The Church-State

“The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and engrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to J. Moor, 1800

Separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones that defines (or at least used to define) the United States. While usually this refers to the not allowing governments to control any religions body and those who practice it, it also refers to direct religious influence being used to dictate and drive a government. This second part creates a major grey area of what should be allowed in both federal and state politics, and the LDS Church is swimming in that grey goodness.

For all technical purposes there is absolutely no direct connection between the leaders of the Mormon Church and the heads of state government, at least currently or in the recent past. Still a profound influence and direct connection exists between Utah State Legislature and the LDS Church. Let’s clarify.

Every Sunday of every week some sixty plus percent of the Utah state population attends church at an LDS church or sees the various live telecasts of these sermons on television or online. Each of these various sermons is coordinated and based off several central points layed out by the heads of Church. These points can range on everything from Jesus’ teachings, to current state policy, to who to vote for in an upcoming election. So all of a sudden despite the democratic process we have over fifty percent of the population immediately inclined to vote, support, and fight for a cause that the Church has dictated to be the best one. So instead of some two million people making up their own mind and deciding for themselves, the decisions are effectively left up to a very small group of church leaders. Oligarchy anyone? Kind of makes me happy that Utah only has three electoral votes in the electoral system.

Front of the main LDS Mass area, this is only about two percent of the total space that the sermon takes place in

This fact is what makes Utah the most conservative State in the United States. As soon as you combine a state’s natural conservative population with a sixty percent majority you are left with a democratic process that is not only extremely biased, but biased due to a specific religious power. Obviously similar situations exist in nearly every other religious gathering from many other denominations, but nowhere else can you find such a sweeping majority of the democratic population so blindly obedient to the Church they are a part of.


Living in this climate can be rather frustrating when you are not of the majority both in religious affiliation and political views. In fact this is why Utah also has the highest rate of vote swapping, since so many people here actually do care about what is happening but simply have no means to illicit change on a local level. This inability to spark change is also what causes such heated clashes between various groups within the state. I think Steve-O from SLC Punk says it best.


“In today’s world of apathy and acceptance, revolution comes hard, but in a religiously oppressive state where the majority of the population is not even of that religion. It comes like fire!”
-Steve O, SLC Punk, Paramount Classics