It was only a matter of time, I knew, before we would begin to hear about the impropriety of criticizing the Mormon Church for its staunch opposition to the equality of marriage. As the author of an op-ed in the Nov. 10 issue of the Daily, "A modest response to Proposition 8," which did indeed briefly target The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I feel rather compelled to issue a response to Monday's piece by Gregory Kastelman, "Why we must not target the Mormon Church."
I don't think Gregory would disagree if I were to claim that his article had essentially the following premise: If our side (as we certainly are both on the same side of the marriage-equality movement) demands respect for homosexuals' right to marry, we likewise ought to demonstrate the same respect toward religious institutions such as the Mormon Church. An ostensibly appealing argument, but one that I reject.
If one is willing to believe in the verity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- that is, to believe that the Garden of Eden was actually in Missouri, that God chose to reveal some hidden golden plates in a secret language to only Joseph Smith, who then translated them, in 19th-century America into 16th-century English, and so forth -- then live and let live, I wholeheartedly say. There are plenty of decent and kind people who are members of the church, some of whom I call friends. I do not, however, pay attention to any demand that I must respect the aforementioned belief. And I especially won't respect that belief or any faith -- be it Mormon or whatever -- if it actively promotes the notion that homosexual love is different and is to be kept separate from heterosexual love. It is backward and arrogant and wholly unworthy of our deference.
But I offend Mormons and other believers, you may now say. Two points are to be made in response to this: First, I do not care. Freedom is the freedom to tell people what they don't want to hear, George Orwell once said, and it is much more important than anyone's feelings. Second, I myself could just as well claim to have been offended by their recent display of small-mindedness. But religious believers who voted for Prop 8 and I are not at all in similar positions: Nobody fighting for marriage equality goes beyond the use of mere words and expression, or would claim for a second the right to interfere with what Mormons practice. Mormons do not, however, have the right Gregory grants them to be immune from our backlash to their actual infliction on homosexuals.
So Gregory should indeed feel "very wronged," as he states he is at the opening of his article. But why then respect the institution that invested an incredible $20 million for the sole purpose of wronging him? Why insist that we don't speak out against a church that -- in violation of its tax-exempt status, it seems to me -- goes well out of its way to prevent two people in love with each other from getting married?
I submit the following rhetorical question: Would you defend a secular institution that donated $20 million to prevent you from getting married? Think about this carefully, for the answer, I think, is telling. Religions of all kinds overwhelmingly constitute the reactionary cause against marriage equality, so in a way I wouldn't even now deny that Gregory's title is altogether false. The Mormons are not alone in the religious obstruction of homosexual marriage; they merely led the most recent affront. This still means we must not demur at criticizing intolerance wherever it is encountered.
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Nick Perricone is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
