A minister said he'll resign from the state's newly created Religious Liberties Committee if he's pressured to come up with an amendment to the Utah Constitution in time for the November election.
"If this is a hurry-up thing to get this on the ballot, then count me out," the Rev. Max Glenn, executive minister of the Shared Ministry in Utah, said Monday."I was very much misled," said Glenn, one of 10 church-affiliated appointees to the 20-member committee. "I was specifically told this was to be a long-term process as opposed to a rush to a special session."
The committee, which also includes members from the secular community and the Legislature, is scheduled to meet for the first time on Friday, at 9 a.m. in Room 303 of the state Capitol.
The committee's co-chairman, House Majority Whip Byron Harward, R-Provo, said the decision whether to push to amend the constitution this year is up to the committee.
"I am not trying to push the committee one way or another," Harward said. "If the committee does decide to go for a special session, there is every possibility it could be done."
Harward suggested public hearings on a proposed amendment could be held as early as next week through a statewide network of two-way video linkups operated by the University of Utah.
Most of the other committee members contacted by the Deseret News said they weren't sure what they should do. Most had just learned they had been named to the committee.
"That's what that meeting is for," said Judith Lamb-Lion, president of the Lamb/Lion Institute. She said she wanted to study the issue further before making up her mind. "I'm not predisposed either way," she said.
Pastor Robert K. Smith of the Valley Assembly of God said he favors amending the constitution as soon as possible. "We would hope, of course, we could motivate something fast enough to get it on the ballot this year," Smith said.
It takes both a two-thirds majority of the Legislature and a majority of voters in a general election to amend the state constitution. The next general election is Nov. 3.
Because the next legislative session does not begin until January, lawmakers would have to be called into special session by Gov. Norm Bangerter in order to approve an amendment for the November ballot.
But the governor has already said he is not convinced amending the constitution can't wait, even though the next general election won't be until November 1994.
Even if Bangerter is persuaded to call a special session, any amendment would have to be approved by early September in time to be printed on this year's ballot.
The debate over amending the constitution began earlier this year when the Society of Separationists successfully sued to stop prayers at Salt Lake City Council meetings.
Leaders of that organization and the American Civil Liberties Union have agreed not to sue other communities that permit prayer at public meetings pending Salt Lake City's appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.
The court could rule that the prayers are not prohibited under the existing language of the constitution, making any amendment unnecessary.
Those who support amending the constitution this year, however, warn that other problems may arise unless it's changed, including a ban on Christmas songs or any other mention of religion in schools.
The religious liberties provision of Utah's constitution prohibits public money from being spent on "religious worship, exercise or instruction, or for the support of any ecclesiastical establishment."