Native Hawaiians are playing the religion card with increasing frequency in political disputes and public officials are responding, raising a homegrown issue of separation of church and state.

In the latest instance, the Maui County Council voted unanimously to ban scientific research involving the genetic modification of taro in the county, bowing to the Hawaiian religious belief that kalo — the native name for the plant — is the sacred source of human life.

It followed a similar action by the Big Island Council, which overrode a veto by former Mayor Harry Kim to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine for scientists to conduct genetic research on taro or coffee.

The actions in the two counties were sought by Hawaiians to prod the Legislature to enact a statewide ban on any genetic modification of taro.

Legislative efforts so far have sought a middle ground that would protect Hawaiian strains of taro from genetic contamination, while allowing University of Hawai'i researchers to work on varieties from other regions of the Pacific where taro is also an important staple but is threatened by pests and diseases. The research has been welcomed by those countries.

There have been scientific and environmental arguments offered against genetic modification of taro in addition to the spiritual pleas, but the religious drumbeat is the one the public officials are dancing to.

Maui Council members specifically said they believed taro's cultural and spiritual significance to Native Hawaiians was more important than any other factor.

A bill in the Legislature last year that didn't get a final vote declared: "Kalo intrinsically embodies the interdependency of the past, the present, and the future, the essence of procreation and regeneration, as the foundation of any sustainable practice. Kalo expresses the spiritual and physical well-being of not only the kanaka maoli and their heritage, but also symbolizes the environmental, social, and cultural values important to the state."

It makes you wonder if they're writing law or Scripture.

Our Hawaiian host culture has a deep spirituality that deserves our utmost respect, but so does the Bill of Rights that protects our diverse population from having the state impose any single set of religious beliefs on us.

Some of the lawmakers who heel to Hawaiian religious belief on taro are the same ones who get their undies in a bunch when conservative Christians seek to outlaw abortion because they consider fetal cells to be sacred or civil unions because they believe marriage is sacred.

There is little difference between Hawai'i politicians banning taro research in response to spiritual emotionalism and the Bush administration pandering to the Christian right by restricting stem cell research.

The religiously loaded word "sacred" is invoked a lot in local political disputes, on issues from astronomy development on Mauna Kea to military training in Makua Valley to Halloween blowouts in Lahaina and Labor Day parties on the Kane'ohe Bay sandbar.

When East O'ahu residents opposed a shark tour business proposed near Maunalua Bay, members of the Honolulu City Council glommed onto the Hawaiian religious belief that sharks are sacred.

They've pushed legislation to ban shark tours not only in Hawai'i Kai, but also on the North Shore, where well-established businesses have operated for years with little harm to the sharks, the environment or the public safety, according to UH research.

The Maui Council passed its own ban on shark tours, with Councilwoman Jo Anne Johnson saying it was a sign of respect for Native Hawaiians who consider sharks to be sacred.

Preserving our host culture certainly should be a consideration in setting public policy, but basing government decisions primarily on the tenets of any religious belief — or using religious emotionalism as a shortcut around the hard arguments — is a dangerous path.