I love Utah. It is one of the most beautiful,
geographically diverse places on the planet, and it is home. I have spent all but 7 of my nearly 33 years
in Utah and it is truly where my heart lies.
However, there are some things about it that rub me the wrong way.
Before I get into those things, let
me just gloat on the good things about Utah first. Other than along the Wasatch Front, it’s not
crowded. South of Spanish Fork, the most
populated area is St. George and at its best, it boasts a population of maybe
115,000. Now, to me that is still a big
city because I grew up in a small farming town where in the whole western part
of the county there was only about 4 or 5 thousand people total! Anyway, we have it all in this state: mountains, lakes and rivers, open meadows,
pine and juniper forests, scenic drives, diverse wildlife, red rocks, granite
caves, 5 national parks, numerous state parks, several national monuments and
recreation areas, and even a glacier (unless it has totally melted by now). With all of that comes an abundance of
activities including skiing and snowboarding (greatest snow on earth-just check
out our license plates), water sports, hiking, mountain biking, marathon
running...the list goes on and on. Literally
the only thing we don’t have is an ocean with nice sandy beaches...unless you
count the Great Salt Lake...
Anyway, all of that makes this place
sound like heaven on earth, and among all of the things just listed, it is the
home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), more commonly
known as Mormons. Now, before I continue
I will say that I am indeed Mormon, however, I am not a “practicing” Mormon
because organized religion just is not my thing. I can have my own spiritual relationship with
God without sitting in church every Sunday and participating in all the
activities that go along with that. I
figure if I live my life in a good, meaningful way all the time, I’m doing
alright. And if that isn’t correct, then
I guess I’ll be judged for that at my own day of reckoning. It’s no one else’s place to judge me because
I don’t actively participate in church functions.
Ok, back to the story. As the dominant religion in the state, the
better part of the population runs its life on the teachings, rules, and
guidelines of the LDS church. This is
fine and dandy. It is also fine and
dandy that people in positions of authority, namely the state government, mostly
are LDS. After all, freedom of religion
is a real thing in this country. What is
NOT fine and dandy though is when the church gets involved in the making or
passing of laws and uses its influence to sway the lawmakers in this state to approve
or oppose various laws.
Remember how I said that freedom of
religion is a real thing? Well,
separation of church and state is also a real thing, at least in the other 49
states. Utah was founded by Mormon
pioneers fleeing religious persecution in the eastern half of the country so I
get it that the whole basis of its existence started with the church. However, once Utah became a state in 1896,
the church *should* have left the government.
It didn’t. Utah has and likely
always will be, to some degree, a theocracy.
In case you’re wondering why this is
a big deal, let me turn your attention to the most recent issue with the church
overstepping its bounds. There are two
issues actually...last week a bill was presented in the state senate to increase
the punishment against those who commit hate crimes. Most notably against perpetrators of hate
crimes against LGBT people. Cool! Yes, let’s please harshen the punishment for
people that commit hate crimes, duh!
That just makes good sense. No one
should ever be a victim a crime just because they live a different lifestyle
than someone else. So what’s the
problem? The church issued a statement
that it opposes the bill because
“The Utah Legislature achieved something extraordinary last
year in arriving at legislation that protected both religious liberty rights
and LGBT rights,” the church said in a statement. “Interests from both ends of
the political spectrum are attempting to alter that balance. We believe that
the careful balance achieved through being fair to all should be maintained.”
(Credit to KUTV2 news for the quote, found here)
That statement is so vague it doesn’t
even make sense. No attempt to specify
how or why the so-called “balance” would be altered by a bill that simply
increases the punishment to those who commit hate crimes. I’m still scratching my head on that.
What’s worse is that this statement
actually persuaded some senators to vote against the bill! Holy crap Batman...are you serious??? And what is even worse than that is the
senator who presented the bill, who has spoken out against the Church’s involvement
in lawmaking, will probably receive some sort of backlash from church leaders because
of it!
Moving on...another recent and
ongoing issue that the church has stuck its nose into is the potential of
legalizing medical cannabis in Utah. So
many Utahns are stricken with chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, and other
diseases that could benefit directly from the legalization of medical
marijuana. But it seems instead that the
Church would rather have them rely on mass produced pharmaceutical drugs (which
likely carry a higher rate of abuse and addiction and many times don’t work)
than use a natural remedy to ease their suffering.
Anyhow, there are currently 2 bills
being presented in the House of Representatives concerning legalization of
medical marijuana. The Church publicly
opposed the first bill because it focuses on legalizing whole-plant cannabis
for medical use. It has no objection to
the second bill because it focuses only on extracts of cannabis with “trace amounts
of THC.” There are benefits to both and
in my humble opinion, both should be allowed.
Of course there are limitations and regulations that would need to be
followed, as with any other prescription drug, but this needs to happen for the
sake of our friends and families who suffer without relief on a daily basis.
Yesterday a headline was released
that lawmakers are amending the bills to “make it more palatable to the Church.” Now why in the hell are we even giving heed
to the Church’s opinion on this??? If
the church wants to be involved in lawmaking, it better give up its tax-free
status and pay taxes like the rest of us.
But really...if the folks who make our laws can’t put religion aside and
do their job, we need to vote them out and get some people in there that can.
When reporting on this issue, FOX13
news in Salt Lake City said this:
“...LDS Church could influence the bill’s chance at success
in the coming weeks...The LDS Church, a powerful institution in the state of
Utah, carries some sway in the legislature, where a majority of lawmakers are
members of the Mormon faith. The Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City has told
FOX 13 it is not taking any position on the medical marijuana legislation
presently.”
(click
here
for the whole story from FOX13)
In this case, I think our church
leaders need to take a page out of the Catholic play book and stay out of the
lawmaking process. They are hindering
far more than they are helping anyone right now. Not to mention the bad publicity they are
attracting...
To my friends who are suffering in
pain and need this bill passed, keep fighting for it. To those who oppose it simply because the
Church officials oppose it, do your research, talk to those who support it and
would benefit from it and then make your OWN educated decision. If you then decide to oppose it, great, just
don’t be a sheep and blindly follow.
Separation of church and state in the government needs to happen and
some separation within ourselves is also necessary. We all have to make decisions that we feel
are correct but do so after educating yourself on the matter.
That is all...for now
