Dear Gov.

Gary Herbert,
I want you to separate yourself from church and state. The Utah state legislature
shouldnt have to deal with encroachment from the Church of Latter Day Saints upon its
governing rights. To me the constitution is the law of the land, the supreme rule over the
nation. The constitution states that there must be a separation of church and state, this
is extremely important in our state where we have a majority group of church members.
This is important because without it we have an organization that controls our states
legislature. We have a company that is lobbying support for its wants and desires to
further cement its place in our society. The state of Utah shouldnt be subject to the
controlling influence of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The LDS church has flexed its
grasp on the state legislature a few times in the last couple years and does so sparingly
to better assert its dominance in the local law. An individual came forth last year and
wrote about his experiences with the LDS church and the Utah legislature. He writes
about how the church would send their lobbyists to him to tell him that the top head of
his church was requesting that he vote in favor or against a specific bill. After learning
how powerful the church was he tried to use it to his advantage in putting forward a bill,
the church lobbyists turned him down. Later the next year when another bill came to
vote the church practically lived in the back halls of the state capitol, he was angered
and confused by the almost bullying behavior exhibited by the church.
That doesnt sound like separation of church and state to me. To quote Mark
Twain, Concentration of power in a political machine is bad; and an Established Church
is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for

that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could not better do in a
split-up and scattered condition.

- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Who do we have to look to, to defend the constitution, to defend our civil liberties,
to defend the freedoms our ancestors fought for long ago? It turns out that you, Gov.
Herbert, are perpetuating this intrusion of church into state activities. You have either
forgotten or rejected the importance of this idea in our United States Constitution, and I
think you should change your position on the idea.
I think that you should reconsider your position in the Utah legislature in relation
to your position in the LDS church. You, as a leader of a state should decide your
priorities and what is personal and what is professional. Your leadership of this
wonderful state should be your first priority. We elected you to this office of power and
you should respect that. Im not asking you to break all ties with the church, merely
represent the entire state of Utah and not the positions that the leaders in your church
view as important. I want you to change because your current acceptance of the
situation is simply unacceptable.
In your period of office you have vetoed or passed a select few controversial laws
that affect the lives of a vast number of Utahns, these include your out speak against
the legalization of same-sex marriage, which was lobbied against by the LDS church, as
well as your well noted acceptance of funding for your campaign from major businesses
that were attempting to get Utah contracts and after being elected to office you gave the

contracts to them. You also in may started an unethical campaign to fund-raise,

claiming that Im available. Im available Jones! This unethical behavior makes your
decisions as governor very suspect and your influences are now being questioned.
To remind you of the purpose of this letter Id invite you to question the LDS
churches role in your recent law signing behavior and ask that you separate your state
activities from your personal church tie-ins. The separation of church and state is a
fundamental part of the constitution of the United States and by being in the office you
are in you should abide by and follow this law of the land. Dont let a company control
my daily life, I dont need to be governed by a church.
Sincerely,
Irritated College Student