Minutes of General Meeting - May 12, 2010

Bella Vida Clubhouse, North Salt Lake, Utah

Conducting: Diane Prince
Prayer: Jennifer Bertin
Pledge of Allegiance: Julie Hattabaugh
Announcements: Kris Kimball
• May 19 – Interim Session of the Utah State Legislature (contact Kris if you want to carpool)
• June 18 – Patrick Henry Caucus Picnic for Davis & Weber counties
• June 22 – Primary Election here – possibility of a United Women’s Forum sponsored candidate debate (District 19 & 20) – watch for notification
• July 17 Glenn Beck ‘American Revival’ at Energy Solutions Arena (10 am to 4 pm) – contact Kris immediately if you would like to go with UWF members
• Please donate, if you can, to the Koins for Kenya School fundraiser – we have just $700 needed to make the $10,000 amount needed for the Miguneni School; Kris and her daughter will be going there this summer! Thanks to everyone!

Principle #2 from The 5000 Year Leap: Hillary Diven
“A Free People Cannot Survive Under a Republican Constitution
Unless They Remain Virtuous and Morally Strong”
Hillary presented this in a very engaging way, acting as a spokesman recognizing individuals for acts and attributes of a virtuous nature and the way they positively affect our society. She passionately mentioned statesmen from the past for contributions they have made as well handing out ‘good citizen’ awards to members of the audience. In this chapter we are reminded that, “…each man must somehow be persuaded to submerge his personal wants into the greater good of the whole. Thanks Hillary!

Special Guest Speaker intro by: Nancy Peterson
Mr. LaVar Christensen
LaVar Christensen comes from a long line of public servants. He received his B.A. degree from Brigham Young University and his Juris Doctor from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He served in the Utah State Legislature from 2002-06 from District 48 (Sandy/Draper). Christensen was instrumental in the campaign for implementing Utah's successful Constitutional Amendment in support of traditional marriage.

Mr. Christensen prefaced his remarks by telling us of an experience he had as a 10-year-old where he realized he had an over-whelming love of his country and its history; indeed he said that the founding fathers were his boyhood heroes. As an adult, pursuing his law degree continued his awareness of the wonderful founding principles of our country. Much of what Mr. Christensen covered concerned the topic related to our principle today, that of ‘public virtue’. Some of his many points were:
• Our founding fathers did not want an all-powerful government similar to the monarchy they had just overthrown
• Posed the question of what is ‘public virtue’ – our rights come from our Creator and our Constitution was written for a moral people
• Virtue demands us to subordinate selfish, personal wants for the greater good of the people as a whole
• He challenged us to be a bold voice of morality
• He told of Pres. Lincoln’s warning to “beware of the silent artillery of time” --- hasn’t God been pushed into a closet and the door has been locked --- people can’t even mention him, it seems; many have turned their back on religion of any kind
• He said he does not like to be labeled a politician; rather he truly sees himself as a ‘public servant’
• In referencing current government, he said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
• He told of Pres. Lincoln being berated and called ‘unfashionable’ as he expressed his belief in divine providence
• He told us the story of the phrase “separation of church and state” coming from an obscure letter written once by Jefferson --- this phrase is NOT in our Constitution or Bill of Rights
• He cited many examples of religious affiliation that have been ruled unconstitutional and said we should expect more of that in the future
• He spoke of the ACLU being in the business of dismantling religion
• He cited a quote by Chesterton saying, “Tolerance is the virtue of those who no longer believe in anything.”
He then took questions from the audience on several different topics.
We thank him for a most interesting hour!


September 8th is our next regular United Women’s Forum Meeting! Have a great summer.