You know its not really like I, or any of us should be surprised.  After all it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the Mormon elders had a “revelation” that allowed them to change official church doctrine saying that black people were not really people.  What is surprising though is that the Mormon Chruch whines constantly that they themselves are discriminated, looked down upon and hated and after reading statements like the above one knows why.  The pompus arrogance alone sets ones teeth grinding and that on top of the fact that racism, sexism, and bigotry are all built into the very fabric of the Mormon church seals the deal.

“I believe that the greatest challenge faced by the church is the challenge to religious liberty that is growing worldwide. … A battle is looming over the effort to acquire civil social rights at the expense of civil religious rights. This battle, I believe, represents the acceleration of a disturbing slide downward in the law regarding the place of religion in the public square. … Perry seeks a court declaration that, as a matter of law, religious views may not be used to justify the denial of a social civil right. Stated differently, they essentially claim that the voters, from whom all authority in a democracy flows, may not consider religious views and values when deciding these alleged social and cultural civil rights. These are serious allegations and represent an arrow directly at the heart not only of traditional marriage but at the place of religion and religious views in the political dialogue of this country.” – LDS Wlder and Member of the Quorum of the Seventy -Lance Wickman – 2010 J. Reuben Clark Law Society Conference at the University of Utah

Same-sex marriage in no way infringes on anybody’s “religious freedoms”. Religious people are always free to worship as they choose. They are even free to hate whomever they want to the ends of the earth (just as the KKK, Neo-Nazis and other hate groups do). That will never change no matter how many laws there are to protect women, LGBT people, blacks, immigrants, etc. The laws aren’t in place to prevent hatred or change beliefs. They’re in place to prevent discrimination and harm.

The only thing that’s denied to them is the “right” they believe they have–to discriminate against others in the name of their religion. That is not a right they deserve nor is it a “religious freedom” guaranteed under the Constitution. Their freedoms stop where the rights of others begin. Or as my father used to say and bear this in mind Mr. Wickman if ever we should meet. “Your freedoms stop where my fist connects with your nose”