Should the religion of a political candidate matter to voters? It’s a question that has stirred up debate here in Salt Lake City, where former mayor Rocky Anderson has made an issue of current mayoral candidate Luz Escamilla’s LDS faith.
Should the religion of a political candidate matter to voters? It’s a question that has stirred up debate here in Salt Lake City, where Rocky Anderson, former mayor, made an issue of current mayoral candidate Luz Escamilla’s LDS faith. Escamilla responded by asking voters to look at her political record, not her LDS temple recommend. But in a city and a state that, to some, can seem dominated by “the Church,” there are voters who admit that they will not vote for a Mormon candidate. Critics call that bigotry. We’ll hear from both sides in this debate, and take the temperature of relations between Utah’s Mormons and “Gentiles.”
GUESTS
- Rocky Anderson, former Salt Lake City mayor
- Luz Escamilla, Utah State Senator, Salt Lake City mayoral candidate
- Robert Gehrke, columnist, Salt Lake Tribune
- Dave Owen, political consultant
- Kristin Hodson, liscened clinical social worker and therapist
- Dr. Patrick Mason is the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University
