Mormons Petition To Stop Tabernacle Choir From Singing At Trumps Inauguration

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Huffington Post

Signers say the church’s values clash with the “racist, sexist” president-elect.

 12/29/2016 10:21 pm ET
Mary Papenfuss 
Trends reporter, The Huffington Post


A Mormon who said his “heart sank” when he heard that the church’s beloved Tabernacle Choir will perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration has launched a petition to urge the group not to go to Washington, D.C.

“I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The thought of this choir and Mormonism being forever associated with a man who disparages minorities, brags about his sexual control of women, encourages intolerance and traffics in hate speech and bullying, was unacceptable,” Randall Thacker said in a statement. “I immediately knew there were probably thousands of people who felt the same way, so I created the space on Change.org for like-minded Mormons and their friends to share their feelings.”

About 215 of the choir’s 360 members are expected to perform at the inauguration, church officials have told The Salt Lake City Tribune.

By Thursday evening, nearly 19,000 people had signed the petition, which is seeking 25,000 signatures. The petition urges the Mormon Tabernacle Choir not to perform for an “incoming president who has demonstrated sexist, racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic behavior that does not align with the principles and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/petition-mormon-tabernacle-choir-trump-inauguration_us_5865b505e4b0de3a08f7ded4?section=us_politics

[Kali]

1. kind of ironic considering some of that church's history but still

credit given when due...

[Loric Vilesilencer]

3. Ironic indeed

The Mormons ragging on someone for being sexist and racist? Look in the mirror, folks. Seriously.

[niyad]

6. welcome to du

[Equinox Moon]

2. Sounds good to me

[Freethinker65]

4. Would be fun to hear Romney's opinion

[ailsagirl]

7. Hah!!

[MADem]

11. Mitt Romney and Harry Reid could probably shut this down if they really wanted to do it. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Don't forget the very vocal Jeff Flake too.

[keithbvadu2]

5. Didn't Trump carry Utah? The Mormons approved Trump. They have no valid complaint.

[milestogo]

8. Not all Mormons voted for Trump and Not all Mormons are the same.

[keithbvadu2]

9. 'Not all' --- but a majority

[subterranean]

12. Not even a majority.

Trump won Utah with only 45.9% of the votes, which I believe was his weakest performance in any state that he won.

[keithbvadu2]

19. What % of Mormons voted for Trump? You quoted a % for all of Utah.

All six of Utah's electoral votes went to Trump.

That's a majority.

[Loric Vilesilencer]

27. Only because a Mormon candidate was running

Evan McMullin got over 21% of the vote in Utah. If not for that anomaly, Utah would have gone 2/3 for Trump.

[Phoenix61]

10. Awwww

Poor little Trump. Nobody wants to play with him. Nothing like a common foe to pull disparate groups together.

[Missn-Hitch]

13. Nice effort. I even recorded their concert on PBS to watch at a later time. I'm an agnostic

with atheistic tendencies.

I was reminiscing my childhood Christmases and thought it would be nice to watch and listen. Oh well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. This just made me want to

[Sunriser13]

15. Good!

I also read that some of the Rockettes, also scheduled to appear, are refusing to participate even if it costs them their jobs.

It seems quite a few folks simply don't want to be associated with the brand...

[IrishEyes]

17. I signed the change.org petition

[marybourg]

26. Me too. nt

[Achilleaze]

18. Can't blame Mormons for not wanting to be associated with Republican "values"

[Gothmog]

20. It will be funny if this petition is granted

[alfredo]

21. Any group that is to perform, best get paid up front in cash.

[MBS]

22. One choir member has already announced her resignation because of inaugural performance.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/30/mormon-tabernacle-choir-member-quits-trump-inauguration

The member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Jan Chamberlin, posted her resignation letter to leaders of the 360-member choir on her Facebook page on Thursday.

“It is with a sad and heavy heart that I submit my resignation to you and to Choir,” she began. “I am praying that Jesus will help me get through this email before I totally break down.”

Writing that she had spent “several sleepless nights and days in turmoil and agony”, she added: “I love you all, and I know the goodness of your hearts, and your desire to go out there and show that we are politically neutral and share good will. That is the image Choir wishes to present and the message they desperately want to send.

“I also know, looking from the outside in, it will appear that Choir is endorsing tyranny and facism by singing for this man.” She continued: “Tyranny is now on our doorstep; it has been sneaking its way into our lives through stealth. Now it will burst into our homes through storm.”

Link to her Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/jan.chamberlin.77/posts/10211891389943594

[masmdu]

24. Sign Petition HERE!

https://www.change.org/p/the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-mormon-tabernacle-choir-should-not-perform-at-trump-inauguration

[progressoid]

25. Ironically, the Mormon church has their own history of disparaging minorities and women.

But less crudely than Donny.

[TexasBushwhacker]

28. Absolutely. And they have only performed at Republucan

inaugurations for the last 50 years. The last time they performed at a Democrat's was 1965 for Johnson.

[mnhtnbb]

29. Petition signatures up to 26,480.