The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seemed to have made its peace with the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay-marriage decision over the last four months. Senior leaders rejected civil disobedience a la Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, and helped pass a housing discrimination bill in the Utah legislature that included protections for gay people. The church also decided to maintain its close relationship with the Boy Scouts of America notwithstanding that organization’s willingness to allow gay scoutmasters.
But in a strong signal that respect for the law and for organizational federalism don’t amount to a softening of the Mormon religious position on gay unions, the church has informed its lay leaders that same-sex marriage is apostasy. The children of same-sex couples will be barred from the faith until they turn 18 and repudiate their parents’ unions.
Read Full Article »