You recommend that Mormons seek alliances with other groups that are less likely to ultimately reject and turn against us. But if one is a politically conservative Mormon who feels that the basic family structure is under coordinated political and legal attack, with whom else do you recommend we make alliances?

Surely banding together with other Christian folks with similar viewpoints on these issues is not tantamount to supporting religious tyranny.

Are you really trying to say that by banding together with Christian evangelicals on certain political issues, Mormons are likely to help bestow so much power on a group so intolerant that we need to fear losing our hard-earned place in civil society?

Or are you simply saying that just we are likely to get our feelings hurt when evangelicals do not ultimately accept us as real Christians despite our support on these political issues?

In other words, do you perceive real danger from such alliances, or merely the liklihood of disappointment?

Whether the ‘Christian’ Right are/aren’t ‘our’ friends is up to individual LDS & Evangelicals to decide. Ignoring &/or Belittling them (I am not accusing anyone here of doing this) will only re-inforce the divide [see “How Wide the Divide” by Stephen Robinson] between us & our Sisters & Brothers in Christ.

Can’t we make allies of like-minded groups for the purposes of accomplishing political and social goals without getting worked up that they will not really ever accept us as their equals and friends?

I guess we can be allies, if you’re talking about in the sense of watch-that-guy-he’ll-backstab-you-as-soon-as-it-fits-his-purposes.

Kind of like the X-men and Magneto, in X2 [spoiler, if anyone hasn’t seen the movie] — teaming up for a bit to defeat a common enemy, but Magneto bails as soon as it fits his purposes.

If we’re looking for more than that from our allies, then I think we need to be awfully careful about accepting the evangelical right as allies.