those wacky Mormons are at it again

I like to defend certain aspects and opinions of peoples I don't like or agree with because I believe that it strengthens ones credibility. "Republicans are bloodsucking vampires" is not not the expression of a thoughtful critic; "The Republican philosophy of teaching people to fish has its merits..." is a little better.

Thus I go straight into defensive mode whenever someone mentions Mormons. I'd like to think this has less to do with sentimentality and background than objectivity or intellectual rigor, but I don't really bother defending any other faiths terribly hard either. Anyway, let's review:

Unlike the Bible-belters, Mormons are science-friendly. Although I'm sure a few exist, I've never personally met a Mormon who believed in the "young earth" or that men and dinosaurs co-existed. They're okay with stem-cell research. Most Mormons I grew up around even believed in evolution, albeit a version that has more in common with Spore than Darwin.

Unlike the Catholics, Mormon dogma is flexible. The Mormon answer to "papal infallibility" is "doctrine by revelation." Basically God regularly calls the pope prophet with some new rules. He frequently changes his mind — that's right, the Mormon god is wishy-washy. Thus, the church isn't tied to outdated ideas and rules laid down by leaders who have been dead-and-buried for generations.

So, CA Proposition 8, return of the homoban. A church that fled the United States it order to escape persecution and engage in their own unique definition of marriage is now persecuting a people who want to engage in a unique definition of marriage. Oh sweet hypocracy.

One detail that a few of the critics are getting wrong, though. This isn't Utah meddling in the affairs of Californians. There are more Mormons in California than Utah. That's been the case for a long time. This is mostly just an indicator of the relative populations of the states, but still, the Mormon church is pouring money into a place where they have (from their perspective) a very large presence and interest. An invasion it's not.

I just wish that... I dunno... they were being smarter about the whole thing. Gay marriage is a generational inevitability. I wish they had a broad enough vision to see that they're winding up on the wrong side of history. And it'll be really tough for a future "prophet" to say, "Remember all that money and political fighting we did back in y2k over gay marriage? Well, I just got a call from the big G, and he's blessed us with a revelation..."