LDS Lobbyist says too much Church involvement in Politics is bad (U. Utah speakers discuss religion, politics)
Excite News (Daily Utah Chronicle) 3Dec99 N1
By Matt Canham: Daily Utah Chronicle

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Representatives of four different religions spoke at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics on Thursday, December 2nd, outlining the responsibility of religions to speak up on political issues while maintaining the separation between Church and State.

Speaking for the LDS Church was William Evans, who is a lobbyist for the Church. According to Evans, the political role of the Church has been overemphasized, partly because when the Church first arrived in Utah there was little difference between Church and State. "The history of the [LDS] Church's role in politics is a history of decreased involvement," He said that the Church "takes an interest" in about 1 percent of the 1,000 bills in a session of the Utah state legislature. He said that the Church takes a stance on liquor provisions, tax laws that affect its organization and same-sex marriages. He also pointed out that the Church isn't the only group supporting California's Knight initiative, which would prohibit same-sex marriages in California.

Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City lobbyist Dee Rowland, University of Utah Professor Laurence Loeb, who represented the Jewish faith, and Reverend Dr. Jeff Sells, a communications officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, also spoke at the meetings, outlining their faiths' involvement in politics. While none of the religious criticized the positions of another, each did say that too much influence by a religion on the government has negative consequences.