ACLU rekindles the Main Plaza ire

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing a variety of plaintiffs, is again taking on what it perceives to be the dominance, influence and control of the LDS Church in everyday Utah life, including government.

Through its latest suit over Salt Lake City's Main Street Plaza — filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for Utah — the ACLU targets the role of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in one of Utah's most contentious public policy debates in years, although the church itself is not included as a defendant. In this case, ACLU attorneys maintain, the LDS Church pressured the city and its leaders to do the church's will instead of promoting "sectarian" interests. Part of that pressure included an LDS Church campaign to convince its membership that God wanted the church to come out a winner in the plaza fray, the suit states.

It was the church, the suit contends, that pushed Mayor Rocky Anderson to change his position during the plaza debate last December to one that agreed with the church's wishes.

The suit, filed against Salt Lake City and Anderson in his official capacity as mayor, charges that much of the responsibility for the outcome can be traced to the LDS Church, saying the church sometimes used "coded religious rhetoric" to influence its members to sway Anderson and other elected city officials to its point of view.

The strategy worked and prompted Anderson to develop public policy that satisfies the church, the lawsuit says.

"After months of trying to battle the LDS Church, its massive public relations operation and the City Council members who from the beginning set about to do the church's rather than the public's bidding, the mayor did a sudden about-face and capitulated to the church's demands that the city surrender the right of way through the property," the suit contends.

ACLU attorneys Janelle Eurick and Mark Lopez go on to argue that "the extraordinary pressure brought by the LDS Church" influenced Anderson to craft a deal that favored the church.

'Coded' messages?

Much of that "extraordinary pressure" came after the church launched a two-county public relations campaign containing "coded" religious messages only its membership would understand, the suit states. The coded messages made it clear to members that God wanted them to win, causing its membership to bombard City Hall with pressure until the church's wishes were met, the suit maintains.

Part of that public relations campaign was a brochure titled "Realizing a Vision — the New Church Plaza."