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Please sign the petition below to join us as we stand together to say "Enough!" to the campaign of hate and intimidation being waged against the LDS Church and other supporters of California's Proposition 8.

Now is the time to stand together to protect the rights of minority religious communities to participate in the political process without fear of violence, intimidation, or vandalism.

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Above the Hate.com Letter Against Hate to President Monson

November 15, 2008

President Thomas S. Monson
Office of the First Presidency
Church Administration Building
47 East South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150

Dear President Monson:

We write firstly to express our deep gratitude to you and the entire LDS community for the large and impressive contributions of your church and its members in protecting marriage in California and Arizona.

Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and moral courage that so many members of your faith community displayed as part of this coalition effort—as Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons, and people of other faith communities all came together to fight this great battle for marriage.

But we write for an even more important purpose: to express our outrage at the vile and indecent attacks directed specifically and uniquely at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members because of your courage in standing up for marriage.

It is deeply unfair, and contrary to the best American traditions, that any faith community, much less a minority one, should be singled out and attacked in this way by powerful, well-funded political forces determined to “make them pay” for participating in the normal political processes of democracy.

These attacks include:

• Large organized protests designed to disrupt places of worship; [1]
• Public calls to investigate and “dig up dirt” on Americans of a particular faith who donated to a political cause; [2]
• An outrageous television ad campaign crudely and deliberately designed to incite fear and hatred of a minority religious community. [3]

None of these things should happen in America, but they are happening right now to the LDS faith community.

We urge more and other responsible voices to say “enough.” These attacks are shameful. This is not the way Americans behave towards each other.

The coalition for marriage in California and across the country includes people of different theological views. But let us here make one thing absolutely clear:

We, the undersigned, utterly condemn and reject the ongoing unprecedented efforts to incite religious hatred and bigotry towards members of the LDS Church because, as American citizens, you have courageously exercised your core civil rights to speak, to vote, and to donate to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

We pledge to work with you and for you not only to protect marriage, but to protect the rights of all religious citizens, including the LDS Church, to participate freely (without threats of retribution or retaliation) in the political processes of this country in defense of the Judeo-Christian values—and the common good—we hold so dear.

Sincerely,

Co-Signed:

1. See, e.g., Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, “Thousands in Los Angeles Protest Gay Marriage Ban,” Associated Press, November 7, 2008, available at http://www.examiner.com/a-1678506~Thousands_in_Los_Angeles_protest_gay_marriage_ban.html.
2. See DailyKos.com, “How YOU can defeat Prop 8 and preserve marriage equality,” October 20, 2008, available at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/20/01429/971.
3. Dan Rascon, “California Anti-Prop 8 Commercial Depicts Mormon Missionaries Invading Home,” KUTV.com, November 3, 2008, available at http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=E1F83189-843F-41D7-84C4-2029FBD9A2CE&gsa=true; see also Courage Campaign website at www.couragecampaign.org/video.