Official Discussion on the Mormon/LDS influence in Idaho (Boise: schools, colleges)

[Torrie]

thanks!

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by fabforever

I don't see why he should delete my post, it is just my experience with the religion and much like people have good and bad experiences with other religions, I too had my share of unfriendly experiences with LDS. As far as what I was told, I am not LDS so I can't confirm what is true or not, I have no idea of the teachings of the church and therefore I can only post what I have experienced and what my neighbor said to me. Is it possible that different LDS churches follow different teachings? I see nothing wrong with my post, I think it is nice to see the negative side also since the world is not perfect and neither are humans - so even LDS people can commit mistakes, I am sure.

I wasn't referring to your post, fab, I was referring to mine. No, fab, the doctrine and practices of the Church are strictly controlled. Deviation between units is not tolerated.

There is something else afoot here, fab. Your neighbors are making excuses and placing the blame on church doctrine.

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by JamesinLittleRock

funny how my own mother who is temple mormon has told me this after she converted and then tried to get me to convert as well. so have several friends who have went on missions. and the girl I dated after high school who broke it off because she was told to end it because I couldnt get her into heaven.

James, I have a much clearer picture now. No, your girlfriend wanted to be married in the Temple; therefore, since you would not convert and only members can be married in the Temple, she left you to find an LDS member. Sorry you got your feelings hurt, but I got a Dear John from my fiancé when I was in Nam. Oh, well, I like the wife I have now a whole lot more.

[brokencrayola]

This IS a religious thing. LDS are not anything like Catholics, Lutherans etc. Being LDS is more than a religion, it is a lifestyle. Their whole lives, in many ways, revolve around the church and the church's teachings. That means their friends in many cases, their childrens friends and activities, places they do business with, their socializing, their jobs, what they do in their free time, what they eat and drink, and their many church affiliated functions are connected to their religion. You don't see Baptists etc. only associating with businesses that are LDS family owned. Many towns are literally run by the church in the sense that almost all the businesses, mayor, county commissioners etc. are LDS and run the whole show. They are extremely family oriented and generally associate with others within their church for sports, parties, etc. It is widely known that in towns, especially smaller towns, that are largely Mormon, children from other religions are NOT invited to sleep-overs, birthday parties, etc. Living in an area where most everyone is Catholic or whatever and you are not does not even compare to living in a predominately Mormon town under those same circumstances.
Personally I consider myself Christian, but do not practice or go to church. I am open-minded, and like I said before, when I moved to Grace Idaho I knew nothing about the LDS faith and just considered it another religion. I never moved there expecting in any way to be treated differently than any other place I had ever lived. You could count on two hands the number of people in that area that were not LDS. Everyone that I ever spoke to was having the same experience as we were and everyone was miserable and trying to move or be relocated if they were there because of their jobs (like we were). Good grief my husband was the first person is his whole state agency that took a voluntary DEMOTION just so we could get out of there. An example was we had a gas station just down the block. We not only used it personally for our gas but so did the business my husband worked at. They had a convienence store and we bought things from there. We knew their names and their children's names. It became obvious they wanted our business and money only and did not want to socialize. They would come out for everyone else in the community and talk and clean their windows etc, but not when we or anyone else that lived where we were that was not LDS. After 5 years of living there, when we knew we were moving I stopped in to get gas. After 5 friggin years of giving them our hard earned money she still didn't have my name right. Give me a break, 5 years. Don't come back and say, well maybe she was hard of hearing, maybe she was senile (in her early 30's), maybe whatever... She just didn't give a sh** about anything but our money. It was pathetic. God forbid any child go to the school that was not LDS, they went through hell. My son was born there and was 3 1/2 when we left so he never went to school and I am so grateful for that.
No one should have to be treated the way we were just because we are not the predominant religion. I feel strongly that anyone that is considering moving to Idaho, certainly Utah, AZ., or Nev. and plan on moving to a town where there are mostly LDS families needs to think about this long and hard, especially if they have school age kids.

[fabforever]

Originally Posted by SergeantL

I wasn't referring to your post, fab, I was referring to mine. No, fab, the doctrine and practices of the Church are strictly controlled. Deviation between units is not tolerated.

There is something else afoot here, fab. Your neighbors are making excuses and placing the blame on church doctrine.

Oh ok, no worries. I asked because some of my neighbors drink coke and caffeinated drinks and others don't. At our last subdivision, a neighbor said she didn't let her kids drink hot drinks (not even hot chocolate or hot milk); she told me it was against the religion. I asked and apparently some of the teachings are different as far as interpretation? She said they followed the older teachings when no hot drinks or caffeine was allowed. At the new subdivision, they all drink soda and caffeinated drinks and hot chocolate - no coffe tough. That is why I asked about practices and differences in the teachings – maybe some just choose not to follow certain rules I guess.

[LeiGul]

Well, obviously there are the religious zelots. I am not one of them, and don't associate with anyone that is so intollerant. I am truly sorry that you had to go through that. I wouldn' wish that on anyone. I stand by my statement that you can't paint the entire church with one brush. There are members that we concider religious zelots and are known in the church as such. Many people within their own religion are looked down on because they aren't "Molly Mormons" in other words, perfect angels. It is not tolerated, but unfortunately they are still tooooooo many of them.

I still ask you not to generalize with the LDS church. It isn't it's doctrine to be so stupid and it sure isn't tolerated by me. I have many neighbors and friends that aren't LDS and I love them just the way they are. My kids play with their kids and vice versa.

I have had bad experiences with Catholics and many other denominations, but I don't look down on their church because they were so rude and intollerant of our differences. I looked past their religion and realized that they were just bigoted people that didn't have a lick of sense.

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by fabforever

maybe some just choose not to follow certain rules I guess.

Bingo. Too bad you aren't my neighbor. You would find how real LDS members are suppose to behave and treat people, both in and out of the Church.

[JamesinLittleRock]

Originally Posted by SergeantL

James, I have a much clearer picture now. No, your girlfriend wanted to be married in the Temple; therefore, since you would not convert and only members can be married in the Temple, she left you to find an LDS member. Sorry you got your feelings hurt, but I got a Dear John from my fiancé when I was in Nam. Oh, well, I like the wife I have now a whole lot more.

last I heard she was unhappy and bitter. Oh well I am happily married to a wonderful woman who lets me be my heathen irish-catholic self.

[Sage of Sagle]

Folks,

I'm leaving these posts alone, although quite a few of them went right off-topic and are IMHO not helpful to people looking at a relocating forum. However, it does lend some background to the whole issue of LDS pro/con in the Idaho region.

However, a couple of you are becoming unpleasant, and that needs to stop. this is not the forum for it. There are other areas of this site with some pretty heated debates. The IDAHO forum is to discuss both positives and negatives of topics relevant to relocating in Idaho with the same civility you would be expected to show in a professional workplace. I swear...don't make me say "take it outside"....

Let's keep it civil and on-topic, and barring folks getting seriously offended and reporting posts nobody has to get anything deleted, OK?

[Syringaloid]

Do members of the LDS faith think there is a difference between Idaho members and Utah members? Even between Utah members and any other state?
I've often heard that Utah members are bad examples of the LDS Church and that they are stuck up, take the faith somewhat for granted, and think that they are automatically saved because they live in Zion, caugh..hiccup... Utah
I know from reading census reports that a lot of Utahn's have moved to Idaho and the Boise area and of course a lot of them will be LDS. Do some of you think that the "bad" members of the LDS faith you have encountered might be transplants from Utah?
To be honest, I have not heard any negative comments towards Californians since I have been living in Boise---none. But, I do hear many negative comments about Utah.