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10/13/2010
NOM: Packer backers
LDS Elder Boyd K. Packer recently referred to same-sex marriage as one of "Satan’s many substitutes and counterfeits for marriage." Or, according to the National Organization For Marriage: Packer merely "defended tradition":
It's kind of an extraordinary moment. Elder Boyd Packer gave a speech at a religious gathering, in which he reiterated the Mormon church’s long-held view that sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is wrong. "Impure" was one of the terms he used. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, perhaps egged on by Judge Walker's "Finding of Fact #77" that religious beliefs hurt gays and lesbians, decided his political organization should attempt to change the LDS church's religious doctrines, delivering a petition signed by 150,000 folks telling Elder Packer to change his faith's tenets.
This is weird, strange new territory. A signal of where the gay rights movement is headed?
HRC to LDS Church: Change Your Religious Doctrines to Please Us! [NOM]
Convenient how they overlooked the whole Satan reference. Or how they act as if Solmonese is attacking the church as a whole. Because in fact, which one can see borne out on living video, Joe made it patently clear that he was referring to Packer's speech and the false facts within, and not the Mormon faith as a whole. And in fact, it's actually offensive to mainstream LDS members to suggest that Packer's rhetoric unequivocally represents the church.
Oh, and as for that "impure" reference? Yes, Packer surely did use that word -- he used it like this:
”Some suppose that they were “pre-set” and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and the unnatural. Not so. Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember, He is our Father."
Yup, that's right: The word was used as part of a call for gays to "change." A signal of where the National Organization For Marriage is headed?
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*SEE ALSO: In a telling move, Packer actually changed some of the wording of his speech for its archival posterity, including omitting some of the part referenced above::
Senior Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer has modified his General Conference speech for the LDS Church’s online publication to more closely reflect the faith’s view that the cause of same-sex attraction is unknown and that the only sin is acting on those desires.
...
While minor edits may be common, such substantive changes are rare.
Packer talk jibes with LDS stance after tweak [SLT]
Thanks, but we'll stick with what, you know -- actually came out of his mouth.
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