Below are examples of religiously-motivated laws and/or practices being imposed on Utahns, which we believe are harmful.
If enough people speak up about these issues, we can enact change. A Utah state legislator recently said, "A concise, non-offensive email will get my attention. Emails from ten different people on the same topic will definitely get my attention."
Please let your opinions be heard....
(1) ...in emails, letters, or phone calls to your government representatives and/or school leaders, or by speaking during public comment time in meetings held by governments and/or school boards,
and
(2) ... in conversations with your friends, relatives, and your church leaders, if you have any.
Book Bans
Utah has one of the most restrictive book ban laws in the country. Even if only three out of Utah's forty-one school districts ban a book and the other thirty-eight school districts do not want that book banned, those other thirty-eight are still forced to ban it, and so are all charter schools. In January (of 2026), three more titles were added to the list of books that are banned statewide, putting the new total at twenty-two. That's more books banned statewide than anywhere else in the nation. (And several school districts in Utah ban a great many more books than just the twenty-two that are banned statewide.)
Books are being removed from schools for reasons that appear to be based solely on the religious beliefs of a few extremists. Claims that they're being banned because of obscenity are not backed up by the evidence. Recommendations of professional librarians and educators are being overruled. Parents who do not find the banned books objectionable and, in fact, think the books contain important positive ideas that we want our children to read are being overruled.
If you'd like to know more about Utah's book ban and the three new books that were added to the list in January (2026), click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2026/01/05/utah-bans-three-more-books-public/
Here's a link to a news article about the lawsuit that was filed in response to Utah's book ban...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2026/01/06/utah-book-ban-lawsuit-authors-sue/
If you'd like to join a coalition of Utah parents, educators, librarians, and organizations dedicated to preserving Utah’s freedom to read, visit LetUtahRead.org.
If you'd like to know what happened when a parent in Davis School District pointed out that the Bible contains more gratuitous sex and violence than any of the books that Utah has banned, and how the Freedom From Religion Foundation supported that parent when they tried to turn the tables on the book banners, click here
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-to-utah-school-district/
LGBTQ Oppression
Many laws have been passed and policies put in place in Utah that oppress the LGBTQ community. The transgender bathroom bill, transgender dorm room bill, pride flag ban, adoption restrictions, opposition to marriage equality, and similar stances taken by legislators and other community leaders send a clear message of state-sponsored oppression to LGBTQ Utahns. Very real harm is being done to genuinely good people in the name of religion.
In a powerful article about religiously inspired hatred of gay people, Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson wrote, " You don’t have to grow up in a religious household to absorb these religious messages. Not long ago, I had a conversation with six gay teens, not one of whom had ever had any formal religious training or influence. Every one of them knew the word 'abomination', and every one of them thought that was what God thought of them. They couldn’t have located the Book of Leviticus in the Bible if their lives depended on it, yet they had absorbed this message from the antigay air they breathe every day." In a plea to both religious believers and religious abstainers, Bishop Robinson wrote, "It is not enough for good people—religious or otherwise—to simply be feeling more positive toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Tolerance and a live-and-let-live attitude beat discrimination and abuse by a mile, but it’s not enough. Tolerant people, especially tolerant religious people, need to get over their squeamishness about being vocal advocates and unapologetic supporters of LGBT people."
To read the rest of Bishop Robinson's article,, click here...
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-religion-is-killing-our-most-vulnerable-youth/
For details of suicides committed by LGBTQ Mormons, including quotes from letters they wrote describing the anguish they felt due to the church's policies, click here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_Mormon_suicides
For a list of support resources for LGBTQ Utahns, click here...
https://www.utahpridecenter.org/resources#support-groups
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NEWS FROM UTAH'S 2026 LEGISLATIVE SESSION:
Updated January 19th:
Several bills have been introduced in Utah's 2026 legislative session, which would make things even worse for Utah's LGBTQ population than is already the case. HB174, HB183, and HB193 directly target LGBTQ rights. For general information about these bills, click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2026/01/19/utah-legislature-transgender/
To follow the progress of each of these bills...
Click here for HB174...
https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/static/HB0174.html
Click here for HB183...
https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/static/HB0183.html
Click here for HB193...
Abortion Rights
Utah legislators have fought long and hard against letting women have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to continue an unplanned pregnancy. Nonreligious people aren't the only ones fighting for a woman's right to choose. While religious fundamentalists would have you believe that God wants all abortions banned, many religious moderates strongly disagree. They teach that a woman's right to exercise her free agency is sacred and must be protected.
To read why a coalition of church leaders called the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice teaches that women should not be denied the right to have an abortion, click here...
To read how a recent Senate hearing on the abortion pill was driven by religious fever rather than medical science, click here...
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/religious-ideology-drove-recent-senate-abortion-pill-hearing/
For more information and suggestions for how you can get involved to support a woman's right to choose, click here...
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-utah/get-involved
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NEWS FROM UTAH'S 2026 LEGISLATIVE SESSION:
Updated January 19th:
A bill has been introduced in Utah's 2026 legislative session that would bar Planned Parenthood from receiving funding for certain medical services, even if those medical services have nothing to do with abortion. To follow the progress of this bill, which is HB232, click here...
Gerrymandering
Utah legislators have drawn gerrymandered voting maps that give the Republican party 100% of Utah's congressional seats, despite that party only comprising about half of Utah voters. When Utah Republicans are asked how they rationalize this injustice, one reply given is an appeal to religion, with the claim that the Democratic party "promotes sin"... i.e., LGBTQ rights and abortion rights... and any action that denies power to those "sin promoters" is justified in God's eyes.
Some of Utah's state and federal legislators consider themselves to be God's Warriors, fighting a holy war against Satan's Emissaries, where the end justifies the means. Dirty tricks like gerrymandering are viewed as perfectly acceptable. The same reasoning was used to justify our U.S. Senators' refusal to hold confirmation hearings when Merrick Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court, allegedly because "eight months before the election is too close", but then four years later, they gleefully confirmed Amy Coney Barrett's nomination even though it was less than two months before the election. Extremists have no qualms about devious and hypocritical tactics like this because they're convinced they are fighting a holy war against Satan.
Many religious moderates, on the other hand, recognize the danger in this type of extremism and are joining with nonbelievers to "Build Civic Bridges". Legislation with that name has been introduced in Congress, which is supported by interfaith groups as well as people who are not religious.
For more information about that movement and that legislation, click here...
For information about how religious moderates here in Utah are working together with religious abstainers to stop partisan gerrymandering and to promote more ethical behavior by state politicians, visit the website of the Mormon Women for Ethical Government by clicking here.
https://www.mormonwomenforethicalgovernment.org/advancing-democracy
For even more information about Utah's gerrymandering efforts, and suggestions for what you can do to fight for fair representation, click here...
School Vouchers
School vouchers are transferring Utah taxpayer money away from public schools, which serve all children and are not allowed to discriminate based on religion or to promote religion, giving it to private schools, a large portion of which are religious schools that can discriminate based on religion and promote religion. Voucher funds are also being used by homeschoolers to buy curriculum materials that deny science and indoctrinate children with extreme religious beliefs.
Even though this practice was ruled to be unconstitutional in early 2025, Utah officials are still continuing the voucher program while their appeal works its way through the upper courts. For more information, click here...
https://pfps.org/utah-voucher-program-ruled-unconstitutional.html
For more information about the problems with school vouchers, click here...
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/new-study-reveals-massive-problems-with-private-school-vouchers/
Women's Rights
Utahns are proud that we were the first territory in the United States to grant women the right to vote. However, that early nod toward gender equality did not last. In the 1970s, ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was overwhelmingly defeated by the Utah legislature. The LDS church’s influence was a key factor in that defeat. In that religion and many others, church leaders teach that men should be the head of the household and women should be submissive to their husbands. Starting in childhood, girls are taught that being a stay-at-home mother is their highest calling. In Utah, this has led to women having fewer workplace opportunities and less pay than men, despite doing equal work, with the gender pay gap in Utah being substantially higher than the national average.
To read an article from Channel 4 News titled "Utah Ranked As The Worst State For Women's Equality", click here...
https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/utah-worst-state-womens-equality-wallethub/
To read about how religious extremism harms women, click here...
https://now.org/blog/why-christian-nationalism-is-a-feminist-issue/
For information about women's rights that's specific to members of the dominant religion in Utah, click here...
https://www.mormonstories.org/home/truth-claims/women-in-mormonism/
For ideas on what you can do to promote gender justice, click here...
God In Schools
Utah law requires that every school building in the state must prominently display the phrase "In God We Trust". Children from families who don't trust in a god have to walk past those prominently posted words every day, giving them the clear message that "If you don't believe in God, then in the eyes of this school, the word 'we' does not include 'you'. You are an outsider. You are not fully welcome here."
What's even more concerning about this law is that by requiring the words "In God We Trust" to be posted on the wall of every school building... on walls children see long before they've developed the ability to think critically... the Utah State Legislature is subtly conditioning children to accept beliefs that many of their parents reject.... beliefs which our constitution requires that the government must stay neutral on.
To read how even devout religious people believe that pushing "In God We Trust" on Americans in general and on school children in particular is harmful, click here...
For more information about the law requiring the prominent display of "In God We Trust" in all Utah schools, click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/07/27/utah-has-required-schools/
Death With Dignity
Terminally ill patients in Utah are not allowed to die in a manner of their own choosing... with the assistance of a physician... but instead are forced to endure what is sometimes a long, painful, and dehumanizing end-of-life experience. State legislators use religiously motivated arguments to justify this situation. They say it is God’s decision alone to determine when a person dies.
To read what a Christian pastor wrote about why he believes God would not oppose giving terminally ill people the option to choose death with dignity, click here...
https://compassionandchoices.org/news/medical-aid-dying-christian-option-stop-end-life-suffering/
For information on what you can do to help promote a terminally ill patient's rights to choose a dignified death, click here...
Welfare Spending
Utah has an arrangement with the Mormon church which allows the state to provide less welfare support to Utahns than it otherwise would provide. This is done by offloading some welfare recipients to the church while still counting a percentage of the support given by the church as state support. Some people denied coverage by the state report being told by Utah's welfare office to talk to church leaders, who sometimes require the welfare applicants to get baptized, pay tithing, and perform church service as a condition of receiving aid.
A review by the Salt Lake Tribune showed that because of this arrangement, the State of Utah was able to avoid spending 75 million dollars that federal law required it to spend on fighting poverty over the course of a decade. This is money that would have been given without religious restrictions if the state had done it rather than referring the recipients to the church.
For more information about this, click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/12/02/utah-makes-welfare-so/
School Spending
For decades, Utah's per-pupil spending has been at or near the bottom of all U.S. states. When asked how they justify this, Utah state legislators have responded by pointing out that Utah's student achievement rates are not at the bottom compared to other states. One state legislator reportedly said, "We don't need to spend as much for schooling as other states do because our children get learning support at church".
This line of thinking leaves children from non-religious families at an unfair disadvantage. It illustrates an alarming mindset when the Utah State Legislature, which is overwhelmingly Mormon, relies on churches to fill in the gaps left by their under-funding of schools.
To read a news article titled, "New audit rings education alarm bells: Proficiency gains among Utah children problematically low," click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2024/12/10/proficiency-progress-utahs-k-12/
For more information on school finding in Utah, click here...
Polygamy and Child Brides
Although polygamy is still against the law, it was effectively decriminalized in Utah in 2020 when the legislature reduced the criminal charge for polygamy from a felony to an infraction. One justification for reducing the charge was that it would remove a barrier for victims to report abuse to authorities. Another justification was respect for people’s freedom to practice their religion.
Now... years later... reports are still being made about underage children being coerced into polygamous marriages and even incestual marriages. Authorities are reluctant to intervene in non-extreme cases due to fears of infringing on a person's religious freedom.
For more information on this topic, click here...
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/28/its-not-return-days/
or here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ynlnqkHU9s&t=11s
or here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQu7wxqonIs&t=9599s
To find out how you can help people who are trying to escape from oppressive polygamous communities, click here...
Church Influence on Government
Despite Mormons comprising only about half the population of Utah, or even less if inactive members are not counted, Mormons have a stranglehold on the state legislature, occupying about 90 percent of the seats. Although some legislators strongly deny that the church improperly influences their votes, other legislators report many instances where the church has done exactly that.
For more information about this issue, click here...
or here...
or here...