There are many who are angry at the LDS church for its backing and disproportionate support for Prop 8 in California. I cannot say that I blame them, but I think they simply do not understand the reality of why the LDS church played such an important role in the campaign.

The thing that most No on 8 supporters do not understand is that it is not some special dislike of gays or gay marriage that led the LDS church to become by far the largest supporter of prop 8. The LDS church supported this issue for the same reasons that all of the other churches and groups in that coalition supported it. The difference between levels of support isn’t that Mormons feel this more deeply; it is that the LDS church has a unique capability to organize its members and to spur them to extraordinary action.

The special ability of the church to mobilize its members to get things done has been lauded many, many times. Whether it is in disaster relief or in missionary service, church members act when they are called on to do so by their leaders. The difference in this case of course is that the mobilization efforts were not targeted in bringing relief to the fire ravaged Californians, or food to hurricane victims, it was to support banning gay marriage.

The backlash against the LDS church is fundamentally misguided. The churches disproportionate support in the No on 8 campaign does not show that Mormons hold a special animosity against gays, any more than any other member of the coalition. It only shows that the church has an ability to spur its members to action when asked.