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One of the few decent things that President Obama has done since getting in the White House has been to support funding to close the illegal gulag in Guantanamo. (It's illegal because the only thing our treaty with Cuba allows us to do there is refuel ships and because of human rights violations there that violate international law.) So, what do the vast majority of so-called Democrats in Congress do?
They join with Republicans to block this funding.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not been alone in his disturbing desire to keep Gitmo open. However, he has pursued this with a missionary zeal, a Mormon missionary zeal, to be more specific. Reid's actions are in concert with the fanatical racism of Mormonism.
Mormons certainly have no monopoly on racism, but Mormonism is the only major church in this country to explicitly endorse white supremacy in its teachings. Mormons believe that non white people are being punished for their ancestors refusing to fight with Jesus against Lucifer before humans lived on this planet. Yes, this is crazy, but so much of religion is crazy that it shouldn't surprise you.
Ex-Mormons and other critics of that hateful cult accurately point out that Mormonism is based on plagiarized science fiction. What often gets left out is when Joseph Smith plagiarized the Book of Mormon, the late 1820s and early 1830s.
If you think that racism is bad now, the white supremacy of that era would make your hair stand on end. People of African origins were considered completely subhuman and all non white people were openly claimed to be inferior, without hesitation or apology. A major motive for this disgusting ideology was to justify slavery and trade arrangements that impoverished non-white people.
Under these circumstances, it should be no surprise that Mormon ideology is like a KKK sci fi fantasy. Equally unsurprising is that discussion of this is taboo, given the pro religion bias in our society and the corporate media. However, if you want to understand Mormonism, you have to acknowledge that it is as racist, sexist, and heterosexist as the Ku Klux Klan.
When you know that Harry Reid subscribes to this hateful ideological system, it should surprise no one that he is obsessed with continuing a gulag whose prisoners primarily suffer there based on racial profiling. One would also expect that Reid would work behind the scenes to sabotage lgbt civil rights legislation, which he has. It would be typical for a Mormon to oppose the inalienable right of women to have abortions, based on misogynistic gender role expectations. Reid does just that too.
If you wonder why Reid has been so rabid in his opposition to doing what any decent, moral human being would do on the Gitmo gulag, just look at his religious beliefs. Comprehension requires breaking the taboo of looking at religion to explain political behavior.
When anyone speaks out against a hateful and bigoted church, the conditioned reaction among so many of our society is to claim that it is bigoted or intolerant to do so. This is based on a rhetorical ploy invented by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and picked up by Christian Right hate groups in the 80s. (The Mormons adopted it during the controversy over Prop. 8.) The claim is:
It is "intolerant" to speak out against intolerance.
Given the similar values between the Mormon Church and the Klan, it isn't exactly shocking that they use the same rhetorical ploys to defend themselves.
The privileged status of religion is so great in our society that it is considered hateful to hold churches to the same standards that any other organizations or institutions. This religious privilege harms real debate. Any privileged status for religion is inherently discriminatory against atheists as well.
Prop. 8 is hardly the only reason why people should boycott Utah and boycott Mormon businesses. There are lots of reasons for this and why the Sundance Festival should be moved out of Utah. The Mormon cult is one of the worst outgrowths of the prejudices of 19th Century America. Mormonism is a cancer on our society.
