To whom it may concern,

I am writing in regards to the sermon that I witnessed on October 25, 2008. I attended the Murrieta Springs Seventh-Day Adventist Church where Pastor Lyndon Parsons gave the sermon (podcast).

Blake and Alisa talk with Cristina Alba and Dr. Aubyn Fulton about Proposition 8, and why one is for it and the other against it.

Part 1 (10 min)

In preparation for church chats and Sabbath afternoon conversations on what has turned out to be a pretty hot topic in Adventism, particularly in California, here's a roundup of what's been happening.

The Adventists Against Prop. 8 movement continues with almost 700 signers to the petition and with more than 550 members of the Facebook group.

The Church State Council has still not addressed the issues raised about their use of several court cases in a current Recorder article and in its own communication to church members.

Thanks to some DIY work by some young Adventist filmmakers, here are some short interviews with Adventists discussing their religious liberty concerns with Prop. 8. To date, 630 folks have signed the petition, and over 500 people (there is some overlap) are members of the Adventists Against Prop. 8 Facebook site.

h/t to Stephen Eyer for sharing this NPR comment , by Annie Williams:

"When you cut through all the rhetoric, there is only one reason you would deny gay couples the right to marry: bigotry.

It is wrong for one group of people to deny basic civil rights to another group because they do not share your religious beliefs. And that is exactly what this boils down to: legislating religion.

In an attached document on the front page of the Pacific Union's Church State Council website, Alan Reinach states, "In our own advocacy of Proposition 8, there are two points worth repeating here: first, the Church State Council has not opposed gay rights generally, or domestic partner rights in particular."

Not true.

Last night, the Adventists For Prop. 8 site continued its parroting of the Religious Right by featuring a video of Tony Perkins on its front page.

Tony Perkins is the political front man for James Dobson and has said that the separation of church and state is a "myth."