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April 27, 2007

Illegal Immigration: A Tool of Satan

Utah County District 65 has itself a most interesting Chairman named Don Larson. He has submitted a formal resolution that will be discussed this weekend at the Utah County Republican Convention. The resolution, in a nutshell, states that Satan is trying to set up a New World Order and destroy our freedom, but to do this he must first destroy the country. To defeat Satan, Larson says, we must stop the slow invasion that is occurring via illegal immigration.

I've studied all the conspiracy theories on the New World Order and the North American Union, and I grew up believing Satan was a real, living being, so I understand how Larson arrived at this conclusion. But never have I heard anyone actually say such things out loud in public. Wow.

Fortunately, the Republican Party is disavowing any responsibility for or agreement with the resolution. And of course, we are talking about Salt Lake City, where 48% of the population is Mormon and believes Satan is real. So Larson probably did not realize how crazy his statement would sound to outsiders. Like members of Utah's Latino community, who were, shall we say, taken aback by his comments.

"It sounds like someone who is way out in left field, living in some fantasy world," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah and former head of the state's Office of Hispanic Affairs. "He is just an extremist, radical right-winger."

Rolando Murillo, a volunteer for ACELA (the Latin American Cultural and Education Association of Utah), is startled that anyone would believe such a plot. "Everyone can have whatever beliefs they want to have," Murillo said. "In the state of Utah, we're grateful that the vast majority of people do not embrace these ideas."

It isn't the first time that a Salt Lake City Republican has fingered Satan as the cause of some big problem. Last year, congressional candidate John Jacob said that he believed Satan was destroying his campaign by interfering with his business dealings so that he didn't have enough money to run properly.

It's interesting to me that we often will allow ourselves to think things in private that we would never say out loud in public because they would sound crazy. But laugh as we may when people say things like this, the fact is a lot of people believe Satan is as real a living being as Jesus Christ or God himself. So while we're laughing publicly, a lot of people are no doubt nodding their heads in agreement in private.

The belief in a personal God and the belief in Satan serve to satisfy the a desire for a concrete explanation as to why good things and bad things happen – it is not mere luck, but rather the intentional and meaningful acts of an unseen being that caused it. These beliefs offer us a sense that life is not merely a matter of chance and luck, but of providence and blessing, punishment and intentional provocation. They satisfy our desire to believe that we have some control over our own destiny by being good and pleasing God and thereby winning his favor, but that when we don't do what God wants, it surely must have been because Satan tempted us. We know we have a good side and a dark, animal side. Belief in a personal God and Satan personifies this and makes it easier to grasp and more comfortable.

And the relatively wide-spread acceptance of these beliefs is a fact of life. Though almost never uttered in public, they greatly influence the public debate on many issues. Unless you realize that, you will not be able to understand either the fervor or the thinking behind much of what the Christian (or Mormon) Right believes.

Posted by Becky at April 27, 2007 12:22 PM