I really believe that those who oppose same-sex marriage are fighting a losing battle. Not only from a legal standpoint, but from the standpoint of acceptance in society.

TSCC has been very vocal and uncompromising in their opposition to homosexuality. Going forward, they can either: 1) rigidly cling to an increasing unpopular position, or 2) try to gradually wiggle their way out.

The LDS church was way behind the curve when it came to embracing racial equality, but their change in doctrine (sorry, not “doctrine” but “policy”) came nearly 20 years before the internet was commonly used. That gave a couple of decades for older people to die, new people to be born and grow up, and memories to become fuzzy. These days, it will be far more difficult to sneak away from their doctrine.

TSCC seems to crave mainstream acceptance, but as their doctrine becomes less and less acceptable to the public, what can they do?

To be honest, I'm not so sure that the LDS church craves mainstream public acceptance as much as it craves acceptance by mainstream fundamentalist religions. And those fundamentalist churches the LDS church wants to ally itself with are just as deadset against homosexual marriage as the LDS church is, if not more so.

Yes.

On a similar note, there was a lot of talk when Romney was
running for president about the fact that his Church USED to not
allow Blacks to have the priesthood. Nobody made a sound about
the fact that Romney's Church CURRENTLY doesn't allow women to
have the priesthood. That's because a lot of other Churches
(Catholicism is the main one) Currently doesn't allow the
ordination of women.

Only when same-sex marriage is embraced by the whole culture
(including Catholics) will the Mormons be forced to accept it
also. Until then they can have their "you can 'suffer' from
same-sex attraction as long as you don't act on it" position,
and be seen as "accepting."

However as same-sex marriage gains acceptance, I see a
possibility for LDS to accept it as a "for time only" solution
for gay member . . . er, excuse me, for "members who suffer
from same-sex attraction."

blindguy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To be honest, I'm not so sure that the LDS church
> craves mainstream public acceptance as much as it
> craves acceptance by mainstream fundamentalist
> religions. And those fundamentalist churches the
> LDS church wants to ally itself with are just as
> dead set against homosexual marriage as the LDS
> church is, if not more so.

As a historical note, it seems that David O. Mackay wanted to move Mormonism to the point where it could be accepted by mainstream Christianity (Episcopalians and so on). When he died, his successors undid all his work, and turned it into the haven for crackpots that it is today.

this requires a revelation!

The "Prop 8" documentary has taken the Mormon mindset of the time and cast it in stone forever!

The church will never be able to escape what is preserved on that DVD.

If Mormons want to get to a place where others find them reasonable, they're going to be pushing those handcarts for a long time.