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Old 05-10-2013, 01:45 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,575 times
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Hi all,
My husband is being considered for a position in the SLC area. We have 3 young boys, ages 9, 7 and 5. They are not raised religiously at all, husband is an atheist; I was raised Catholic. The boys are not interested in joining Scouts. I have read various things on the internet about children who are not LDS feeling ostracized and I am having a lot of anxiety about the possibility of moving my children to an area where they may be "shunned". Is what I am reading about on the web true or false? Thanks, Andrea
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Old 05-10-2013, 02:19 PM
 
Location: SLC, UT
1,571 posts, read 2,803,669 times
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I don't think they'll be shunned, but the majority of kids they go to school with will probably be Mormon, and Mormons have a lot of weekly activities that wouldn't include non-Mormons. For instance, most boys will be doing scouts, and kids 12 and over also do youth activities weekly. There are Mormon summer camps, scout summer camps, etc. 14 and over kids will go to Mormon Saturday night dances. And then, of course, most of the Mormon kids in the school will see each other at church. So basically, the Mormons will often feel closer to one another, because they see each other multiple times throughout the week and do fun activities together. Because of this, your boys may end up feeling excluded.

My daughter attends church, though I don't, and I noticed that once she and the other Mormons in her friend group hit 12, the non-Mormons (or non-practicing Mormons) started asking their parents if they could go to church. Most of them did a few times, and then stopped. Additionally, I've noticed that girls and boys she used to talk about all the time, she no longer talks about as much - instead, she's talking more and more about the kids from her church, and she's hanging out with them more than she used to after school.

Again, I don't think anyone's shunned, and there will be other non-Mormons or non-practicing Mormons that your kids could be friends with. But I do think that there are children who feel excluded because they go to school and hear about all these fun activities the other kids are doing, and they're not really invited. And, as I said, it makes sense that those who are used to hanging out together multiple times a week, will ultimately start hanging together at school as well.
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Old 05-10-2013, 03:27 PM
 
Location: The other side of the mountain
2,502 posts, read 6,945,488 times
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I don't think you will have a problem. We are not LDS (we are non practicing Catholics). My dd's do not go to church and have plenty of LDS friends. There are things that her friends would do (Mutual or the Stake Dances after they turned 14) and they would invite my dd's to go with. As long as you are open to allowing them to go with, without thinking their friends or church or friend's parents or their friend's dog or....have ulterior motives, they will have plenty of friends and will be asked to join in on the fun. My kids have never not been invited to join them. Ever.

There are also boy scout troops that are not religiously affiliated, so if you would prefer he join one of those, that is also an option.
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Old 05-10-2013, 04:31 PM
 
Location: Salt Lake City/Las Vegas
1,596 posts, read 2,796,149 times
Reputation: 1902
If your kids get along with other kids where they're at, they'll get along with kids here.

Bill
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Old 05-10-2013, 10:56 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,575 times
Reputation: 11
I appreciate the feedback! The information that is available on the internet seems to be slanted to the negative and I am searching for 1st hand experiences. SLC looks like a beautiful place to live and raise a family. Tanks again for the information!

Andre
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Old 05-11-2013, 05:22 PM
 
9,891 posts, read 11,678,625 times
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Remember only 60% of the Utah residents are Mormon, and a large number of those are not active Mormons, so there are lots of people for non Mormons to socialize with. The thing is, don't move to Utah with a chip on your shoulder against Mormons, or someone will knock it off. You may even go a year or more before you even know who is a Mormon and who is not if you just act natural, and don't run down Mormons.

The ones that get in trouble in Utah, are those that come into the state with a strong dislike of Mormons, and let the members of the Mormon Church know it running down the Mormons right in front of them. Kind of like going to the deep south, and start running down Southern Baptist, or to an area in the North East that is heavily Catholic and start running down Catholics.

Move to Utah, and don't let it bother you wondering how you will be treated. You will be treated the way you treat others. Mormons believe in Free Agency, which is each of us has our own decisions in life to make, and are more acceptable to non Mormons, than many non Mormons are to Mormons.

Mormons never preach against other religions in church as some of the other religions preach against Mormons, Catholics, etc., etc. In fact, I have seen over the years where our local Mormon Church invited delegations from other churches to come to our chapel and speak about their religion, so we would be better able to understand other people. We went for several weeks, with a delegation from a different religion each week.
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