Amendment News and Posts

The proposed DSM amendment (for "different sex marriage") is still bouncing around the media and the Bloggernacle, showing how unexpectedly diverse is the response by LDS rank and file to the recent First Presidency statement read over LDS pulpits last Sunday and posted at LDS.org.

For example, the SL Trib featured an editorial by a part-time BYU faculty member opposing the amendment: "I believe opposing gay marriage and seeking a constitutional amendment against it is immoral." [Hat tip: this M&A post, with many comments.] Also, LDS.org posted a short summary of comments on the amendment by Elder Russell M. Nelson at a media event in Washington, DC.

At T&S, Nate posted a legal analysis of the amendment, pointing out what a mess it would make given the traditional assignment of marriage law to the states. Naiahdot asks for some help connecting the dots between gay marriage and an actual threat to "traditional marriage" or "the family." And if you want to spend an afternoon reading comments, BCC's Why I Favor Gay Marriage is now up to 309 comments.

Comments

[Seth R.]

First comment: The SL Trib prides itself on going against the grain of Utah opinion. It also represents a city with a majority non-LDS population.

Second, I'm not sure how representative the bloggernacle is of the "LDS rank and file." For one thing, aside from the odd Brit, Canadian, and of course - Wilfried, I don't see much of the international Church on the bloggernacle. I'm sure the conventional wisdom in Latin America doesn't get much of a hearing here, for instance.

Of course, I don't know whether it represents the American LDS population. It doesn't seem to reflect the wisdom I grew up with in Utah, certainly (just one man's anecdotes, I know).

But I might be wrong. If there's one thing reading the bloggernacle has shown me, it's that there are definitely Mormons out there who keep their opinions to themselves in Church meetings, and those opinions are often quite unconventional to "generic Mormonism."

And of course, this really isn't just a Utah Church anymore. The Utah Mormons can no longer assume that they are the last word in Mormon opinion.

[Dave]

Seth, I'll certainly second your observation about how effective LDS church meetings and classes are at stifling nonconforming opinions. As you note, it does give a false impression of a uniformity of opinion on political, social, and even religious issues which is not, in fact, an accurate model of the diversity of LDS opinion.

That sort of forced Sunday conformity does, over the long run, have a real effect -- witness the extent to which Utah has become the epitome of US political conservatism.

And where else but the SL Trib is a (part-time) BYU faculty member going to express a political view contrary to that of the Church? It's not that the Trib is necessarily in knee-jerk opposition to the Church as much as it is willing to publish diverse viewpoints rather than just "correlated" opinions.