Last month's Utah Republican Convention came to a disturbing and emotional close when a "Resolution opposing Satan's plan to destroy the U.S. by stealth invasion" was laid upon the table.

The resolution was proposed by Legislative District 65 Chairman Don Larsen. It began with the biblical story of Satan's fall from grace found in Revelation 12:9: "Whereas, 'And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.'

"Whereas," the resolution continued, "in order for Satan to establish his 'New World Order' and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the Scriptures, he must first destroy the U.S."

Illegal immigration doesn't capture headlines like "open warfare does," but, the resolution said, it is "all the more insidious for its stealth and innocuousness."

"It is obvious," read Larsen's treatise, that people who oppose draconian immigration restrictions "do not like the ideas of patriotism, national identity, sovereignty [and] our Christian culture and freedom."

The Daily Herald reports that Larsen went even further in his convention speech, saying that Satan-spawned illegal immigrants are trying to "'destroy Christian America' and replace it with 'a godless new world order.'" "And that is not extremism," Larsen said, "that is a fact." Larsen began to weep at the end of his speech.

Fellow delegates who felt Larsen "was embarrassing the Republican Party" were booed as they tried to steer the immigration debate to more substantive issues.

The debate was all for naught. When it came time to vote on Larsen's proposal, party officials discovered that they were 30 people short of a quorum. Satan's apocalyptic plan would go another year without condemnation from the Utah Republican Party.

Larsen's resolution may be extreme, but unfortunately it is not extraordinary. Using religion to define public policy and divide the American people is becoming an all too common occurrence. Religious Right operatives want their religion and government to merge. Many of them think nothing of using strident religious language to literally demonize those they disagree with. It's an alarming prospect in a pluralistic nation, and activists in both political parties should speak out against it.