facebook-pixel

Letter: Quit saying ridiculous stuff, Rep. Owens, and focus on addressing actual issues

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Republican 4th District Rep. Burgess Owens speaks at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on the University of Utah campus Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Republican 4th District Rep. Burgess Owens speaks at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on the University of Utah campus Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

I have some questions for Rep. Burgess Owens.

Judging from your age, you went to school in the 1960s and ‘70s. Your six children must have attended school in the 1990s-early 2000s, and you perhaps have grandkids in school right now. So tell us, please, exactly how many times a public school teacher or administrator confiscated your and your kids’ and grandkids’ Bibles and how many times you or they were sent to the principal’s office for quietly praying at a desk or lunch table or before an athletic competition?

Don’t think too hard, because your answer is “zero times.” Your preferred religious text is not banned in schools or anywhere else in the U.S., as you well know.

You recently claimed that Americans can “no longer can see [the Bible], no longer can read it,” and yet there’s a picture of you in the newspaper holding one. A while back, even Donald Trump was waving The Good Book around for a photo op. Were you and he hauled off to jail for that?

Seriously, we’ve got continuing inflation, a looming government shutdown, more mass shootings, people living on the streets with winter approaching, crumbling infrastructure, two regional wars with global implications, a wrecked health care “system”— but this fake “issue” is what you’re worried about? Please. Quit saying ridiculous stuff.

Lee Kreutzer, Millcreek

Submit a letter to the editor

Support free news for Utah

sltrib.com is now free to access — no subscription required. We made this decision because we believe access to trustworthy, independent news shouldn’t depend on what you can afford — especially as misinformation and AI-generated content continue to rise.

Free to read doesn’t mean free to produce. Our reporters show up every day to ask hard questions and hold powerful institutions to account. That work takes resources. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on support from people who believe it matters. Make a donation today to fund local news that serves Utah communities.

You can help us bring more local news to more communities today.