The 6 Consequences of Prop 8 For the Mormon Church
(Whether the proposition passes or fails)

1.) Members Divided
The church has been weakened from the inside, as the mandate to support Prop 8 has taken a toll on Mormon congregations across the nation, dividing many families and long-time friends. Many church members who are against Prop 8 have felt ostracized, feel disgust that their tithing money is used to support Prop 8, and have felt uncomfortable attending church meetings.

2.) Few Friends, Many Enemies
Ask people of foreign countries what they think of Americans and you will not hear them say many flattering things. Similar to the rest of the world’s view of the United States thanks to Bush’s foreign policies, the Mormon Church will be left with the reality of having few friends and many enemies among non-Mormons and other organizations. One can’t help but feel sorry for the difficulties that future missionaries will face when trying to get people to listen to their message.

3.) Civil Rights - Reputation Worsened
Before the Mormon Church even jumped in to this election, it was already regarded by most outsiders of having an abysmal track record when it came to civil rights because of their history of not granting timely equality to African Americans and women. Pushing so hard on not granting marriage equality to another minority group will worsen this reputation.

4.) Wasted Money
The Mormon Church has spent tens of millions of dollars on the “yes on Prop 8” cause. Much of this money comes from the money that members have paid in. There have been many reports that a large portion of this money went to pay salaries of the few men who ran the Prop 8 campaign and many people feel like this money could have been spent on something more worthwhile like fighting poverty.

5.) Secret Truths Revealed
Before this election, most non-members knew very little about the Mormon Church outside of the Word of Wisdom and its history of polygamy. However, during this election, the casual viewer of popular message boards will learn many false rumors about the Mormon Church. However, they can also learn many of the somewhat secret truths that the Mormon Church doesn’t publicize. Even long-time members may be learning some of the controversial aspects of Mormon history for the first time.

6.) Still No Solutions
Once the dust has settled from this election, the Mormon Church will be left in the same predicament it was in before the election; without any real solutions for its present and future gay members and their families. As the rest of the world moves quickly from a “just being tolerant of gays” mindset to a civilization that accepts gays as complete equals, the Mormon Church will either have to change doctrine or be viewed by others as an even more fringe cult. It makes one wonder whether entering the political arena by pushing Prop 8 is just delaying the inevitable and that these 6 consequences will be the result of a major miscalculation by church leadership.