Courage Campaign Issues Committee delivers 16,935 signatures to Los Angeles Mormon Temple urging Mormon Church to cease funding the Proposition 8 campaign

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2008

Rick Jacobs — 310-245-6660

Courage Campaign Issues Committee delivers 16,935 signatures to Los Angeles Mormon Temple urging Mormon Church to cease funding the Proposition 8 campaign

Petition urges LDS President Thomas Monson to cease funding Prop 8 and stop imposing religious doctrine and dictating public policy to Californians, other Churches

LOS ANGELES, CA – Giving voice to thousands throughout the state, the Courage Campaign Issues Committee, an online organizing network of over 100,000 members in California, today delivered a petition signed by 16,935 people urging Church of Latter-day Saints President Thomas Monson to cease funding the campaign for Proposition 8, a measure that would “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.”

The oganization also condemned the inimtimidation of donors who oppose Proposition 8 by of the “Yes on 8” campaign, led by Mark Jansson — a prominent Executive Committee member of the campaign and a member of the Mormon Church.

“We need to stop the Mormon Church from pushing their marriage views on Californians through the ballot box,” said Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign Issues Committee. “The Mormon Church is not welcome to impose its theology on the people of California. We are galled that the Mormon Church would stoop to lying in advertisements and condoning blackmail.”

Jacobs was joined by the Reverend Eric Lee, President of the California Chapters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (founded by Dr. Martin Luther King), as he delivered the signed petitions to the Los Angeles California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The online petition, launched last Thursday, urges the Mormon Church not to impose its religious doctrine on other churches, on the rest of society, or to dictate public policy to Californians.

“Anytime one group of people are denied the rights afforded to another group, it is a violation of civil rights,” added Reverend Lee. “In this nation, we enjoy religious freedom. That means no one has the right to impose a narrow theological view on relationships upon every body in every situation. Our nation is poised to achieve the dream Dr. King spoke about. Yet here in California, interests that present themselves as Christian rally for hatred and division. I oppose Proposition 8 because it seeks to create a permanent second class of citizens, something this country cannot afford.”

According to an Associated Press article dated October 8, Mormons, under pressure from the church, have been the chief financial contributors to the “Yes on 8” campaign, giving an estimated 43 percent — approximately $8.4 million — of the total funds contributed as of that date. Earlier this year, LDS President Thomas S. Monson wrote a widely circulated letter to Mormons to give their time and money to pass Proposition 8. Since that time, millions of dollars have flowed from Mormons in Utah and other states funding a deceptive campaign.

The text of the letter states “We are especially saddened to see your church, which has suffered discrimination and the loss of basic legal rights based on lifestyle and belief in the past, now attempting to do the same thing and take away Californians’ rights. We had hoped your church had moved beyond its discriminatory past when you rescinded the ban on African Americans entering the priesthood in 1978. We fully respect your religious freedoms — but your freedoms do not include the ability to take away rights from anyone.”

Jacobs also condemned the intimidation tactics of the Prop 8 campaign on “No on 8” donors, led by Mark Jansson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Associated Press and San Diego’s CBS affiliate reported over the weekend that donors who gave money to the “No on 8” campaign have received blackmail letters demanding money from the Prop 8 campaign. The campaign has confirmed “they sent around 30 companies the letter.”

“This conduct is reprehensible. The Prop 8 campaign and Mormon Church President-Prophet Thomas Monson should be ashamed,” added Jacobs. “Intimidation tactics like these should have no place in public discourse, particularly in connection with members of a major religion like the Mormon Church.”

Please see the text of the petition below:

Dear President-Prophet Thomas Monson,

One of the most cherished freedoms granted to Americans in our Constitution is the freedom to choose our own religious beliefs. It is a freedom we firmly support. But that freedom also brings an obligation on the part of churches to not impose their religious beliefs on other churches, on the rest of society, or to dictate public policy. Under your leadership your church is now actively doing all of the above by supporting the campaign to pass Proposition 8 here in California.

We are particularly troubled that your church is funding television and radio ads that are lying to Californians about the effects of a “No” vote against Proposition 8. We are disappointed that you have chosen to break the Ninth Commandment – “thou shalt not bear false witness.” The ads that you have funded bear false witness by not telling Californians that parents actually have absolute rights to remove their children from sex education classes, unlike in Massachusetts.

We ask you to recognize that every education authority in the state has rejected the lies and distortions of the Prop 8 campaign, including the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association. We also ask you to listen to a member of your church, Brigham Young University adjunct law professor Morris Thurston, who has called on the Mormon Church to “instruct its members that reliance on misleading and false ‘consequences’ is not worthy of our basic values of honesty and fair dealing.”

We are especially saddened to see your church, which has suffered discrimination and the loss of basic legal rights based on lifestyle and belief in the past, now attempting to do the same thing and take away Californians’ rights. We had hoped your church had moved beyond its discriminatory past when you rescinded the ban on African Americans entering the priesthood in 1978. We fully respect your religious freedoms – but your freedoms do not include the ability to take away rights from anyone.

We, the undersigned, call upon you to direct your church to cease funding the “Yes on 8” campaign and to cease all forms of advocacy for Proposition 8. We ask you to stay out of our state’s governance. We ask you to respect the religious freedoms of those churches that choose to conduct same sex weddings, just as we respect your church’s right to refuse to do so. We ask you to uphold both the spirit and the letter of the California and United States Constitutions and not attempt to eliminate the fundamental rights of Californians.

 
The petition to President-Prophet Monson can be viewed here:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopTheLies 

The Associated Press covered the launching of the Courage Campaign’s petition to President-Prophet Monson. The full story can be viewed here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/state/n153507D17.DTL

The Salt Lake Tribune’s most recent article on the unprecedented involvement by the Mormon Church in attempting to pass Prop 8:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10797630 

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle reports on the Mormon Church’s role in supporting Prop. 8:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/BAP113OIRD.DTL&tsp=1

The full CBS story on the Prop 8 campaign’s blackmail of California businesses, including TV news report, can be viewed here:
http://www.cbs8.com/stories/story.144185.html

The Associated Press story on the Prop 8 campaign’s blackmail of California businesses can be viewed here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/state/n145556D05.DTL&tsp=1

 

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