Religion needs to stay out of sexual ethics

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From an atheist's perspective, there is very little difference between seeing something you don't like and seeing something that you feel on a spiritual level to be untrue.

When the mormon church instructs it's members to spend their time and treasure oppressing the rights of gay people, is that a true revelation that some members might not like, or is it just a false doctrine born of the fear in the hearts of old men that the world may change?

If you don't believe, it's six on one hand, half a dozen on the other.

Religion should stay out of everything.

And let gay people marriage, discrimination takes us nowhere.

And i should say, even if i were a believer, I'd still feel that the direction the mormon leadership has taken on that subject is false doctrine born of fear. That they are listening to the wrong voice. That they have been misled by Old Scratch.

But it would be incumbent on me to shut up about it or get out.

My last comment was directed at Jet102fm.
Sorry for the confusion.

I think it is irrational, irrelevant, and presumptuous.

1. Most religions are against Gay Marriage and Prostitution.

2. Ethics is a matter of religious viewpoints, so actually religion should not stay out of an ethical debate.

This is a blatant attempt to deny by fiat and establish by fiat on the grounds that religion declares by fiat and is therefor invalid. Sorry, but your logic works on your position too.

Well, it depends on the atheist. In my atheist days I differentiated between the undesirable and the untrue just as now. I am not sure all theists - certainly not all who would SAY they are theists - actualyy believe in an independent Truth

True. Mormons are weird with regard to the way that it is an authoritarian religion which at the same time believes in personal revelation.

So, if i were a mormon, I'd be in an immediate deadlock with my leadership. And their most likely move would be to ask me to either give up my apostacy or go away.

But Mormon scripture does not actually provide a doctrinal basis to proscribe same-gender marriage, and this taboo is tearing apart countless families. I can't fathom how a faith so focused on family life can take that position. Especially a family-centric faith that does not recognize civil marriage.

Here's the thing - gay mormons do get married. To people they aren't genuinely attracted to. Many of them even manage to procreate, but ultimately most of them can't keep up the charade and the family group falls apart.

This is probably why ball-room dancing is such a big deal in Utah.

I feel really sorry for gay people who feel forced into heterosexual marriage. I would imagine it's disgusting for them, unless they're somewhat bi-sexual.

I have no objection to any religion speaking on any question of morals or ethics, provided that it confines itself to speaking to its adherents. It is when religion seeks to impose its morality on people other than its followers that it offends my sense of right.

Which, incidentally, is precisely what the OP is doing. If you find same sex marriage immoral, that's perfectly fine--don't marry a person of the same sex. But do not for a moment pretend that your moral view is of any interest, concern or validity to any person that you are not in the habit of referring to by means of the perpendicular pronoun.

Take the plank out of your own eye, before you attempt to take the mote from your brother's.

Religions can impose nothing without the instruments of force or coercion. An unarmed church forces nothing on anyone. No one is compelled to pay any attention to the pronouncements of officers of that church.

ruveyn

How, then, do you explain the puritanical state of the law in most of the fifty states? Whence the political pressure that is being brought to bear to restrict women's access to abortion, teens' access to meaningful sex education, and GLBT people's access to equal recognition of their relationships?

One need not live in a de jure theocracy for clerics to exercise undue influence over the political and legislative process.

No, it is not.

It is not. Ethics/morals can be developed in both a religious and a non-religious context. Atheists have ethical standards some of which are as good as or better than the ethics promoted by the various religions of the world.

Actually many religions, particularly Islam do a terrible job in promoting ethical standards. Mostly they promote violence and destruction. As Pat Condell would say -- That is the Religion of Peace at work --- Peace \/

ruveyn

I find it interesting that most religions are against prostitution when it seems to be tolerated throughout the bible.

The idea that i need a carrot and stick to be a good person is preposterous. I could never believe in a supreme diety who needs to manipulate his children with fear and rewards.