Joy and Sorrow

It feels like I should write something about the last 24 hours.

I'm deeply, profoundly glad and relieved that Barack Obama will be taking over as President in January. In many ways, it feels like I'm getting my country back.

At the same time, I'm incredibly sad that Proposition 8 passed here in California. I'm also sad because I feel that it passed because people believed the lies put forth by the proponents of the proposition. "Our schools will be forced to teach gay marriage," "churches will be punished if they don't perform gay marriage ceremonies", etc. This is what is known as "bearing false witness". Schools don't teach marriage now, so why would they have to teach gay marriage? Churches don't have to perform a wedding for anyone who asks for it, so why would they be punished in the future for it? My church, growing up, was very clear that if the pastor didn't feel good about the proposed union, he wouldn't do the service.

So we had a conservative religious push to change our state constitution that felt the need to lie to get its agenda passed.

I believe that a large number of people voted for Prop 8 because they believed the lies. They believed that it was going to force a worldview they weren't totally comfortable with into the public schools. They believed that their religious freedom was going to be curtailed. They were lied to, and they were lied to by people who are supposed to believe that "the truth shall set you free."

Hypocrisy and hate disguised as moral uprightness are nothing new for the church (regardless of whether it's the Catholic church, the Baptist church, or the Mormon church). Still, it makes me sad that the voters of California took away the liberties of others in the belief that they were protecting their own. It makes me sad that people who claim to be "Pro-America" do everything they can to subvert the very democratic process they are supposed to protect.