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Jessie Szalay
Salt Lake Community College
3320 5600 W
West Valley, UT 84120

Dear Reader,
As a child I was brought up Catholic and through the years my faith has diminished and now
to some I my views would seem negative against religion and yes I feel that religion isnt all that
necessary, but that will not be the case in this paper and I will try my hardest to stay neutral
throughout and remain on point about how people just stand by and let religion snake around laws.
Hopefully youre giving me the benefit of the doubt about my views and when you read this, youll
think a little more on what religion is doing for the state.

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Gabriel Silva
Jessie Szalay
English 1020
10-19-2016

(Lack of) Separation of Church and State in Utah

Utahs biggest problem isnt the obesity, suicides or even child molestation very big problems that
shouldnt be avoided but all this is topped by LDS believers combining religious conduct with their political
agendas. Utah is notoriously known for its Mormon religion and how Mormonism is one of the biggest
religions in the world along with its devote followers makes Mormonism a worthy adversary to the
various religions expanding as well. Despite of what the United States Constitution says (Separation of
Church and State) religions such as Mormonism have found loopholes of how to influence their beliefs
into the nation. In 1993 an article in the Los Angeles Times by Mike Carter wrote about how the
separation of church from state is nearly impossible and he says [1]Almost 72% of Utah's 1.8 million
residents are Mormon, as are 90% of the state's religious adherents. In contrast, Catholics are the
second-largest religious group, 3.8% of the state's total. No other religion encompasses more than 1%.
(As the chart says) The number of LDS residents in Utah have diminished but also that the religion has

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expanded to other states too. With this in mind that means not only does Utah is trail mix bag of various
religions but that the Mormon religion may have a bigger influence now than compared to what is was in
1993.

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(Chart about Mormonism in the U.S. in 2015 found @ http://www.geocurrents.info/)

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(Mormonism in the U.S. in 2000 found @ http://media.portland.indymedia.org/)

Also another quote from Mike Carter [2]Newly elected Gov. Mike Leavitt, a Republican and a devout
Mormon, vowed in his inaugural remarks that he would seek divine guidance on important issues. (Mike
Carter, 1993) This statement from a Governor shouldnt be said not because its about religion but
because Mike Leavitt will be deciding that the betterment of the states people will be judged through how
his religion sees fit and this isnt an ideal outcome for the population who isnt following the LDS church.

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(LDS population in 2013 by The Salt Lake Tribune)

In 2008 there was a state-wide ballot passed to ban Same-Sex marriage in California and its
widely known that the LDS church tipped the scale for the ban to pass, another example that the LDS
church has found a loophole against the Constitutions separation of church from -state and Derrick Shore
a Mormon from the Huffington Post says [3]The sometimes-blurry lines between the LDS church and
politics can be illustrated by the 2008 passage of Proposition 8 in - - California, which amended the states
constitution to ban gay marriage. (Derrick Shore, 2012). And it just so happens that in 2012 there was
the big election between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama which some could say the release of Derricks
article couldve pushed away voters for Mitt. Mitt Romney, during the elections in 2012 had ignored all

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questions on his religion as to say it wouldnt be of matter during his presidency and during Californias
prop. 8 in 2008 Mitts PAC (Political Action Committee) made a $10,000 donation for the ban on SameSex marriage. Another article in the Huffington Post by Sam Stein, he says
[4] Romney eventually made his donation, he did so quietly, and through an unusual channel. Records
filed by Romneys Free and Strong America PAC with the Federal Election Commission did not include
details of that $10,000 donation. Nor did NOMs public 990 form. (Sam Stein, 2012)
As clear as day it says that Romney wanted to hide the fact that he didnt advocate same-sex partnership
and to help his presidential campaign. Another example (besides the $10,000 donation) of religious view
ignoring the betterment for his fellow human being. The $10,000 from Mitts PAC is a great example of
how a political candidates view can be warped because of their beliefs and disregard equality for the
population. In Derrick Shores article his final sentence says [5]Mr. Romney has said repeatedly that his
religion would not get in the way
of his presidential responsibilities, but the simple fact is that his presidential responsibilities would get in
the way of his religion.(Derrick Shore, 2012). This quote is the ugly truth for every LDS follower in a
political seat you cant decide whats right for the people without breaking your religious rule.

Today we are still veiled by LDSs influence on Utahs community an article on Utahs problems
which Gary R. Herbert Utahs governor is talked about thoroughly and the article says [6]But just two
months ago Governor Herbert made international headlines declaring pornography to be the statewide
health crisis. (Justin Utley, 2016) The article continues to point about problems that start piling and
says that;

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[7]Porn is a bigger health crisis than the dangerous levels of air pollution or Utahs rapidly increasing
obesity rate? How about Utahs serious drug abuse problem, and escalating teen suicide rates? What
about tackling the nations worst childhood sex abuse problem, exacerbated by Utahs Priest-Penitent
Privilege law? (Justin Utley, 2016)
Undoubtedly these are very big problems but to fix these problems we have to fix the occurring problem
which is our political leaders ignoring morally situations and focusing on their religious problems. You may
be asking How is having a religious view bad when youre a political seat? Which is great that you asked
because the Priest-Penitent Privilege law;
[8](This state law protects churches from sex-abuse lawsuits and absolves them of the accountability of
its clergy in sex abuse cases, even in repeat offenses by the same person. Additionally, the LDS Church
doesnt require its clergy to report cases of sex abuse to the police, and does not do background checks
on its local leaders who work with children.). (Justin Utley, 2016)
This state law mind you prevents child sex-abuse lawsuits which if there was ever a reason to do an
investigation on the church for sex-abuse there would no grounds for such an investigation because of the
Priest-Penitent Privilege law and with all this in mind lets say (hypothetically) A detective wants to
investigate the church chances are he wont get a warrant because maybe a judge or a chief is Mormon
and sees the detectives investigation application for a warrant as a gross violation of the church.
Regardless of my hypothetical outcome, ignoring the rights of the people is a gross violation of
Human Rights. Ending about Gary Herbert Justin writes, [9]Yet Herbert maintains pornography is the
problem, and coincidentally, viewing pornography is strictly forbidden by the Mormon faith.(Justin Utley,
2016) Gary Herbert is a governor, which Im sure isnt a complete fool so I assume hes purposely

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ignoring every other problem because of his religion. Religion is not bad it can do great things but my from
my perspective I think its too much to ask to ignore all religious responsibilities when youre in a political
seat. Only time will tell if people get fed up with all the ignorance flowing through Utah.

Carter, Mike. In Utah, Separating Church From State Can Be Nearly Impossible: Religion:
Mormons dominate virtually every aspect of political life here. The state has defied the church
only once in the last 60 years [1] [2]
March 21, 1993 |MIKE CARTER | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Read the full article at: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-21/news/mn-13641_1_church-support

Copyright 2016 Los Angeles Time

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Shore, Derrick. Mormons and Mitt: The Myth About Separation of Church and State [3] [5]
09/19/2012 07:13 pm ET | Updated Nov 19, 2012, Multimedia journalist
Read the full article @: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derrick-shore/mormons-and-mitt-the-myth-aboutseparation-of-church-and-state_b_1898659.html
Copyright 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

Utley, Justin. Church, State and the Utah Problem [6] [7] [8] [9]
06/09/2016 03:08 pm ET | Updated Jun 09, 2016
Read the full article @:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-utley/church-state-and-theutah_b_10370254.html
Copyright 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

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Stein, Sam. Mitt Romneys PAC Funded Anti-Gay Marriage Group Under The Radar [4]
03/30/2012 01:59 pm ET | Updated Mar 30, 2012, Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Visit to read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/mitt-romney-gaymarriage_n_1391867.html
Copyright 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

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