"Values" affect all our choices; that is obvious. We choose a particular career because we "value" that profession. We might choose a particular religion because we value its tenets. "Values," "Standards," "Ideals" all permeate our choices--to one degree or another. However, what if my values, those beliefs that I hold dear, conflict with yours? Then what? How do we arbitrate, resolve, compromise, or just plain tolerate people or groups who have standards quite different than our own? What if these "conflicted" ideals lead not to just differences in hairstyles or clothing, but to the very core of our lives? What if our politicians hold and act upon principles which conflict with a portion of the population they have been elected to represent?

The potential for conflicted values is especially problematic in Utah since a majority of the population is of one religious persuasion. It would be unreasonable to think that religious beliefs did not affect the decisions made by Utah legislators. However is there some mark, some line, when voting one's religious values is inappropriate? What is that line and how do we tell if it has been crossed?

In the open, intellectual spirit advocated by John Stuart Mill over one hundred years ago in On Liberty, the November 10th meeting of the Utah Humanists was a panel discussion [organized by Board Member Ron Healey] which addressed many of the issues in the preceding paragraphs.

Present on the panel were:

• Kelly Atkinson, Legislator, Utah House of Representatives
• Fred Finlinson, Legislator, Utah Senate
• Lyle Hilyard, former legislator, Utah Senate
• Susan Olson, Professor of Political Science, University of Utah
• Chris Allen, Utah Society of Separationists

Panel Moderator: Shannon Bellamy, Ph.D., Faculty Member, Gore School of Business.

The discussion started by asking the panelists to respond to the hypothetical question of a woman pilot who was about to relocate to Utah from Dallas, was a southern Baptist Democrat, and was concerned about the religious influence in the community and in the Utah legislature. The responses were varied, the conversation was lively and animated, and there was no specific, concrete conclusion. In the spirit of John Stuart Mill, we should not be disappointed. The conversation itself keeps alive and open for public debate the question of how values influence the political process.

Did the panel discussion open our eyes a little? Did it make us a little more tolerant of others? My answer is, Yes! It seems to be a step in the right direction when Kelly Atkinson, Mormon and Utah legislator, says publicly: "It's time for a lot of people [Mormons] to wake up and smell the coffee!"

--Shannon Bellamy, Ph.D.