Utah hate crime bill defeated after objections from Mormon Church

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/03/03/utah-hate-crime-bill-defeated-after-objections-from-mormon-church/

Pink News/By Nick Duffy   03/03/2016

"A hate crime bill has been defeated in Utah – after the powerful Mormon Church claimed that it would harm 'religious freedom'.

The  Hate Crimes Amendments bill was voted down in the Republican-dominated state legislature this week by a 17-11 vote.

The bill was fairly standard hate crime legislation, expanding the field of protected characteristics from "religion, ancestry, national origin or ethnicity" to "ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation"."

I could of sworn there was something in the constitution about separation of church and state.

Exactly Stephanie - it should be illegal for any religious organization to make contributions to political causes, lobby, etc. and that should include all organizations/companies/non-profits that claim affiliation. It should be illegal for them to join a super pac. They are not collectively a citizen.

Repealing citizens united would help this cause big time.

The Mormons have the most interesting relationship with American law of any church I'm aware of.  The two actual Supreme Court examples which get my attention are Reynolds v. United States (believe what you want but if your religion tells you to break the law you'll suffer the consequences) and Late Corp. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States (the U.S. government has the power to disband churches and seize their property).