“A widespread assumption … is that religious faith is especially vulnerable to offence and should be protected by an abnormally thick wall of respect, in a different class from the respect that any other human being should pay to any other.” — Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

This past weekend, I was part of a protest outside the Mormon temple here in San Francisco. We screamed “Shame!” and pointed our fingers at those entering and leaving the church in the old ACT UP style of the late 80s. Some LGBT folks don’t approve of targeting churches in the aftermath of the passage of Prop 8, the ballot initiative outlawing gay marriage in California. I was told by a few people on Saturday at the mass demo at City Hall that we should leave religion alone. Why? I asked. They couldn’t give me a good answer.

It all comes down to what Richard Dawkins calls the “thick wall of respect” that religion is afforded. The internationally known British scientist and atheist recounts in his book, The God Delusion, how in western culture we give religion a free pass simply because it is religion.

It is perfectly fine to criticize politicians in any way we want. Ditto for authors or celebrities who say something unpopular or TV shows that present a theme or situation we find uncomfortable. In a democratic society, we are told, it is our right to speak out against things that offend or upset us.

Not religion.

Mormon church members gave huge sums of money to Prop 8. No one knows for sure how much, since contributors don’t have to state their religion. The estimate I’ve often seen repeated is $20 million. The New York Times on November 15, the day of national protests against 8, quoted Michael R. Otterson of the Mormon Church as saying: “We’ve spoken out on other issues, we’ve spoken out on abortion, we’ve spoken out on those kinds of things, but we don’t get involved to the degree we did on this.”

Is it any wonder, then, why queer activists would show up outside Mormon temples to express their outrage at this degree of involvement? To say that we shouldn’t because it’s religion is absurd. It’s undemocratic.

If some corporation had contributed $20 million, if a corporate CEO had admitted what Otterson did, thousands would march on that company’s offices all over the country.

It’s not just the Mormons. San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer, a former bishop of the diocese of Salt Lake City, said that he called his buddies in the Mormon Church and asked them to help pass a ban on gay marriage.That’s why some Catholic churches have also been the scene of protests. More Catholic churches should be targeted and may well be in the next few weeks.

If churches are going to be involved in political issues, then they have to learn to take the heat or get out of the kitchen.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is co-editor of Avanti Popolo: Italians Sailing Beyond Columbus, and editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation, which will be published next year by City Lights Books. His website: www.avicollimecca.com

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