"This will be an issue for the rest of our natural lives, as well as those of our children and maybe our grandchildren," he said.

Employment at BYU's Hawaii campus could be affected if legislation being proposed by the state legislature there is enacted. The school now employs only LDS Church members or those who uphold LDS standards, but a bill striking down religious discrimination in any form would threaten that policy, he said.

Yet the law cuts both ways. Latter-day Saints who face religious discrimination on the job in predominantly non-Mormon areas benefit from such statutes, he said.

Other questions have come up in recent years over how private property can be used for religious purposes. A pastor in Foxfield, Colo., whose congregation had no formal church building, was using his home for weekly scripture study that attracted several dozen people. Residents complained, and the City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting more than five cars from being parked outside a private home more frequently than twice a month.

The pastor sued, citing religious discrimination, but the court upheld the city's ordinance, saying it applied not only to religious gatherings but to any gatherings at a private home.

Such statutes could threaten LDS seminary classes now being held in private homes adjacent to public schools in several Western states. Keetch said when the church could not arrange to buy private property for construction of a seminary building, a seminary instructor purchased a nearby residence and now provides the space so release-time classes can be offered.

It's also possible that the names of some Utah cities like Nephi, Lehi, Moroni and St. George could come under fire in the future from residents who dislike their religious connotations. Such litigation is already taking place in Zion, Ill., and Corpus Christi, Texas, he said.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com