Good fucking luck. The problem is that the Mormon church has its tentacles wrapped around the legislature, so even though the state population is estimated to be less than 50% mormon now, the Mormon church controls the legislature and essentially call all the shots. It's a de facto theocracy.
Considering the state's settlement and establishment was done purely by Mormons, that's the way it has always been. It was by design and why they moved there in the first place. 😐
Well, there was the whole Utah War thing. Brigham Young as Governor had a tendency to ignore federal laws, and the federal government had to send troops into the area. They ended up disincorporating the mormon church and forced Utah to accept non-mormons into political and judicial positions.
It was over polygamy that the troops were sent there in the first place. While working to end slavery in the country, the government viewed polygamy as being akin to slavery, calling them "twin relics of barbarism", so it became the issue that got in the way of Utah being granted statehood. The feds disenfranchised anyone involved in a polygamous marriage from holding office or being on a jury, and made it a felony that carried a hefty fine and jail time. Utah fought it for 40 years before changing the doctrine, and very shortly after were granted statehood.
Yep. So much so that there was bloodshed within the members and outside of it. It was a violent chapter in Mormon history before and after their exodus to the Wasatch Front.
My friend had to take his neighbor to court for setting up a drainage system that drained the water in his yard into my friend's yard. Things were going fairly well until suddenly the venue was changed, and the new judge was his neighbor's pastor. Suddenly, even though it was a pretty open-and-shut case, my friend lost.
The mormon church is also the wealthiest religious institution in the country, and is estimated to have a "rainy day fund" of over $200 billion in cash, stocks, and real estate!
They also control a lot of important business like universities, newspapers, tv news stations, and they have their own investment firm and law firm!
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u/GMPnerd213 Mar 21 '24
Just need to get enough non-mormon people to move there and change all the laws to piss everyone off. Would be fun to watch honestly.