So, I'm involved in a couple of facebook fights over the topic of homosexuality. And a lot of Mo's are DEMANDING facts.
THEY WANT THE TRUTH!!! about homosexuality. Scientific studies that PROVE that gays and lesbians are BORN that way.
While I'm happy to oblige them with my limited knowledge about the current research on homosexuality, this thought struck me.

"Wait, you're on facebook. YOU'RE ON A COMPUTER WITH ACCESS TO THE INTERNET! Why don't you look it up?"

I mean, sure, wikipedia may not be the best at in depth knowledge and has its editing issues, but it's still there. It's a couple of clicks away. That's part of how I changed my mind about homosexuality from my TBM days.

I looked stuff up!

Is that unreasonable? Is it just Mormons?

Second: They are so used to being told what to believe, they don't know how to do research.

Third: They're lazy.

Take your pick or mix and match!

And they'll do anything they can to avoid thinking of any data you provide as constituting proof.

It won't matter what info you come up with. It is an argument that can't be won.

I had the attitude they had in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Even had a heated discussion with my good Catholic friend. Lo and behold, a few years later, I was dating a homosexual.

You could have NEVER told me all those years ago that I'd be where I am today.

In the end, it doesn't matter what studies have been done. It won't matter what facts you can present. They will continue to be closed minded.

If they want facts a good place to look would be a recent Mormon Stories podcast by a BYU Microbiology professor who outlined scientific research that supports biological factors that influence gender association. But they have their heads so far up their cults they wouldn't even listen to one of their own.

Mormons believe they know things through the gift and power of the spirit. It is all they have to know. So when the big wigs in SLC tell them that something is true, all they think they need do is hit their knees and receive conformation that it is true. Once received (and they don't dare NOT receive confirmation - it would prove they are not special to God) it is a fact even if nothing from the real world supports it - even if the factual evidence from the real world refutes it.

The slightest implication that something even might support something about Mormonism is all a Mormon needs in order to feel certain that their prayerful confirmation is real. Thus we see animal paintings from Meso-America of a four legged beast and Mormons claim they have proof that horses existed among pre-Columbian Native Americans just as the BOM says. A rock on the eastern side of the Saudi penninsula with 3 Hebrew letters written on it corresponding to something out of the BOM and Mormons have "factual proof" that Lehi (or perhaps it was the earlier party) camped there on his journey to the New World.

To the contrary, Mormons are slow to accept anything that they are told by their big wigs is not true. The most recent example is what you have encountered with gays. Dispite the mounting evidence that homosexuality is physiological in nature, many Mormons refuse to believe any of it because it is not nailed down to the floor, indisputable to all but the very most extreme of the extremists all because the likes of a Boyd K Packer says so and homosexuality has been declared a sin. They no more have any proof that being gay can be cured than than they know what causes a person to be gay. But they cannot deal with the ambiguity of the question and it is declared a choice just as Packer declared in this last conference. Because it has been declared by the representatives of God, then it is "fact" according to Mormon regardless of what the science produced on the subject suggests.

In other words, Mormon beliefs exemplify that passage in the Bible criticizing someone who strains at a gnat but swallows a camel. The bottom line for Mormons is to believe what the SLC big wigs tell you to believe. The evidence on the issue doesn't matter. All that matters is that you believe the right things and the words of the top 15 are all that matter in forming ones beliefs.

Mormons believe they know things simply because they claim to have a testimony. Whatever has validated that testimony makes it "factual". Real facts just get in the way of believing the way the SLC big wigs tell them to believe, so real facts are a danger to the covetted testimony. No one else's testimony on an issue matters so long as it disagrees with the prescribed one approved from SLC. It does not matter how much research goes into forming the other person's testimony on a subject or how many facts the other person has collected and evaluated. All that matters is that the Mormon believes the right thing the right way and that only comes from the top down from SLC.

Wear you down and hope you give up the debate.

Try telling Bornagainsts that the Earth is older than 6000 years old. Or try telling them that evolution is reasonable. Or try to contend that the Noah story can't be accurate. You can even try to show that there are versions of the biblical text which are superior to the KJV.

Simply point out any number of difficulties and they'll either fly into a rage, or they'll testify of the bible until you run away.

The difference though, is that while mormons use the burning bosom of truth, the bornagainsts will use the biblical text to answer your criticism once and for all. Whether it be warm fuzzies or 1611 king approved text, those are rock solid proof that nobody can undo.