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Too Mormony? Utah Mormons and everywhere else. - Page 2

If this thread goes the wrong way then I will lock it. Like everything else, if it is not understood in the right light then it should not be shared and the discussion will be closed.

else everywhere Mormons Utah Mormony Too

I just wanted to add to this thread.  I have a slightly different perspective as I am a transplanted Utah Mormon.... meaning that I never lived in Utah until 6 years ago when we moved here.  Before that I lived all over the place, including 6 years on Guam during the Vietnam war when things were still pretty primitive there.  Yet, I have been a member all my life.  Though I wasn't BIC, my parents were both baptized members of the church.  We became active going to church when I was about 5 or 6 and I have continued active since then.  My family was sealed in the LA temple when I was 7.  All of this is said just to give a bit of background to my perspective on this topic.

I have noticed a definate change in other's attitudes towards me, acceptance of me and expectations of me since we moved to Utah.  I do a lot of online communication via email lists and such.  Most of what I do online is in association with other LDS.  Since these are online communications most of these people don't know me very well and they don't know my history.  All they know is when I say I live in Utah.  I have been accused of being ignorant, unknowledgable about other cultures and areas (even within the US), and culturally closed-minded.....but only since I have moved to Utah.  I find this interesting.

Before living here I lived in Colorado.  I was active then in many online LDS communities also, but was never accused of being a "Utah mormon" or any of the stereotypical reactions that go with that.  So, most of these reactions that I get lately are based just solely on the fact that I now live in Utah.  I can tell you that I didn't suddenly change when I moved to Utah.  In fact, my friends in Colorado warned me not to move to Utah because I'd never be able to get along with those "Utah mormons".

My point in sharing all this?  I think that people will fit our expectations of them, and if they don't fit those expectations then we find ways to make them fit those expectations.  Can you identify a member of the church that is from Utah before knowing where they are from?  Not all missionaries are from Utah.  I have heard all the complaints blamed on Utah mormons earlier in this thread being placed on people from the US in general.  I don't know how many times I've been in conversations with people from other countries and they say that Americans are very culturally insensitive and ignorant.

Now, I will admit that people who live in Utah for the most part seem to be very proud of their state.  No problem with that... afterall, it's where they live and they should be proud of it.  It's a beautiful state.  However, the reality is that Utah has the highest use of anti-depressants in the US.  Utah has the highest incidence of violent sexual assault in the US.  Salt Lake is only about 50% LDS anymore... maybe even less.  AND..... most people I have met who live in a place for a long time and who call it home are proud of where they live and they will compare it to other places.

I still call Colorado my home and still consider myself a Coloradoan (I lived there longer than I've ever lived anywhere).  I'm constantly comparing things here in Utah to things in Colorado.  It doesn't mean that I think Colorado is superior (though I do prefer Colorado), it's just a way of making sense of what I see here in Utah and finding ways to cope with it and fit it into my lifestyle.  The same would happen if I should move to the South.  I have a sister-in-law who was born and raised in Georgia.  Believe me, that's like a whole different country!  It's interesting talking to her and exchanging points of view (and she's also LDS... still lives in Georgia).  I know when I was in High School in Colorado we had a girl move in to the area and attend our High School who was from Pennsylvania.  Not only did her accent set her apart, but her attitudes and expectations about things set her apart.  We lived for many years in California... again, the culture in California is quite different than the mid-west (Colorado, Utah).  So, it may not even be a religious issue as much as it is just a natural expression of cultural differences.

I have a son who is serving a mission in England and a daughter who is serving a mission in Japan.  It's been very interesting to us to hear them talk about the differences in custom and culture.  Of course they do things slightly different in those countries... that doesn't make them bad or worse, and it doesn't make Americans or Utahans bad or worse, it just makes us different.  Different is NOT bad.... it's just different.

So, I would say when dealing with people from other areas of the world, whether a different area within a large country (like the US) or from a different country, that we try to keep an open mind and rather than try to fit them into a little box of our own making, rather stay open to find out who they are as individuals.

PS... right now we have within our ward a Tongan who comes dressed in native Tongan clothing each Sunday.  He shares his testimony in his native tongue and people completely accept him and love him.  We also have a man who is an important government official in Peru.  He doesn't even speak english.  His family lives here and he travels between Peru and here as his job requires.  He moved here in the first place because of persecution in his country.  Again, he is completely accepted within the ward.  He tells us of his struggles within his country and the struggles of some of his countrymen, and no one argues with him... we all just listen and empathize as we can.

We also just had a family move into our ward from New York... and they are constantly doing what you accuse "Utah mormons" of doing.  They are constantly telling us all where we are doing things differently than they did in New York and comparing the two places.  

This is getting long, but having lived in hundreds of different wards (my father was in the Navy and we moved constantly as I was growing up, and have moved often since my marriage also) I can tell you that not only are there differences between countries, but there are differences between every ward within the church, even wards that are in the same city.  There are still more similarities than there are differences, but there are differences.  The wise person just rolls with the flow and remains open minded.  The wise person also learns to accept individuals as individuals rather than classify them into pre-set roles based on their ethnicity, their religion, their color, their family, their wealth and so on.

Too Mormony? Utah Mormons and everywhere else. Studies Doctrine Mormon

When I first started this thread I did so based on certain experiences - you see I have lived in Utah, Maryland, Florida, Trinidad, Venezuela, England and Wales... but I think it may be unwise to post it here since I am posting it based on ceratin experiences which I think will not be understood by someone who is not 'within the environment' we are in (which of course is an impossibility via the net) , therefore it is locked, my apologies to anyone who may have been offended.

By the way, Utah is a great state and has great people too

Page 2 else everywhere Mormons Utah Mormony Too

While doing a search for another topic I saw this one pop up and I decided to open it again for discussion now that we have a mature LDS board where opinions can be discussed without misgivings.

else everywhere Mormons Utah Mormony Too

I have heard some people say that Utahns don't gain testimonies until they leave Utah. This is a little extreme, but the idea seems to apply in many personal examples I have seen. Being immersed in the culture of the Church throughout life makes it difficult to differentiate between actual belief and social habit. Of course, it's possible to gain a real testimony of the gospel while growing up in Utah, but it seems to be more difficult. This is one reason the missionary program is so good for the missionaries - it gets them out of the isolation of home and puts them in an environment where they must be friendly to nonmembers, where they have to learn to love people of different cultures, and where they are encouraged to decide who they are, independent from their previous social groups.

Being from Colorado, I can honestly say this experience helped me in the same way, although I wasn't as 'Mormonized' as a lot of my Utah companions. Most of my friends at home were not members of the Church, and it was easy for me to differentiate between the doctrines of the gospel and the people in the Church.

I would never raise my children in Utah because of Mormon peer pressure. Here in Colorado, when my peers are doing things I know are not right, I can say to myself and them, "No, I am a member of the Church. I don't do that." The few times when my LDS friends encourage me to do something wrong, it's a lot harder to say no. After all, they profess to follow the same religion I do, and they don't see a problem with what they're doing. Fortunately, I have some good friends, and my testimony has grown to a point where I can resist a lot of the peer pressure I encounter. However, I would never want that pressure constantly bombarding my children from within the Church.

I also want to settle someplace where my family and I are needed in the Church. If I move to Utah permanently, I will not benefit the growth of the Kingdom of God very much. Utah has all the Mormons it needs. But there are plenty of smaller wards and branches all over the world that would benefit greatly from just one more strong LDS family. I would rather go to a place where I can make a difference. It is not that I am seeking leadership positions - I never expect to be a bishop or anything like that. But I do want to go where I could be of some use.

Too Mormony? Utah Mormons and everywhere else.

Utahns refer to Utah as Zion and the rest of the world as the mission field, it's a joke they say quiet often
I think people tend to forget that Utahns go through spiritual struggles just like anyone else or worst because they are constantly on the spot, even more if they are related to a General Authority. Sometimes, you will see a bunch of young people doing what they are suppose to do, but for the wrong reasons. The families sometimes are too concerned of 'what others will say or think' rather than to focus why they should do it. I do not put anybody in any pedestal, I believe we all are humans and we all commit mistakes. But sometimes the general thinking about Utah and its members is far way too 'primitive' outside the US, even more if you live in a tiny island in the Caribbean like I do. I will illustrate my thoughts. Let's put an example that we are in Sunday School Class and there is a missionary couple from Utah there. If the teacher has what he/she considers a 'hard' question, she would go straight and ask the missionary couple because 'they are from Utah'. What does it teach it? That because they are from Utah know more about the scriptures? *shaking head*. Don't take me wrong but I think we need to stop the worshipping of individuals just because they are from a certain place. I do not understand it, although I guess since I live in a country where people have not experience how the Church really is around the world, anything that seems 'Utahn' somehow, they think is better.

Too Mormony Utah Mormons everywhere else. - Page 2

Hey, what's wrong with east coast LDS? Or, what is different about us? I have only been east coast LDS and am just wondering.

Too Mormony Utah Mormons everywhere else. Mormon Doctrine Studies - Page 2

Tena, maybe I should have been more specific rather than stereotyping the whole East Coast of the USA, but for my experience in DC and Maryland the people their seem more 'cold'. I have also heard this from many others. I do not know about the region where you are from, but since this thread is about Utah Mormons all I can say is they (Utahns) are generally more pleasant and welcoming than Marylanders. For all those that may have been offended by what I wrote here I do apologize. I have come to see where in looking for weaknesses in others I only expose my own. The Topic was meant for loose Discussion only and not an attack.