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Michelle Quist: Religion and politics don’t have to conflict

A recent article in The Salt Lake Tribune turned the spotlight on the oversized representation of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah’s Legislature.

The complaint, really, is that their numbers are disproportionate – that there is a higher percentage of church members in the Legislature than there are in the population.

Catholics comprise 22 percent of the U.S. Senate and 32 percent of the U.S. House. Approximately 24 percent of Americans consider themselves Catholic. So their representation in the Senate is pretty even, but they are over-represented in the U.