By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
August 6, 2003
A banner headline in the Deseret News, published in Salt Lake City, Utah screams: “Unitarians to file Plaza Suit.” Having been an active Unitarian for more than 20 years in my youth, naturally I read the article to see what the Unitarians were up to now
It seems that they, and a group called “Street Preachers' Fellowship,” are cooperating to sue Salt Lake City and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for signing a an agreement on July 22nd solve the problem of behavior on the plaza. The Church’s $8.9 million purchase offer included a clause that allowed the Church to maintain its non-swearing, non-lewdness standards on the Plaza. The approximately 100 member Salt Lake Unitarian Church was most offended and, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Church and the City for its dastardly act of opposing obscenity on its property. In the agreement the city traded its easement across the Plaza, which unites Church owned properties that include the Salt Lake Temple, its 17 story office building, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and Brigham Young’s home and museum.
A federal court ruled that, if the City owned the easement, it could not permit the church to maintain its standards and suggested the city sell the easement to the Church. That is what has happened. Only, a bunch of people who claimed to be “Christians” are angry because this will prevent them from standing on the easement as they yell obscenities at brides and grooms within minutes of their exchanging sacred vows in the Salt Lake Temple. These hate-filled nut-cakes claim their actions have something to do with freedom of speech or “Christian” fellowship.
After months of negotiation and arm-twisting, which allowed the mayor to get top dollar for the “easement,” the deal was signed whereby the City would give up the easement through the plaza, in exchange for two ACRES of church owned land on which that the city plans to use for a community center. Presumably, the two acres should be enough to hold all the folks who want to protest against young couples who feel the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should permit them to shout obscenities at LDS couples getting married in the Salt Lake Temple. Only now they just can’t do it within shouting distance of couples within minutes of exchanging their solemn and sacred vows in the temple. For some reason, this is SO offensive to the Unitarians that they voted on Sunday to once again sue the Church and the City.
Strangely enough, while the Unitarians want unlimited opportunity to harass the Mormons, they wanted to make sure no non-Unitarians or disagreeing Unitarians were around when discussing and voting on their program to harass the Mormons. All non-Unitarians were required to leave the meeting and members were required to prove their membership. According to Dani Eyer, executive director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, their concern is “about passage and access on the plaza. There are mostly concerns about discrimination."
Discrimination against WHAT? Since the Church Plaza and temple grounds are absolutely swarming with LDS Missionaries of all colors, ages and sizes from all countries in the world and are able to speak to visitors in literally ANY language, who exactly is it that the Unitarians claim is being discriminated against? That’s not hard to figure out. They are demanding that the plaza be open to behavior unacceptable to 99.9% of the people who visit or walk through it while openly discriminating against those who might suggest at a meeting in their own church their policies have flaws.
Folks, I was an active member of the Unitarian church from 1947 to 1968. I was never asked to prove my membership for ANY vote, even when we were voting on selecting a new minister. Actually, about all you have to do in the Unitarian Church to BE a member is to show up one day, still breathing, and, since there is no doctrine in the Unitarian Church, (freedom, y’know) there are not even any answers to questions you need to know. After a few weeks, if you still persist in showing up on Sunday, eventually you will be extended the “Hand of Fellowship” – which means you are a member of the congregation.
This issue has absolutely nothing whatever to do with freedom. It has a lot to do with some folks who would like very much to silence anyone they don’t agree with. I watched a lot of that in the 20 years I spent among Unitarians. I never understood it. The Unitarians and the “Street Preachers' Fellowship,” the guys with the bullhorns screaming at brides coming out of the Temple, are to be co-plaintiffs in the latest move to harass The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which they say isn’t a “Christian” church. Apparently they believe yelling obscenities at brides IS “Christian” and part of their First Amendment Rights.
Freedom is not the issue here. Power is the issue here. A little Unitarian history may explain the problem. In 1959 there were over 3 million Unitarians in the United States in a population of 175 million. They merged in 1961 with the Universalists and I voted in favor of that. It was supposed to increase the size of the Church. However, it didn’t work. Today there are only 218,256 Unitarians in America in a population of 284 million.
On the other hand, in 1959 there were 1.4 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in America, half the Unitarian membership of 3 million. Today, there are approximately11.7 million members of the LDS Church, over 5 million of them in the United States. In the last 40+ years membership in the ultra-liberal Unitarian-Universalist church has dropped over 90% while the conservative LDS Church has grown by over 350%.
While political liberals tell you they represent “most Americans” and religious liberals tell you they represent “freedom of speech,” they don’t. They are using legal maneuvers, senate rules and the media to maintain the power they once had at the voting booth, primarily because conservatives don’t know what’s really going on and when they do won’t cooperate and fight back.
We seem to have arrived at that point in time prophesied by Isaiah the Prophet when good is called evil and evil is called good.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com