One Utah senator who wants to remove a few of the bricks in the wall separating church and state may pursue legislation to get God back in the classroom and legislative chambers.
Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Orem, said Wednesday that he is looking into possible legislation to restore "what was done for the first 150 years" in regards to educational texts, public prayer and religious displays. Although he has not decided "what needs to be run or could be run," almost all of the possibilities he is considering — for example, the Bible as a school textbook or allowing religious prayers at school events and all government meetings — would almost surely become lightning rods for controversy and constitutional challenges.
A currently controversial topic Hellewell said he's sure his legislation won't address is "intelligent design," an alternative theory to evolution that nature is the intentional design of a higher being. Hellewell noted, however, that he believes religious and secular teachings in school are out of balance. Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Valley, has considered sponsoring a bill bringing intelligent design to Utah schools, but he said last week he is backing away from the idea for now.
"If you can teach evolution, you should be able to teach the Bible," he said.
Hellewell said that over the past four decades, religion has been incorrectly restricted under the guise of a "wall of separation between church and state" and a focus on the "no law respecting the establishment of religion" portion of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment without considering the "or prohibiting the free exercise" portion of the amendment. Because of that, a number of practices adopted by the Founding Fathers and accepted for the first two centuries of U.S. history are being eradicated.
The "wall of separation" phrase was originally coined by President Thomas Jefferson, although Hellewell said the meaning is continually misinterpreted, just as the Founding Fathers' religious beliefs, or lack of them, are inaccurately portrayed.
"They are all things that are made up, just like the separation of church and state was made up," Hellewell said during a meeting of the Government Operations Interim Committee.
Instead of focusing on the rights of the minority by prohibiting prayer, he would prefer to grant the majority the right to pray publicly without forcing the minority to join.
"When you don't allow prayer in schools, we're letting a minority religion — atheism — rule," he said.
Protecting the minority is an important purpose of the Constitution, especially when it comes to religion, said Fred Gedicks, a Brigham Young University law professor who Hellewell invited to speak to committee members about the separation of church and state. Citing his experience living in Macon, Ga., he said that without those protections he feared what evangelical Christians in Georgia — the majority who spoke about Mormons "like we sacrificed cats in the basement" — would have taught his children in school.
"I was glad that in public society . . . they did not have to defend their religion," he said.
The real distinction made in the Constitution, he said, is the public endorsement versus the private practice of religion.
"Whether it's a government official or a private citizen making the prayer makes all of the difference," he said.
He said that distinction is often "lost on education officials and government bureaucrats," which can lead to decisions that are either too supportive of a specific religion or too restrictive, such as prohibiting students from verbally praying over their lunch. But to extend the right to practice their religion to publicly endorsing it, such as at a graduation ceremony, is not correct, he said.
"It's not that people just want to have a religious ceremony, they want the government's stamp of approval," he said. "They want their religious ceremony to be the official ceremony."
Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, said that he would prefer to see the religion debate couched in terms that open up the government and general society to everyone, instead of driving wedges between groups by making some religions right and others wrong.
"We need to say that your God is OK and my God is OK," Hutchings said. "We need acceptance instead of segregation."
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com