WHY UTAH RELIGIOUS LEADERS SUPPORT S.B.

86
(Victim Selection Penalty Enhancements)

Ever since the Mormon pioneers trekked to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847 to flee
religious persecution in the hope of finding sanctuary and peace in a place no one else wanted, Utah has
been a gathering place for people of all colors, nationalities, and creeds; and our communities are the
better for their presence and contribution.

According to FBI data, there were 47 racially-based crimes in Utah in 2013. Swastikas are now
showing up as public graffiti across the nation. Muslim women are afraid to wear head scarves for fear of
being assaulted. A bomb threat closed the Wagner Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City last month
and there were similar bomb threats against Jewish centers in Minneapolis, San Diego, Albany NY,
Boulder CO, and New Haven CT at about the same time. Similarly, as we honor Martin Luther King, Jr.,
the racial inequality he stood so strongly against remains a struggle for black Americans. Violence and
injustice against black Americans continues daily. These events, and countless others like them,
perpetrated against single individuals and entire communities, are tragic and are alarming to those of us in
the faith community. All of these threats and attacks are against people’s ethnicity and religion. The
not-so-subtle message to all others of those same race, ethnicities and religions is simple: ​you don’t
belong here, go somewhere else​. That was the same message Mormons got from 19​th​ Century mobs in
Missouri and Illinois: Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered because of their religion.

It is easy to understand the immorality and criminality of the Smith’s murders or in cases of arson
where a home or a building is destroyed. Our criminal code deals with those as serious crimes. However,
when a structure is destroyed because the owner or occupant is Jewish, or Mexican, or Muslim, the act is
all the more evil because the perpetrator is also threatening that broader religious or ethnic community
with a ​leave or die​ message. A century ago, that was sometimes the message to Catholics and Mormons;
the same message to Jews has a longer and darker history. These kinds of crime victims deserve and
require an extra measure of punitive sanction against perpetrators, which our criminal code needs to
provide.

S.B. 86 is a principled means of giving prosecutors and judges better tools to keep all Utahns
safer from the predations of those who would engage in violence to promote their philosophies of racial
superiority, religious purity, or exclusion. Message crimes are not ordinary crimes; message crime victims
suffer an even greater injustice, because they were singled out for race, or religion, or gender orientation.
The punishment for message crime, therefore, needs to be more severe. Some have claimed that this bill is
an assault on religious liberty. We believe that it is, in fact, a protection of religious liberty.

As Utah faith leaders, we urge support of S.B. 86 by the Attorney General, the Governor and Lt.
Governor, and all elected leaders in our communities. We urge prompt action by the Utah legislature to
pass S.B. 86. Utah is too great a place for any of our brothers and sisters to live in fear whether they are in
the majority or are part of a vulnerable minority.

Respectfully,

Most Rev. Oscar Solis

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City