Salt Lake City, USA - A bill intended to guarantee freedom of religious expression without government interference was advanced Friday by a Senate committee despite concerns raised by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff that it would lead to lawsuits against the state.
SB111, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, was approved 4-2 by the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee with the committee's two Democrats, Sen. Scott McCoy and Sen. Ross Romero, both of Salt Lake, opposed.
Buttars said the bill was needed because government "has become hostile to religion and people have become scared of lawsuits," resulting in, for example, a student being sent home from school for wearing a T-shirt with a religious message.
"We're not putting the Ten Commandments up in stone somewhere," Buttars told the committee. "We're talking about sincere religious beliefs." He said his bill would make governments more comfortable allowing expressions of religion, including the singing of Christmas carols on the steps of a city hall.
Shurtleff said the bill would mean more lawsuits for his office to defend. "What it will guarantee is it opens up the need for more litigation in state courts," he said, just as there have been in federal court. "What this does is create state law for state courts to decide."
The Republican attorney general said the bill would protect "every strange permutation" of religious expression, including a child who defends wearing a Satanic T-shirt to school by claiming to worship Satan.
McCoy said the religious expressions described by Buttars are already protected. He said the bill "could potentially open up a can of worms," forcing government entities to prove there is a compelling state interest in, for example, scheduling a college class at the same time when practitioners of a religion might be called to prayer.
Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said the bill would help mainstream religions. "Muslims, Christians and Jews, you don't see those people suing," he said, adding there are already challenges from "the radical side." As long as the state makes an effort to be fair, Jenkins said, "why run away from doing this?"
The Utah Eagle Forum's Gayle Ruzicka also asked why the state should give in to groups that "threaten our way of life. And we say we're not going to do it out of fear of a lawsuit." She said it was "outrageous" that some of her own children were barred from wearing religious badges to school after officials received a complaint.
Margaret Plane, legal director for the ACLU of Utah, said her organization would step in on behalf of students barred from wearing religious items such as T-shirts because they are expressions protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The bill now goes to the full Senate for further consideration.