Acting upon their sentiment that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) played a significant role in the passage of Prop. 8 in California, the Group Californians Against Hate have sought to place ads on newspaper web sites in the states of New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island and Maine warning readers that "The Mormons are coming!"
The ads were rejected by sites in three of the states, including Maine's Kennebec Journal which the Washington Post reported as feeling that the ad "borders on insulting and denigrating a whole set of people based on their religion."
Fred Karger, formerly a Republican campaign consultant and founder of Californians Against Hate, feels that Mormons are the "nicest people" and that "they do wonderful things." However, his goal "is to get them out of the same-sex marriage business and back to helping hurricane victims."
As a political strategist, he knows his numbers, and will seek to take advantage of the fact that almost 80% of Americans know or work with a gay person, while slightly less than 50% know a Mormon.
Whereas this could be viewed as a challenge to the LDS Church, it may actually be an opportunity for them to spur their members on to become overall more visible, more openly "Mormon" with their colleagues, their neighbors and their friends.
To read the Washington Post article, click here.
To read Fred Krager's comments on The Huffington Post, click here.
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