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Letter: Mormon church‘s push for a Martha Cannon statue is a PR ploy to say, ‘See, we do value women as equals‘

(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon at the Utah State Capitol. SJR1, a concurrent resolution initiating the replacement of the state's statue of Philo Farnsworth in the United States Capitol with a statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, passes out of the Senate and heads to the House, following discussion in the Senate Chamber in the State Capitol in Salt Lake City Monday January 29, 2018.

Please let the 40 percent non-Mormon population of Utah have a state statue that doesn’t scream “Mormon” in the hall of statues in Washington, D.C.

Although I realize that Philo T. Farnsworth was born in Beaver to a Mormon pioneer, the article in the Feb. 12 Tribune about cities clamoring to put the Farnsworth statue in their area smacks of a “done deal.”

It is unfair to the rest of the state’s residents who deserve to be represented as well. I see it as a public-relations ploy by the LDS Church to say to the world, “See, we do value women as equals.”

The LDS Utah Legislature continues to perpetuate religion above all. Farnsworth gave inspiration to the entire world. If they insist on putting Martha Hughes Cannon in the hall, they need to remove Brigham Young.

Janice Jensen, West Valley City