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04 Dec 2008 12:02 pm

Mormons And Marriage

Jamie Kirchick has a helpful piece in the Advocate. He notes that Mormons make up 2 percent of California's population yet contributed more than 50 percent of the funds for Prop 8. He also notes the structure of the church, which makes it, in so many ways, a great complement to Christianist politics. Put all the elements of the LDS church together and turn them into a political movement and you can see why Hugh Hewitt sees it as a vehicle for future political power:

Because the church requests that members tithe 10% of their annual income, LDS leaders are able to gain an accurate picture of how much their congregants earn. With this information in hand, bishops in local communities went from house to house in California asking for specific amounts of money for the Yes on 8 campaign -- an incredibly effective fund-raising tactic.

Jamie's also shrewd in noting that the 1950s nuclear family has special theological salience for Mormons:

According to Mormon dogma, marriage extends into the afterlife and couples continue to have "spirit children" who populate extraterrestrial worlds.

A secular amendment to a secular constitution was passed partly in order to protect the integrity of "spirit children."

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