In honor of the protests against the Mormon church over their involvement with Proposition 8 -- here's a little something about the Mormon church withholding from another minority group as recently as 1977 (this being the withholding from people of African descent of the church's highest priesthood and the rights/promises that go along with that; i.e. getting married in their temples, family sealing, etc etc; basically every reward they make a big fuss over).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_SaintsThe first statement by Young about a priesthood ban in the LDS Church was made on February 13, 1849. The statement — which refers to the Curse of Cain as the reason for the policy — was given in response to the question, "What chance is there for the redemption of the Negro?" Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood."
Young stated, "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] ... in him
cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before
I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and
others know it."Yes, you read that right: according to Mormon doctrine, blacks have the curse of Cain on them -- Cain who was said to have murdered his brother Abel (sp) and be cast away by God. This is why Blacks, as late as 1977, were held at arms length from attaining the full rights of their non-black religous brothers and sisters.
Sorry, but the God I don't believe in is neither as petty as that, nor as indecisive as that (he is after all, infallible, no? So why is he ALWAYS adapting his rules to match the societal norm??).Maybe I'll post something like this for every other religion as well. Catholics should be next in that case.
And as an aside: I was raised a law abiding Mormon and stayed that way until I was 16, possibly 17.