Thou Shalt Not Lie

They are lying to you. Lying so that they can impose their religious doctrine on Californians and eliminate our fundamental rights.

They are the leadership of the Mormon Church, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and led by President-Prophet Thomas Monson. The Mormon Church has spent the last three months intimidating their members into giving money to "Yes on Prop 8" -- which would take marriage rights away from same-sex couples -- telling Mormon families that their "souls will be in jeopardy" if they do not contribute portions of their income.

According to the Sacramento Bee, members of the Mormon Church have contributed a whopping $8 million to the "Yes on 8" campaign -- about 40% of the total amount raised as of October 13 -- to pass a ballot measure that removes basic civil rights from our state constitution.
And what has this money bought? A pernicious pack of lies, broadcast dozens of times a day into California homes. A church whose ninth commandment reads "thou shalt not bear false witness" is helping fund false ads that claim California parents do not have the right to remove their children from sex education classes -- a right they have and that courts have repeatedly confirmed.

Today, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell expressed his strong opposition to Prop 8 in a hard-hitting TV ad, emphatically reminding voters that "our schools aren't required to teach anything about marriage." In fact, every education authority in the state has rejected the lies and distortions of the Prop 8 campaign, including the California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association.

It's time for Californians to fight back against these dishonest attacks by the religious right. On Tuesday, we will deliver a letter to President-Prophet Thomas Monson at the Los Angeles Mormon Temple, demanding that his church stop funding the blatant lies of the "Yes on 8" campaign. Please show your support by signing our letter right now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopTheLies

The Mormon Church hopes these lies scare California's parents into voting against same-sex rights. That's why we're going to deliver this letter to President-Prophet Monson in Los Angeles on Tuesday:

"We, the undersigned, call upon you to direct your church to cease funding the 'Yes on 8' campaign and to cease all forms of advocacy for Proposition 8. We ask you to stay out of our state's governance. We ask you to respect the religious freedoms of those churches that choose to conduct same-sex weddings, just as we respect your church's right to refuse to do so. We ask you to uphold both the spirit and the letter of the California and United States Constitutions and not attempt to eliminate the fundamental rights of Californians."

Simply put, the Mormon Church should not be imposing its religious doctrine on Californians by funding lies that eliminate civil rights or religious freedoms.

That's why I plan to personally deliver thousands of your signatures to President-Prophet Thomas Munson on Tuesday. Please sign our letter to him today so that we can gather as many signatures as possible before Tuesday's delivery to the Los Angeles Mormon Temple:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopTheLies

Morris Thurston, a Mormon scholar and adjunct law professor at Brigham Young University, has denounced Mormon leadership and called on them to "instruct its members that reliance on misleading and false 'consequences' is not worthy of our basic values of honesty and fair dealing."
If you agree, please forward this email message to your friends and family across California and the country. To shed light on these lies and defeat Prop 8, we need the support of as many people as possible, regardless of religious faith.

Thank you for doing everything in your power before election day to protect marriage equality in California.

Rick Jacobs
Chair
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The Courage Campaign Issues Committee is part of the Courage Campaign online organizing network empowering nearly 100,000 grassroots and netroots activists to make 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California.