After living in Utah, you would think that I would be used to living in a theocracy, where government is controlled by the LDS Church and all laws must be cleared by the church before being enacted.

Sadly, this frightening scenario is now playing out in Washington, D.C., as the religious right asserts more and more influence on the government through their Republican stooges and the tea party.

The Founding Fathers realized the detrimental effect that religion had on a government and wrote into our Constitution a separation of church and state. Not only did they dictate freedom of religion, they also gave Americans the choice of freedom from religion.

Just as in the Middle East, where religion has corrupted the true purpose of government, religion here in America is forcing its narrow views on morality and personal choice on everyone.

It is time to again put religion back in its place — in the churches, not in the halls of Congress and the White House.

Richard D. Muranaka

Salt Lake City