Letter: States rights or religious rights?

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

So Sen. Hatch believes religious rights are being eroded. I can understand why Sen. Hatch believes that, since he is a member of the LDS Church, which is the predominant faith in Utah.

Sen. Hatch is used to his church controlling every aspect of government in Utah, be it local or state or him. That's why Sen. Hatch and his lesser counterpart Sen. Lee are all anti-federal government. It's because their faith can't control the federal government.

Federal judges across the country are ruling that state laws and state constitutional amendments outlawing gay marriages are violating individuals' constitutional rights. In essence the federal government is protecting the free will/agency of the individual.

In Utah and other states, religion has eroded the rights of individuals, not the other way around. These recent rulings aren't requiring any religious faith to perform gay marriages, and they shouldn't. But they are protecting individuals from local/state theocracies attempting to push their faith through legislation and then calling it "states rights."

The non-LDS citizens of Utah know those two words as code for LDS sanctioned beliefs (insert different state and religion, and it still applies). If religions are successful in legislating their faith onto those who are not of their faith, then you will create a situation where citizens will revolt to protect their rights from being eroded. Now I've got Gov. Herbert probably all worried that anarchy is around the corner!

Ryan Hinkins

Salt Lake City