Article: Public interest vs. minority rights.

Byline: Peter A. Brown

When Utah joined the union, its heavily Mormon population agreed to forsake a religious doctrine _ polygamy _ to join the United States.

In the 1890s, there were no major concerns that enforcing that requirement might somehow violate constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.

Common sense said that the views and values of most Americans took precedence in the cultural clash. The perceived well-being of the many took precedence over the customs of the few.

However, now that diversity and minority rights have come to rival godliness as a universal virtue, it's not certain whether such a deal would even be ...

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