Is the US headed towards a socialist government?

[kandrathe]

There is a balance to be struck. The Mormon church comes scarily close to cult behavior, but what they do as a church is clearly protected. (What they do running Utah is rather another matter, and the boundary between church and state has never been a strong point for the Mormons.) If they are widely disliked, even in the press, I can only remind you that those are also protected freedoms.

Of course, the press has freedom as well. It is only significant that in most places (esp. in the USA), a prelude to the violation of human rights is preceded with unfounded accusations, ostracism and a dehumanizing propaganda campaign. When something is considered to be less than human, we as a society have less issues with violating their rights (e.g. Japanese internment camps). The campaign seeks to mollify or influence public outrage, at least to question whether those attacked by the government didn't somehow deserve that retribution.

As, for Mormon's domination in Utah; They went there for sanctuary, and still comprise over 70% of the state population. It's a cultural fact that Utah is dominated by Mormons. One might say the same about progressive democrats and New York, or black politics and the District of Columbia.

So, to stay on track here, eppie might see religious freedom (since he is admittedly removed from it) while there exists quite a bit of government repression (as in France's cult watch) for religious minority groups. Europe's accepted mainstream religions have been cowed to a place of irrelevance within the culture due to their history of catastrophic commingling with government and politics. And, in some places in Europe, I'm sure that being openly Protestant, or openly Catholic might still have serious life consequences. Therefore, the safest choice might sometimes be "neither".