Candidate aims to boost faith

Republican David Leavitt makes three main campaign "promises" as he attempts to unseat Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah, in the 3rd Congressional District. And one is to renew the religious faith of Utahns as it applies to government operations.

One may wonder why 3rd Congressional District constituents need to renew their faith, considering that Utah is one of the most religious states in the nation and the 3rd District one of the most conservative. Across the state, city councils, school boards and the Legislature open each meeting with prayers, asking for guidance and wise decisionmaking.

Yet Leavitt, the former Juab County attorney, says on one of his campaign fliers: "We are not independently strong. We must rely on God to keep us free — free from financial burden, free from Washington bureaucracy and free from our enemies.

"We hold a duty to maintain public belief in a Supreme Being, regardless of our personal religious beliefs. If we do not, future generations will never understand the critical role our Creator has played throughout the history of this great Nation," Leavitt writes.

On his Web page, Leavitt has a slightly different version: "The majority's tolerance to the viewpoint of a few has changed. Instead of tolerating their opinion (of God outside of government) we are subjected to it, and that is not freedom! Americans have a patriotic duty to maintain a public belief in and acceptance of God. If we do not, future generations will never understand the critical role our Creator has played throughout the history of this great nation."

In an interview, Leavitt said that no American should be forced to believe in God, or a supreme being. And no one should be forced to participate in any public expression of belief in God. But at the same time, no one should stop anyone from a public expression of belief in a supreme being, either. And government will be better with that acknowledgment of God.

"When government doesn't have to answer to something higher, like a supreme being; when government sees itself as the highest authority, then government will do anything to keep itself in power — as we saw in the Soviet Union," Leavitt said. If America keeps going down the road "of political correctness" where a supreme being is not acknowledged as an authority above government, then America will change for the worse, Leavitt added.

Karen McCleary, executive director of the Utah Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, says Leavitt's attitude "is very heavy-handed."

"You have to say in public that you believe in God, or somehow you are not patriotic? — that you are un-American if you don't accept a belief in God" as it relates to government, McCleary said.