sold! to the highest bidder…
the hymnal of the L.D.S. Church contains a song/poem that i’m guessing supports the doctrine of the church. hymn 240 reads thus:
know this that every soul is free
to choose his life and what he’ll be
for this eternal truth is given
that God will force no man to heaven
He’ll call, persuade, direct aright
and bless with wisdom, love and light
in nameless ways be good and kind
but never force the human mind
freedom and reason make us men
take these away, what are we then?
mere animals, and just as well
the beasts may think of heaven and hell
may we no more our powers abuse
but ways of truth and goodness choose
our God is pleased when we improve
His grace and seek His perfect love
in light of this and the principal of paternalism i tell myself that the church lobbied for prop 8 not on a basis of legislating people’s agency away, but rather in an effort to protect their own.
the government, in brilliant fashion, uses and abuses its unique power by auctioning off the chance for one group to legally violate the rights of another group. i’m guessing that if gays win then they can use the gov to force the church into various accommodations. if the church wins, then… actually i don’t know what happens, i’m not familiar enough with the numerous laws of the land.
if what i tell myself is wrong, then i would wonder why the church still has such a hymn in the hymnal. but the bigger question (and crux of the matter) is why, for pete’s sake, is the gov involved in this matter? why do they dangle such powers we’ve afforded them? so that others may in turn use and abuse? maybe its a drug, we’ll call it soma, and they want us to experience the sensation. i’ve heard power can be intoxicating…
i once heard a historian’s claim that gov originated way back when a group of people, realizing their absolute advantage in the use of force, began to sell themselves. do they protect rights? or do they aid in violating them?
