Dear Editor,
[In response to "The problem with Prop 8 and the Mormon Church"]
The Mormon Church indeed overstepped its role in being a religious leader to being a political leader, which is clearly a problem. My first opinion piece, "Why we must not target the Mormon church," which appeared in Monday's issue of the Daily, tried to convey that demeaning the Mormon Church — like Pat Andriola's statement that the Church is "inherently bigoted" in Tuesday's piece, "The Problem with Prop 8 and the Mormon Church" — is a waste of time.
Did Martin Luther King Jr. conclude that whites were "inherently bigoted" and so needed to be "held accountable for [their] prejudiced actions?" Did Martin Luther King Jr. gnarr his teeth at white politicians who so fiercely opposed desegregation?
The case I made was for a different approach to fighting intolerance — one that has proven successful in history. We can never again let a group of oppressors try to exterminate our existence, but this is not what Prop 8 is about. If it were, then our strategy might have to change. This is an issue of civil rights; we are not at the current time experiencing violent pogroms, destructions of our property or forced conversions. What we are facing is bigotry and intolerance.
I agree that the tolerance of intolerance is a fool's badge. Had I not, I would not have written how meaningful the protests were to me and to the cause of defeating Prop 8. If Pat mistook my stand against religious hatred as "apathy," I offer my sincerest apologies. The paradigm of "non-violence" is not the acceptance of oppression but the desire to change it via methods of critique, education and even civil disobedience (i.e. protests). But burning the Book of Mormon? As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." If we are then to be of the correct understanding, we must be the ones not to exhibit anger and intolerance. If we are to be the "moral compass," our arrows should point to the high road.
Sincerely,
Gregory Kastelman, Class of 2009
