An LDS LAPD officer Looks at the Temple Protests

Paul Bishop wrote “In the Face of Hatred” about the protests at the Los Angeles temple, and readers responded in droves.

The Lord Extends His Hand

Good Morning, some thoughts about last Thursday. I am a Temple Worker , at the Los Angeles Temple , and my Chapel is the one just north of the Temple . What we saw was the Lord extend his hand to protect His Holy House. His instruments were the LAPD and others. I visited with members of Temple Security last Friday and yesterday (Sunday); two quick stories.

1. One LAPD Officer came to Temple Security and said, "I feel something special here."

2. One LAPD Officer came to Temple Security and said, "I have always closed my door to your Missionaries, now it will be open."

There was turmoil and chaos, but the still, small voice was heard last Thursday at the Temple . My gratitude to the LAPD and the others in law enforcement.

Marty MacDonald

Worried for Missionaries

Thank you Meridian Magazine! 

I really enjoyed Officer & Brother Bishop's stance on Prop 8. As a nursing instructor at a State University I am often faced with challenges such as Brother Bishop. For my lecture on alternative families I usually talk about grandparents raising their grandchildren. This is the most common alternative family in the US today.

Pray often, as mother with 2 children currently serving on a LDS mission I am deeply saddened of the potential hate that those missionaries face that are serving in Calif.
and perhaps elsewhere in the country. Our missionaries share the word without deceit, their name tags are essential, unfortunately they may also make them a target.

I also wanted to state as a parent and a nurse, why would I want to teach my children about an unhealthy lifestyle such as man to man relationship that has a high domestic violence rate and the transmission of HIV Aids is 15 times greater than a man to woman relationship?

God Bless you both and I was saddened to hear that your site was hacked. 

Susan E. Fleming MN, RN
Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
PhD Nursing Doctoral Student
Washington State University College of Nursing, Spokane

Standing up in a Non-Violent Way

Thank you for that beautiful article. How hard it must be for those in California who are standing up for the principles we know to be true. I'm sure that this will not be an isolated incident but standing up for our beliefs in a non-violent way will undoubtedly be a way of life for us. I appreciate the way you ended your article with encouragement to pray for ourselves and our enemies, show love to all those around us, and strengthen our faith in the Lord and our prophet. These are very special times and peace can be obtained only when we live the way Christ would want us to.

Lorrie Manley

A Must-Read

My sincere thanks and admiration, go to Paul Bishop for his comprehensive treatment of the recent Proposition 8 problems from the perspective of one closely involved. I was especially inspired by his Christlike attitudes and counsel to us all. May the Lord bless him for helping all of us to reach out as the Savior would have us do. I have forwarded this article to my family as a “must read.”

David Earl Perry

A Slim Majority?

I enjoyed Paul Bishop's article, "In the Face of Hatred".  In the article Brother Bishop characterizes the victory of Proposition 8 as a "slim" passage into law.

Other races that won by similar margins, however, are characterized as "solid victories."  While it's mildly disappointing that Prop. 8 didn't pass by Prop. 22's wide margin of a few years ago, we remember that the "No on 8" folks outspent the "Yes on 8" campaign by nearly 20% this time.

Right-thinking Californians gave common sense a solid victory over a highly determined, vocal, and well-financed minority.

Eugene Olsen

James Dobson

I wanted to say thank you for this wonderful article. I too have been very troubles about this terrible hatred and outright bigotry shown to the Church in the wake of the passage of Prop 8. But there are good things coming out of it as well. I went to the Focus on the Family website and listened to Dr. James Dobson's radio message about the aftermath of the election. He said he had fundamental differences with the Later-day Saint Church but that we had really stepped up to support the passage of Prop 8 and that all Evangelical Christians needed to defend us.

Thank you again for this article and thank you for your service in the LAPD.

Jerry Tyner

Guarding Our Churches

Thank you for sharing the article by Paul Bishop about the protests at the Los Angeles Temple .  My wife and I and our family live in the Bay Area and during the campain we were subjected to verbal threats and property damage for our support of Prop 8.  It is sad to see that the no on 8 campaign and their supporters had a very thin vineer of 'love' in their campaign that has now been exposed to the most vile venon that they can muster.

Paul Bishop's article was reassuring in the sense that the LAPD took actions to protect the temple.  However, I sure would like to know who his fellow police officer was that expressed the desire that the temple be burned down.  I am not a lawyer, but suspect that such comments qualifies as hate speech. 

There are several members of the church that work at various PD's in the Bay Area, including Oakland . The Oakland PD took similiar steps to protect the Oakland Temple and adjacent Interstake Center and CA Oakland Mission offices.

Yesterday the local police department in our town took the liberty of guarding our local chapel overnight to make sure there was no vandalism.  Once we arrived to start our sabbath services, the police departed.

Trying times to be sure.  However, to see the religious community rally to our defense and to have several non-member friends of our decided to stand with us during this time.  Polarization in our society is not fun nor pretty, but it will bring the pure in heart to our defense.

Kevin Blatter
Concord, California

Do What He Would Do

I'm a member of the church who lives in Calgary , Alberta , Canada . I recently read your article titled "In the Face of Hatred" by Paul Bishop. I found it very sobering and sad to hear of the hatred that is being directed towards our church as a result of our support of Proposition 8. It's so glaring the hypocrisy that exists when the opponents of the Proposition acuse us of being hate mongers when they are the very ones who are being belligerent, obscene, defacing church property, and bullying those who support Proposition 8. How can they not see the hypocrisy in themselves? I appreciated the final words by Brother Bishop when he reminds us of the counsel from our leaders to be Christian in our actions and responses in the face of lies and cruelty. Though hard to resist the urge to "put up our dukes" as Elder Hales describes in his recent Conference talk, I also think of our sacred covenants we make to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. In all things we are to do what He would do, both in defending the sanctity of marriage, as well as our response to those who hate us for doing so. Thank you for the wonderful work you do at Meridian in helping us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unite together and receive strength from each other as we share each other's burdens while building up the kingdom of God . Even though we are miles away up here in Calgary , Alberta , we support our faithful brothers and sisters there in California and throughout the world. We love you!!

Sue Pinter
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

A Heavenly Reward

I read with amazement the article regarding the protest at the Los Angeles Temple regarding Prop 8. Possibly due to the proximity of the temple in relation to the given sement of population that was protesting, brought the ugliness to view. I was born and reared in Southern California . I was a child of the 60's and we 'did our own thing'. Having attained adulthood and some wisdom, I have to wonder why no other church, i.e. Catholic,Protestant, Synagogue etc was set upon by this crowd. I firmly believe that those who participated in this protest, generally speaking, are ones who can be persuaded by oratory and inflaming emotions. Reason and common sense seem to have been vacated! I am not a member of the LDS Church but consider myself to be a fair and objective person. Congratulations to the officer who wrote the article.

His is a statement of strength and courage. I have numerous friends who are LDS, and I highly respect them for their beliefs and their corresponding lifestyles. It takes a speecial person,or people, to love their 'enemies' and to take the higher road. Yours will be a Heavenly reward.
 
L.T.

Not Anytime Soon

The following feedback was sent by a Meridian reader:

We are feeling the after affects of the passing of Prop 8. Everywhere I go, I hear nasty and hateful comments against LDS members. My husband works down by the Temple and has been dealing with the nasty and hateful comments made by his co-workers, many who are gay. He says he doesn't say a word to their comments and keeps ignoring them as he feels this is the best road to take. I heard a comment made by a Ward member of how all the protests of Prop 8 will pass by and life will return to normal. I am sorry. That isn't going to be happening any time soon.

Jumping Down from the Fence

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Paul Bishop for his timely and inspired article.  The feelings of anger and fear he expressed mirrored our own during this time of turmoil.  Although we are miles apart, these issues have forced us to come to a realization that we truly must "jump down from the fence" and take a stand.  Thanks for helping us realize that we can stand with strength, and still have dignity and peace.  What a great author,  and what a great man Brother Bishop is! 

The Benson family
Logan, Utah

Who is Hateful?

As a member of the church in Arizona , we had our own small battle in the vote for traditional marriage.  I had many of the same feelings as Brother Bishop.  Not knowing my neighbors well, I hesitated to put a sign in my yard.  I planned to vote for Prop 102, to amend our state constitution, but I was torn about how active I wanted to get in this campaign because I know and love people who live a homosexual lifestyle and I knew they would take it as a betrayal.  I ultimately put a sign in my yard and it was stolen within 48 hours.

  I am deeply saddened at the way the members of the church have been treated in California .  I would expect the opponents of 8 and 102 to feel sadness and/or anger.  What I don't understand is how they can justify their behavior and WE are accused of intolerance and hate?  I thought this was a country where people could disagree and not fear for their lives.  I thought we could vote for what we believed in and the majority rules.  Some of us are very disappointed about how the presidential election ended, but we understand that the majority has spoken and we must step up and do our best to work together for the good of our nation.

Lachell Merrell

Report those Comments

Why didn't this brother, who is a police detective, not report the openly bigoted comments made in the command post to his superiors?  The attitude demonstrated by those comments has no business being in law enforcement.  None!  This is why I have zero confidence in the police.  And I mean that.  And I don't live in LA or California , but in Kansas .  Its that corrupt here as well.