Brian Passey

The Spectrum

There is a set of common experiences for many Southern Utahns. It includes questions like, “Are you LDS?” There’s often an invitation to attend a church activity. Sometimes there’s the gift of a Book of Mormon.

Typically these come from well-meaning members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the religious majority throughout Utah — who are following through on Mormon theology that proclaims “every member a missionary.” They say their faith has brought them happiness and they want to share it with others.

Then there’s a different set of experiences. It includes questions like, “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you move somewhere else?” There is the appearance of LDS Church influence in local business and politics. Some who do not belong to the church become social pariahs.

After all, Southern Utah was settled by Mormon pioneers in the latter half of the 1800s, quickly overwhelming the local Paiute communities. They built cities out of the desert and nearly every resident was a member of their faith for more than a century. Only in recent decades has religious diversity increased.

A third set of experiences might be altogether different. It includes questions like, “What do you enjoy doing here in Southern Utah?” There might be an invitation to a weekend party. Maybe there’s even inclusion in an already established social group.

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All of these could be part of the Southern Utah experience for residents who do not belong to the LDS Church. Some say their experiences here have been largely positive while others are made to feel like outsiders among the Mormon majority.

Veronica McMullen spent her early childhood in Springdale. Her family is Catholic but she doesn’t remember many culture clashes during her time in Zion Canyon. That changed when she was 12 and her family moved to Cedar City.

She and her brother became friends with some LDS kids who lived across the street from them. These neighbors often invited them to church and to church-related activities, but the McMullens always declined.

“They eventually stopped talking to us and the rest of the neighbors stopped talking to us,” she says. “My brother and I lost a few friends through high school because of that. That was hard for a high school student to lose friends because of a religion we didn’t believe in.”

Overall, McMullen estimates that 60 percent of her interactions with LDS people were negative during her teenage years.

But there were also the positive experiences, many of them thanks to one friend in particular.

“She didn’t try to convert me or anything,” McMullen says. “She believed in what she believed in but she would also ask questions about Catholicism. She was probably the sweetest person I ever met.”

Interfaith socializing improved for McMullen, now 22 and no longer religious, when she began studying at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. There the LDS community was “definitely different,” she says, as it included Latter-day Saints from other parts of the country. They were more open and less judgmental.

Diverse perspectives

For Southern Utahns who are not LDS, religious interactions with local Latter-day Saints are as diverse as McMullen’s experiences. In addition to her, The Spectrum & Daily News spoke with six other Southern Utahns who are not LDS.

Four of them — St. George resident Janice Crum, Ivins City resident Leonard Correa, Washington City resident Linda Harrison and Cedar City resident Neal Smith — all say their experiences have been largely positive.

Crum, a Catholic, says she learned how to adapt to various cultures because her family often moved.

“You just learn to get along with people and know what can be offensive to some people,” she says.

Her children, now 18 and 20, grew up in Southern Utah and have friends who are LDS. Both were involved in sports, so Crum got to know the parents of their peers. She believes this personal association helped her family integrate better into the Southern Utah culture.

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Correa just moved here from Southern California in December. A retiree, he worships at Calvary Chapel in St. George. Correa was “pleasantly surprised” by the friendliness of his new neighbors and he admits it took some time to adjust to people waving.

Harrison, a lifelong Episcopalian, retired here from Southern California in 2012.

“I have not had any negative interactions,” she says. “I hear about it sometimes from other people but I just take that with a grain of salt. Everyone has just been nice and welcoming to me. I have no complaints at all.”

And Smith, a Catholic, moved to Cedar City 13 years ago from Illinois. He immediately got involved in the community and says differences of religion have been a non-issue for him. In fact, Smith has found himself standing up for his LDS neighbors.

But like McMullen, others have had a harder time with the religious division. Kara Needles was raised in Utah within the LDS Church but is no longer religious. She moved to St. George 11 years ago after spending a few years in Missouri and Connecticut.

“The culture of small town Utah is influenced by religion more so than other places I have lived,” she says.

Classifying people who do not belong to the LDS Church as “non-members” highlights how some Latter-day Saints view others in their community, Needles says. And because the LDS Church keeps its members so busy on Sundays and with various activities throughout the week, it leaves little time for cultivating networks outside of these religious groups.

Needles says other aspects of LDS culture further exaggerate religious differences. Among them is the belief in LDS doctrine that it is the only true religion.

“These aspects of the LDS faith can detract from creating a welcoming community,” she says.

Like Needles, Ty Vinney spent part of his childhood in the LDS Church. When he left the fold at age 12, he says he became a social “outcast.” He still lives in Cedar City, where he grew up, but now considers himself to be a non-denominational Christian.

Vinney says he has observed some Latter-day Saints who are unable to tolerate anything that goes against their belief structure, making negative remarks about people who are gay or have tattoos.

“I wish they would remember Christ said to love everyone,” he says.

Yet Vinney saw some changes in the religious dynamic of Cedar City began. For a time it was positively evolving, he says. People seemed to be kinder to one another.

But when construction began on the new LDS temple, Vinney says judgmental attitudes, arrogance and self-righteousness returned among some local Latter-day Saints.

“I feel like we took some really great steps in the right direction but are now being pulled backwards all of a sudden,” he says. “I would really hope that people would come to their senses and remember love, not judgement, is key.”

The LDS outlook

The Spectrum & Daily News also spoke with four members of the LDS Church to get their thoughts on the interfaith dynamic of Southern Utah.

Victor Moreno joined the LDS Church in 1993, when he was 25 years old, in his native California. He moved to Cedar City in 2004.

Moreno says he personally tries to reach out in a spirit of fellowship and understanding to those who do not belong to his faith.

“There are a lot of things that are not black and white,” Moreno says. “I never want to become heavy-handed in talking about these things.”

Jason Stout grew up as a member of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City. He moved to St. George in 2008 and says he believes the majority of local Latter-day Saints truly try to reach out with good will to those who don’t share their faith.

That said, he knows where are a minority who “overreach” and do more damage than good. He says their actions are often well-intended but they end up offending people because it takes a certain skill set to properly share ideals of faith.

“It’s not like they are trying to be condemning; it’s a lack of the social skills,” he says.

St. George resident Carson Hunt grew up in Enterprise as a member of the LDS Church, just like almost everyone else in the small town. One exception was his best friend.

Hunt noticed that some of his fellow Latter-day Saints treated his friend differently. That experience made him more aware of how he treats others. He says he strives to show everyone dignity, respect and kindness, whether they share his beliefs or not.

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It frustrates Hunt when he hears stories about his fellow Latter-day Saints acting negatively toward those outside of their faith. But a small, tight-knit community like Enterprise can be the type of place where even Latter-day Saints who move there find it difficult to fit into the established social ties.

St. George resident Beth Griffin brings a nuanced perspective to the influences of LDS culture. She lived in Salt Lake City for much of her early life but was not LDS. She later joined the church before moving to Southern Utah in 1994.

As someone who experienced life in Utah from a non-LDS perspective, Griffin says she can empathize with those who have had negative experiences with Latter-day Saints.

“Their perspective is often that they feel LDS people think they are better than everyone else,” she says.

Griffin says most Latter-day Saints are just trying to live by standards that are important to them. But she also admits that some can be “a little snobbish about it.”

Proselytizing problems

When her family first moved to Cedar City, McMullen says she felt as if the only reason her neighbors interacted with them was to introduce the LDS Church.

“I think from their perspective, they were trying to do a good thing,” she says.

However, she wonders why those same neighbors quit talking to her family after they declined invitations to attend church.

Vinney says a number of Latter-day Saints in Cedar City have “forcefully” tried to share their beliefs with him through the years.

“A lot of them come with the gentleness of a sledgehammer to drywall, and if something is out of line with how I think, then there’s an attack,” he says.

Although Smith’s experiences in Cedar City have been positive, it hasn’t stopped some of his LDS friends from casually mentioning how Smith and his wife would make good Latter-day Saints. Smith takes these comments in stride, using a combination of humor and honesty to let them know he’s not interested.

However, Crum says her family’s 13 years in Southern Utah have been void of conversion attempts. Her son has been invited to LDS youth activities. He decided to go along and ended up having a good time, she says.

Because Needles grew up in the LDS Church, her interactions with proselytizing members is different from those who have never belonged to the church. She says it’s common for people from local congregations, or wards, to show up at the door and invite her to various activities.

“The most disturbing was single men showing up late one evening and asking for me by name,” she says. “Having lived alone, I don’t think sending strange men to a woman’s home is the safest practice.”

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From an LDS perspective, Hunt says he does not believe it’s always inappropriate for Latter-day Saints to share their faith but he realizes it is a sensitive matter. He says any attempts should first be built on a foundation of friendship and trust.

Griffin, however, says she is uncomfortable with the encouragement from church leaders to share her faith with others because of how it made her feel before she joined the church.

“I do think that our church leaders ask us to do too much of that,” she says. “To me it just feels like marketing. I would have been a horrible missionary. But if someone approaches me and asks me, I’m comfortable sharing.”

Cultural influences

Crum says her only complaint about Southern Utah culture is the lack of nightlife. The LDS cultural influence is often associated with a dearth of venues that serve alcohol.

“The downtown area is so charming,” Crum says. “It would be nice if we had a few pubs.”

Utah liquor laws are also the only negative experiences Smith says he’s had with the LDS influence on local culture.

“I think the liquor laws are really quirky and strange,” he says.

Correa says he wonders if the LDS culture affects other types of business, like the recent story about a tattoo shop that is having a difficult time finding space to rent. But for the most part, Correa says he appreciates the LDS influence. He admires the focus on family and committed work ethic that he has observed among Latter-day Saints.

Some of the people interviewed have been bothered by negative comments about the LDS culture. If people are complaining about Latter-day Saints all the time, that also ends the conversations, Griffin says.

Moreno says he too has heard many complaints about the LDS influence in Cedar City.

“I find it irritating that people don’t respect the customs of the land that they’re in,” Moreno says.

Even though Smith is not LDS, he believes those who move to Utah should respect the established culture. He’s not sure what some people expect when they move to a predominantly LDS community.

“When you move somewhere and you’re the outsider, you should figure out what’s going on and meet people halfway,” he says.

Yet Stout acknowledges that many of his local friends who are not LDS feel stifled by the “quagmire” associated with the overwhelming LDS influence on both politics and business throughout Utah. Because he sympathizes with them, he’s not offended by their complaints.

“I can understand both sides of the equation,” Stout says.

Moving forward

McMullen says she doesn’t necessarily blame the negatives experiences of her teenage years on her peers. She believes the problem stems from what they were taught by their parents. Perhaps the parents reacted negatively to their children befriending non-LDS kids.

“I think the parents and the church itself should probably teach open-mindedness a little bit more,” McMullen says.

Stout believes Latter-day Saints could improve their interactions with those who do not share their faith by asking better questions. For example, if there’s a concern about over-inviting a neighbor to church activities, then ask that neighbor if they want to be invited and, if so, how much is too much.

“Ask the question and accept the answer,” he says. “Allow for the agency. Allow for them to make the choice.”

Needles admits that her own experiences with active members of the LDS Church has improved in recent years. She settled into a neighborhood and now her children play with LDS children, helping to soften those differences.

“I find I often need to remind myself there is more I can do to be inclusive and it is not one-sided,” she says. “I think anytime we generalize a group, we overlook the fine details that make up each individual. Members (of the LDS Church) are all different and I have been surprised and delighted by many I’ve gotten to know.”

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Griffin says her fellow Latter-day Saints could be more welcoming to those outside their faith if they put more of an effort into neighborhood gatherings, like block parties or get-togethers in a park, that are not focused on church associations.

Hunt acknowledges how easy it is for Latter-day Saints to get wrapped up in their own religious communities. It becomes even more difficult for Latter-day Saints who have church assignments that keep them busy, focusing many of their social interactions on members of their wards.

“Everything boils down to tolerance and love,” Hunt says. “Those who are LDS need to be loving of their neighbors and tolerant of their beliefs. As diversity grows, there’s opportunity for betterment of the community. But people who move in need to be aware of how the church works. It’s not like we’re doing it on purpose, but you get involved in your ward family and it can be hard to open up beyond that.”

Moreno sees a simple solution to building a better community: “To me, God is love. Love is universal. Let’s start there.”

Smith says the key to bridging the divide is focusing on similarities rather than differences. Perhaps the concept of reaching out with love is one of those similarities. Everyone interviewed for this article seemed to agree with that.

Vinney says compassion and understanding go a long way. He notes a March article in The Spectrum & Daily News where Cedar City Councilman Fred Rowley encouraged residents to clean up their yards and help the town “sparkle” in preparation for the LDS temple open house in the fall.

Vinney says he was troubled by social media responses to the article, which included residents calling each other out for messy yards instead of helping to remedy the problem.

“Our town will not be defined by a temple, but by the attitude, accountability and integrity of the people who live here,” he says. “So rather than making the town great for the temple, we should make life better for each other. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Go take dinner to a widow. Mow a lawn for an elderly person. Get out and make change in your community, not for religion or reward, but because it’s how we should be.”

Email reporter Brian Passey at brian@thespectrum.com or call him at 435-674-6296. Follow him on social media at Facebook.com/PasseyBrian or on Twitter and Instagram, @BrianPassey.