LDS Church Welfare System Can't Replace Government Assistance

Last month, ProPublica co-published a piece with The Salt Lake Tribune that exposed what the Tribune's editorial board later dubbed Utah's "unholy merger of church and state." Investigative journalist Eli Hager explained how intertwined Utah's public assistance programs are with those offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hager revealed that Utah's state legislature has been able to avoid spending at least $75 million on alleviating poverty over the last decade by counting a percentage of welfare provided by the LDS Church as its own. This shocking disclosure has far-reaching ramifications. Not only does Hager show how particular LDS notions of morality have been prerequisites for receiving material assistance, even compelling some Utahns to join the church to receive aid, but the blurry lines between church and state have allowed proponents of "small government" anti-poverty initiatives to herald Utah's system as a model. For example, the LDS Church's welfare system has resonated so strongly with many conservatives and libertarians across the religious spectrum that a young Tucker Carlson once insisted that its "themes are ones the secular world would do well to study."