Escape From California To Mormon Country

[UtahRoots]

Yeah! I didn't even think about Manti. Beautiful architecture. Small town. Close enough to larger cities for access to stuff. Close knit community with strong religious values and conservative as well. Sounds like it fits the bill. Fordvictory, we aren't meaning to sound entertained. We just had a hard time figuring out what it was you were looking for. And then we got a little worried about what you were looking for. But it looks like ChrisC figured it out - and did a good job interpreting what you meant as well.

[cinnabon]

Originally Posted by UtahRoots

Yeah! I didn't even think about Manti. Beautiful architecture. Small town. Close enough to larger cities for access to stuff. Close knit community with strong religious values and conservative as well. Sounds like it fits the bill. Fordvictory, we aren't meaning to sound entertained. We just had a hard time figuring out what it was you were looking for. And then we got a little worried about what you were looking for. But it looks like ChrisC figured it out - and did a good job interpreting what you meant as well.

What's wrong with being entertained? It is sort of an odd inquiry. What strikes me is he obviously wants to live amongst "well behaved" conformist type people, but these people are not all that keen in Athiests. But then again I get the feeling he is not planning to interact all that much with the neighbors anyway.

[Katzpur]

I'm still trying to figure out if the OP was even for real and, assuming it is was, if there is some sort of ulterior motive. It would be interesting to see what kind of feedback the crowd over on the atheism and agnosticism forum would give fordvictory. It's really not my intention to be rude. It's just that his request was SOOOO out of the ordinary that it's hard to take it seriously.

[Chango]

If I was looking for that kind of thing I would look in Sanpete County, around Ephriam, Manti, Salina, ect. You'll get old school architecture, small town feel and folks so conservative they will probably protest your arrival merely because you have breathed California air.

[mlb]

Originally Posted by fordvictory

There's a difference between affiliation and practice. Most of south America is Catholic, but the Catholic church has gone soft. So members aren't regulated. I don't care about ideas. For all I care, people can worship a tree stump or a camel's ass. All I care about are the rites a people practice. My question first and foremost is are the rites of a religion enforced? My second question is does the denomination have critical mass to influence local and regional practices.

I don't know of any other state that's dominated by a singular denomination like Mormons whom have the centralized authority to enforce rites. Mormons make Utah an extremely unique state, even among conservative states. Conservatism alone doesn't equate religion.

Lots of folks here are NOT practicing mormons.

[lisamikefoster]

The OP said "Yes but do these places have a large religious presence? And by religious presence I mean a religion that actually enforces it's rules on members. I don't think so. To be honest I don't know of any other region in the entire country that has such a high concentration of members belonging to a forceful denomination. Without a critical mass like Mormons have, religion is useless for effecting local or regional customs."

Without getting into a religious debate here....that's a weird statment. However, with that in mind, the poster has obviously never lived in the deep south. Baptists (and evengelical Christians) influence much of the culture and customs in the south....as much as Mormons control Utah.

But again, it's not the "religion" enforcing it on the people...it's the people following the tennents of their faith. It's not forced.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by lisamikefoster

The OP said "Yes but do these places have a large religious presence? And by religious presence I mean a religion that actually enforces it's rules on members. I don't think so. To be honest I don't know of any other region in the entire country that has such a high concentration of members belonging to a forceful denomination. Without a critical mass like Mormons have, religion is useless for effecting local or regional customs."

Without getting into a religious debate here....that's a weird statment. However, with that in mind, the poster has obviously never lived in the deep south. Baptists (and evengelical Christians) influence much of the culture and customs in the south....as much as Mormons control Utah.

But again, it's not the "religion" enforcing it on the people...it's the people following the tennents of their faith. It's not forced.

I can't speak for the OP, but I believe what he meant is that the faith expects it's members to follow the rules and that if they don't, there are actual consequences. If you think about it, that idea is very foreign in our society today. Violation simply means a pat on the head with a "try harder next time" or a popular vote to change the rules. If that idea was the original intent of the OP, then I see his point.

[chillami]

Gee, we are leaving Utah at the end of December to live in Sacramento (my husband received a job offer too good to pass up.) We've been in Utah for 30+ years and I absolutely love it here. Springville is still a somewhat smaller city, as are Mona and Payson. There's a stretch in between Payson and Cedar City that's rather isolated and maybe that area would be more to your liking. I love Lindon. It'd probably my favorite city. Pleasant Grove is right next to Lindon and it has an older part of town that is nice. There are some cool old buildings there.

Mormons are good people (I am an active member) but like everywhere, there's good and bad in people. Though I have been told countless time by my California relatives who come to visit that there is something really special about Utah, especially Utah County. Enjoy your adventure!!

[chillami]

There are a lot of Mormons in Overton, Nevada and Gilbert , Arizona as well as Idaho. Overton would be on my list of places I would never live. It gets very, very hot there and I'm not a fan of extreme heat but I have friends who live there and love it.

You might find this interesting.
Number of Mormons