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Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket
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I thought that by asking my family to do this, I was simply asking them to send a strong message to Salt Lake City that they disagree with the idea that any church has a right to entrench clearly religious dogma into the constitution of a state or country.
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Unfortunately, that's not really the right way to send a message to Salt Lake City. Nobody in church headquarters is going to know about a family getting up and walking out of church, even if the church is located in the heart of Salt Lake. It will only send a message to the local authorities (the bishop and perhaps the stake president depending on how things escalate).
The appropriate thing for anyone to do, if they feel so inclined, is to talk to the bishop directly about it. Before he reads it in front of the congregation if possible. Or afterward if not. Even speak to the stake president if necessary.
These face to face conversations are going to have to take place anyway, even if they do a walkout. People get up and walk out of the church service all the time for all sorts of reasons, and rarely as a means of protest or "disobedience."
Letters can also be sent directly into Salt Lake, but they get so many letters that there's no way for anyone in the presidency of the church to read all of them and still have time to do anything else. I'm sure though, that if the pre-screeners see an abundance of letters on one particular topic they will communicate it up the chain. Otherwise, any problems or concerns that can be handled locally are deferred locally.