Something's been on my mind quite a lot recently, and I thought that now would be a good time to share it. With all the fanfare that gay marriage has caused in headlines in recent weeks, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has gotten itself roped into the debate, as was inevitable. For an institution set so strongly against gay marriage, this firestorm of media attention and criticism was seen coming a long ways off.
The same thing happened to the Catholic church when contraception was included in healthcare coverage, and Catholic institutions didn't want to foot the bill for something that they viewed as morally wrong. The great thing about America is the ability to exercise religious freedom.
Now, I don't want to get into the debate of whether or not the LDS church, or any other church opposing homosexual marriages, is being discriminatory. That's a whole can of worms I don't feel like discussing today.
What I want to discuss is the conundrum that's arisen, especially in ultra-conservative Utah, among the Mormons who currently find themselves at odds with the church's stance on gay marriage.
Quite a few members of the LDS faith have now decided that they support homosexual people having the right to marry. According to an article by Neil J. Young for slate.com, a poll conducted by BYU in 2012 found that only 29 percent of Utah residents oppose gays having the right to get married, down from 54 percent in 2004.
With Utah being the home of the LDS church, and the state's population dominantly Mormon, this is an interesting revelation, if you'll pardon the use of that word. The vast majority of church members seem to go against the repeated urges and wishes of LDS hierarchy. This brings us to the main point of this post - is it possible to support the doctrine of the LDS church, but not the church itself?
In his article, Young proposes that the Mormon church is facing another crisis like the one in the 1970s, when supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment directly opposed the statements of then-president of the church Spencer W. Kimball. Church members who supported the ERA were dealt with in a severe manner because they opposed Kimball's prophetic role, says Young.
Which brings us to the real meat of this matter - does supporting the right for gays to marry mean that you, as a member of the LDS faith, don't support the president of the church, who is believed by Mormons to be a prophet like Moses on the Earth today? The president of the church will always reiterate what is set in stone as doctrine for the church. Current doctrine states that acting on homosexual feelings is a sin, which means that church members who support the rights of gays are at odds with what is purported by the church. Having homosexual feelings isn't a sin in and of itself, but performing homosexual acts is considered sinful by the church.
But there's a subtle difference here a lot of people are missing - supporting the rights of gays to get married doesn't mean that a person supports homosexuality. Rather, it means those who vote for gay rights believe that people should have the agency (a key component of Mormon doctrine) to make choices for themselves, without being restricted by laws that can be seen as oppressive.
In this sense, the Mormon church is almost contradicting itself. Yes, they believe the family to be the central unit of society, and Mormons adhere to the belief that true salvation can only come after a man and woman are sealed to each other for eternity in a temple. Obviously, this fundamental doctrine prohibits homosexuals from achieving the church's view of what true salvation is. But on the other hand of this argument lies something quite a few people don't consider when they form an opinion on gay marriage.
Jesus taught to love everyone, even as He loved us. He spent his time ministering not to the rich and the powerful, but to the lepers, the poor and meek and lowly of heart. Christ taught a gospel of love and He showed the ultimate sacrifice of love by dying on the cross for the sins of all mankind.
Loving someone is possible without loving the sins that they commit. We all sin, but we still find ways to love those closest to our hearts. My belief in God tells me that He loves us all, regardless of the many things we do wrong on a daily basis.
So does this attitude of love mean that people, specifically LDS members, have to support things that they might not necessarily agree with? Gay marriage will always be a controversial issue, but should those church members who support the rights of gays to marry feel as if they're going against what their prophet is saying?
My answer to that is no. The LDS church is an organization ran by men. Men are imperfect and prone to make mistakes. Therefore, contradictory to a largely held belief in Utah, the church is not a perfect institution. It's entirely possible that the church has, and will continue to make mistakes. The recent essay about giving blacks the priesthood is a perfect illustration of this.
For this reason alone, it's entirely possible to support the doctrine of the church, a doctrine of love and understanding, and not support the church as an organization in regards to moral matters that somehow find their way into the political arena.
Realizing that there's a distinction between the LDS church and the LDS gospel is imperative. The church is not the gospel, and the gospel is not the church. The church exists in order to help the gospel achieve it's goal of bringing all men unto salvation. The two are completely separate entities that have become synonymous in the minds of far too many LDS members.
Supporting the doctrine separately from the public stance of the church doesn't make you less of a member - it just means that you're standing up for what you believe in.
