Ever since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broke ranks with other socially-conservative denominations and announced their acceptance of the Boy Scouts' decision to accept gay Scouts, I've been wondering when the other shoe was going to drop and we would get criticism from those organizations.
Well, the other shoe has now dropped. On May 28th, 2013, Right Wing Watch reported that Bryan Fischer, who was hired in 2009 by the American Family Association (AFA) to serve as their director of issue analysis for government and public policy, is claiming that the LDS Church has gone soft on the homosexual agenda because as the homosexual agenda advances, the next domino to fall is going to be the ban against polygamy, and that because the homosexual agenda may be the secret to restoring polygamy to America, this would vindicate Mormon doctrine on plural marriage from the very beginning. He admits he has no evidence supporting his claim, though. See an accompanying story on HuffPo. Here's a video clip of Fischer making his rather spurious claim on his Focal Point radio show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnrIx5ehmdM
A brief review of the American Family Association website revealed no criticism of the LDS Church by name, so Fischer may be speaking strictly for himself rather than for the AFA. However, Fischer's misinformation still needs to be rebutted. In 1890, the LDS Church issued a revelation indefinitely suspending the solemnization of plural marriages by the Church; this was canonized as Official Declaration 1 and appended to the Doctrine & Covenants. Furthermore, Church officials ask members during worthiness interviews to certify that they do not affiliate with any apostate groups, which also means any religious organizations practicing plural marriages. In addition, any Mormon found to be practicing plural marriage is subjected to a disciplinary council and subsequently excommunicated. Finally, since the 12th Article of Faith states "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law", the Church will not reinstitute plural marriage so long as it is contrary to the law of the land. Don't forget that it was the Savior Himself who said "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God's".
Furthermore, the LDS Church has made it abundantly clear that although they will accept Scouts with a homosexual orientation, they will not accept any sexual behavior outside of legal heterosexual marriage, period. In the letter from the First Presidency distributed to all American congregations which announced the Church's decision on the Scouts, the Church reiterated its firm commitment to upholding these standards and to protecting and strengthening boys and young men.
It should also be noted that Bryan Fischer has a reputation for making fanciful and emotional statements at times as he gets carried away in his passion to defend traditional cultural values. This tendency attracted the unwelcome attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which expanded its reach in 2010 to designate his American Family Association and other pro-family groups as "anti-gay hate groups". However, many suspect the SPLC widened their reach in order to attract more donations; their chief trial counsel Morris Dees makes over $300,000 per year and lives in a palatial trophy home in Montgomery, Alabama. The SPLC also has a flagrant left-wing political bias, as indicated by the sidebar on their Hatewatch blog which exclusively lists links from hard-left progressive websites.
In the final analysis, I have no desire to pick a fight with the American Family Association, since they line up with us on so many other important cultural and social issues. In fact, as President Boyd K. Packer said back in 1993, feminists and intellectuals within LDS ranks pose a greater threat to the safety and security of the LDS Church than occasionally-misguided allies such as the AFA. But when someone puts out misinformation about our Church, we must rebut it, even if the source is well-intentioned. I hope the AFA will re-direct itself back to confronting the real enemy -- Satan.
No comments:
Post a Comment