuse to marry them?  

Because churches are private actors, guaranteed freedom of religion in the California Constitution.  The elected Justices of the California Supreme Court made that very clear when they ruled, citing Article 1, Section 4 of the California Constitution, in a decision written by Republican Ronald George, that the State could no longer discriminate against gay people who wished to marry:

Finally, affording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to  change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no  religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his  or her religious beliefs.   (Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.)

So the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, and Peter Peterson acting as their spokesman, are lying.  Under the California Constitution, in the very Supreme Court decision that they Yes on 8 campaign is so up in arms about, no church could lose its tax-exempt status for refusing to marry a gay couple or preaching that gay marriage is wrong.

Nothing that's a good idea needs to be sold with a lie.  Vote No on Proposition 8.  Don't corrupt our state's Constitution by taking rights away from people for the first time in our history.

I'm contributing to the No on 8 Campaign again, because I'm sick of the lies.  So should you: No on 8.    

CA Marriage Equality: My Pastor's Fears Are Coming True

by: Killer of Sacred Cows

Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 13:08:23 PM PDT

That's when the new polls started coming out about California Proposition 8 - the anti-marriage equality proposition. Just as my pastor feared, the attack ads from the Mormon Church and other backers of Prop 8 have had an effect. Prop 8 is now leading in the polls by about 5 percentage points.

Tomorrow, I start phone banking against Proposition 8. Come with me over the jump for the points I plan to make.

CA Marriage Equality: Prop 8 IS a violation of religious freedom

by: Killer of Sacred Cows

Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 18:44:46 PM PDT

Well, if Proposition 8 passes and encodes discrimination into my state constitution, it will violate my religious freedoms, and the religious freedoms of every Unitarian, liberal Christian, liberal Jew, liberal Muslim, and any other religious person whose faith supports the inherent worth and dignity of every person and their right to choose their partner. Why? Because we'll only be allowed to marry those couples who fit the state standard of "one man, one woman." Our freedom to choose who we can marry as a denomination will be taken away.

It's interesting how the fears the fundamentalists have about the passage or non-passage of an amendment banning marriage equality actually do apply to people and churches of a liberal faith tradition. Let's be honest: Proposition 8 is an outright attack on the liberal faiths and values of a number of religious groups.

More after the jump.