Today in my Columbia Heights Ward (a way that Mormons tend to phrase the actual location of our church) I enjoyed all the lovely Easter dresses, the matching purses, hats and I longed for the days when my mother bought me the perfect outfit. As I sat in Sunday School I was reminded of one of the reasons why I love DC so much: the separation of church and state is a little more gray than where I was raised in Utah!

You see in Utah it is FORBIDDEN to even toy with the notion of disseminating health information in any way shape or form from a church setting from the Government. The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or as some simply call us “Mormons”) as always brought great tension with those who are not of the Mormon faith. There is a lot of dislike and I would come close to saying hate when it comes to discussing health issues in the state of Utah. Most times people in the state like to “blame” the Mormon church for bringing policy change to public health issues, when in reality it is simply PUBLIC HEALTH. Frankly. . . people should stop the “hating!” Utah has the LOWEST smoking rates in the country! I witnessed the blame this past January when the smoking ban went into effect in bars. Instead of blaming “The Government” for taking away “their rights” (by the way smokers have NO rights) like most “normal” citizens might do in the typical argument against smoking bans. The dear citizens of Utah instead blamed The Mormon Church. It made me mad, it made me chuckle and in the end I was just happy for the smoking ban! You can read my post about the experience here

One reason why I love DC so much is that it is “OK” to bring up talking about health issues at church with the Government in mind. I won’t say that it is going on in my church the way I WANT it to, or shall I say THE CDC wants it to it totality (that is for another post), but it delights me to know that the Centers for Disease Control is FINALLY really focusing on faith based initiatives. In fact the CDC has created a specific office “Faith-Based and Community Organizations Sector” or FBCO to dedicate time to reaching out to churches! This is one of the single best ways to reach people in all regards- if your Pastor, Preacher, or my case Bishop is telling you what to do about your health. . . then it must be true! NOW. . . if we can get the CORRECT information to said Pastor, Preacher, Bishop!!!!

DC also has an Office of Partnerships and Grants Services: Nonprofit and Faith-Based Support Services which is also a great resource for locals to take advantage of services.