Responding to Karger's claims of "hate"

While working in Laguna Beach, I dealt on several occasions with Fred Karger, who fought heartily on the No on 8 side as leader of "Californians Against Hate."

Fred is just as passionate as I am on causes he supports, so I can appreciate his fervor, even if I am often personally opposed to them.

Well, he added me to his "Californians Against Hate" mailing list forever ago, and I've just overlooked his emails - my inbox is so glutted these days, I pretty much ignore anything but personal correspondence.

Anyways, Melissa posted about the probe into the LDS Church's Prop. 8 donations, and lo and behold, Fred was leading the charge! I couldn't help but to respond to him personally - and I wanted to share my response with y'all.

It is so difficult when our views are so diametrically opposed to those of people with whom we interact on a daily basis. I hope that we can all continue to respect one another, regardless of where our beliefs fall.
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Fred, please remove me from your mailing list. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I find it deplorable that so much hate and anger is being focused at my faith when its members (myself included) were joining in the political process in honor of a cause that aligned with their beliefs.

We are in America - we are welcome to our beliefs and should not be punished in a McCarthy-esque witchhunt. Latter-day Saints make up a mere 4 percent of the California population, and half of those are children. While we put much effort into this effort, it was as a part of a broad coalition of faiths and as individuals.

Furthermore, while some may have "hate" toward the LGTB community, I should hope that our work together in Laguna Beach made it clear that I, for one, do not fall into such a hateful category. In fact, most of those with whom I worked in favor of Prop. 8 have no hate for the gay community. One of my best, best friends is gay!

The fact of the matter is that civil unions have ALL the same rights as hetero couples in California under section 297.5 of the California Family Code, and that is something I would happily support in every state. However, when you change the definition of a fundamental term such as "marriage," you enforce a chilling effect on religious and personal freedoms - in effect, you push for a state church of relativism and irreligion. The Founding Fathers wanted freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. I believe strongly that we can all happily work together to make our nation the best it can be - without trampling over rights on either side of the fence.

I'm sure your views differ, but I wanted to give you insight into another perspective. I wish you well, all differences aside. Take care, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

All my best,
Christa

For more information go to http://whatisprop8.com