Religions in Utah Salt Lake (living, move, suburbs)

[eggalegga]

I wonder if that might have been sarcasm?

[SergeantL]

Originally Posted by eggalegga

I wonder if that might have been sarcasm?

Ya, think?

[ebreezy]

my cuzin they been to alot of reggae concert when ever they play in salt lake city or park city utah. they also have a summer jam concert .::: U92 :: WHERE HIP HOP LIVES :::. check out the site u can even hear live stream. so you got rapper's who come out to do a few gigs mostly at the night clubs in ogden. so you don't need to worry what kind of music you need to play it's all to the good big homie......

[akkat]

yes... the area is predominately mormon AND because of this, in my experience, the majority of those mormon neighbors will not be accepting of you because you do not belong. however, other minorities ie ... other churches in the area are to be found in the area and you can participate in that community. but remember you will always be a minority there and this can be a challenge for a family to deal with..

[mountainfaith]

There are LOTS of different religions here. I think most are very surprised at how many others are already here, especially of the Protestant type faiths. And like others have said, remember historically there were the Anglo-Saxons & others that were here before the Mormon pioneers came. And there were many Indians that lived here, too. So, while it became majority Mormon, it wasn't originally. So, there have always been other beliefs here, too.

This link below helped me a lot when researching churches before moving here. Just type in the city you're checking out.
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

Type in Salt Lake City at that link. There are TONS of churches of all types there and they are obviously the most diverse being the largest city. There are MANY pages at the SLC link w/churches listed from A-Z. Amazing how many!

Another helpful example:

Davis County churches w/a brief history also...
churches

When you're here, while you'll see LDS churches at the edge of the majority of subdivisions, you'll also see many other faiths as well. That should've answered your question.

[symea]

There are many other religions and many who have no religion at all!For the most part, the LDS are just nice people. I have lived here 6 months (not LDS) and nobody has bothered me. My husband (He's mexican) and I are from California and he is a musician. He plays in an 11 piece funk band. My neighbors are black, I'm adopted so I don't know what I am.Happy I guess! We play all kinds of music, loudly and enjoy the beautiful mountains!

[chung]

All people are invited in Utah. Mormons do believe in religious toleration and not persecuting other people's faith, but because of their high standards-no immorality, no drinking alchohol, no swearing, no tobacco, and no coffee, they tend to alienate people of these persuasions. Religious wise, you may get offered to come to an LDS church, because they want to share their religion with you, but you can always politely say no thank you. They do have a strong missionary force and members are to teach others the faith.
As in any religion, you have the extemists, who push religion down your throat and you have those who do not practice their religion. The church believes in free agency and free choice which allows them to choose their standards. However, don't visit or apply to Brigham Young University, because they have dress standards that are very strict and music standards are high.

If you do not have a family, sometimes its hard to get around or if you do not have a intergenrational Mormon family. I am the only Chinese Mormon in my family so I was not invited to too many activities. In fact, I had to adopt an inactive Mormon Korean lady for dinners in my house. Some people say the Mormons are judgemental, because they will keep their children from playing with non-Mormons-this has been condemned by the leaders, but it still happens so be forgiving of them, because they are protecting their kids from the world.
As to diversity, you have to look for it. I found a radical newpaper called City times that has all the local clubs for clubbing, religions like taoism, hindu, sikhs, zen buddhism, and health freaks. They have Chinese medicine practitioners, yogis, kung fu specialist, and Gracie of Gracie Jiujitsu fame is here, they even have shaolin specialists. They also have a great bookstore called Golden Braid Bookstore if you want other religion books or alternative sites. They also have Protestant churches here too.
Some apartments are also BYU standards which means no drinking, smoking, or immorality and loud music that can be stifling.
Utah is very quiet, especially on Sundays when everyone is at church. There is no beer selling on Sundays-you have to go to Springville in the suburbs.
However, many businesses, computer companies, and other economies are coming for the clean environment, low crime, and easy access to highways.
Good luck.

[goldenmom7500]

So anyhow, I descend from a major, major Mormon leader-founder. But then my parents, before I was born, decided to break away from the church in a major way. So I was raised in the religion of "non-Mormonism". But to make things worse, they divorced and moved back to Utah. So I was from a "non-Mormon" family being raised by a divorced mother in SLC.

I was by no means shunned, I just wasn't altogether included. There were things going on around me, centered around the church, that I wasn't part of because I wasn't part of them. There was nothing malicious. The church was just organizing a lot of things, and who can fault that.

It was very hard!

[Then I made the mistake of marrying a Catholic man - you know, the drinking, smoking kind - who went to Mass every week without exception, and whose family thought all non-Catholics were terrible and needed to convert - why did I do that?]

Some of my thoughts about Utah:

o the non-Mormons know they are part of a minority, albeit a large one; there is bonding there because of this; some people and personality types thrive being non-Mormons in Utah, others don't.

o in the long run, my classmates from the big Mormon families have thrived whether they stayed in Utah or left; my classmates from non-Mormon families, especially those who never left, even for college, have really had some problems. Many major. I don't know why!

o whatever else I take away from my years in Utah, I very much agree with the notion that our bodies are a gift. I'm extremely anti-smoking, still to this day. Extremely.

o Some people do great in Salt Lake and are oblivious to all of this. I think of my aforementioned wealthy Presbyterian Aunt and Uncle. [Maybe they are not vulnerable because of their wealthy social status, I don't know].

o When I had the chance to relocate in the last few years, I vowed that I would never move a child to Utah unless I converted to Mormonism. That meant, in effect, that I couldn't consider Utah as an option. I just couldn't put my child through what I went through. Not that I've turned out badly, but still, I couldn't "convert" and I couldn't see myself moving there without converting, due to what I remember growing up there.

o Things may have changed a lot since I grew up there. I do visit a lot, but I'm talking of things that happened in the (late) 70s and 80s.

[eggalegga]

Originally Posted by chung

....Some people say the Mormons are judgemental, because they will keep their children from playing with non-Mormons-this has been condemned by the leaders, but it still happens so be forgiving of them, because they are protecting their kids from the world.

What? Be forgiving of parents who teach their children intolerance? Do those Mormon parents know what they're doing to the children? I had this very scenario happen to me as a child. When a child hears that potential playmates cannot play with him because he's not LDS it's VERY damaging. As an adult, I know better. I wonder why people say Mormon's are judgemental. There's the proof.

[lemon&lime]

Don't move here unless you are married with kids and have a good job. This is NOT the place for singles over 25. I am not kidding when I say that everyone in this town seems to be married, blonde, Mormon and yes, very uptight, especially in all the suburbs which are south of Salt Lake proper. It is crucial if you want to live here to understand what this town is all about and to know what you are dealing with-- an extremely powerful cult that subtely influences everyone and everything here, irregardless of what people say. I think a lot of people rearrange reality in order to make themselves feel more comfortable about living here. The very fact that there are so many people who are either "in" or "out" of the Mormon cult-- that people's lives are defined by this-- means de facto, pretty much without argument, that there is an inharmony here that you just can't avoid. And also, the weather sucks.