This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Hateful religious beliefs are constitutionally protected. Hateful religious actions are limited by common human decency and the Constitution. Apparently some state legislators in many parts regard themselves above these obvious rules of the game.
The claim that one's religion can obligate or allow one to treat a certain group as untouchable, unfit to interact with or do business with in the public space we all share is a reprehensible, evil, and a morally bankrupt value system at the very least.
These beliefs and moral claims were used to support slavery, Jim Crow, holy wars, the Crusades, inquisitions, and witch burnings to name a few, and to resist the civil rights movement. These religious precepts are a failed primitive relic from archaic tribal laws that no longer meet the standards of moral progress in the modern era.
Any god and religion that require one to treat others in such a way is an evil god not worthy of worship and an evil religion not worthy of consideration.
Let's see who among the religious will speak up to take to task those who would pass laws to treat LGBT citizens or any group as second-rate.
Charles Ashcraft
Cottonwood Heights