How can the Legislature expect many of the people living in Utah to have good feelings about the state politicians when a large number of the voting public are denied the democratic right of representation? Is gerrymandering legal? Maybe, but is it ethical or moral – especially for those who espouse the Christian faith? I don’t think so.
How is intentionally manipulating voting districts to keep a large number of Utah voting citizens from being represented in Washington in keeping with the Christian teaching of “loving thy neighbor as thyself”? It isn’t! Apparently being a reliable red state, expected to deliver four conservative congressional seats each election cycle is more important than embracing Christ’s second great commandment of loving our neighbors.
How is disrespecting your neighbor loving your neighbor? How is treating your neighbor as a second-rate citizen by denying them representation loving your neighbor? To me, such manipulation creates contention and bad feelings, which is quite evident in Utah politics and antithetical to Christ’s teachings.
If I were non-LDS, I just might view the LDS Church as not very Christian when the conversation turns to gerrymandering, based on possibly the most familiar face of the church in Utah – its predominantly Republican, LDS legislative leaders.
There doesn’t seem to be a better example to emphasize my point than a statement from our four current representatives who so clearly and emphatically add their support in a recent legal filing protesting against fair, independently drawn redistricting boundaries, when they say: “… there’s no constitutional right to be free from partisan gerrymandering.” That may be the case for them because of the political power and control they wield, but does such an argument embrace Christian theology – not by a long shot.
Craig Gasser, Bountiful
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