A Muslim man named Abdul said he lived in many nations before coming to Salt Lake City and finding LDS family values mirrored his own Islamic values quite well. He encouraged kindness and compassion as bridges to understanding.

Wesley Smith said he recently returned to live in Park City after 20 years outside Utah and realized "this state is in trouble," even in his mountain community. He urged residents to choose their language carefully, noting that as a conservative, he is turned off by talk of "tolerance" as a buzz word for liberal ideas rather than a term of social acceptance.

Cheryl Pace said she is Protestant but has LDS in-laws and respects them greatly. Yet the "political reality is the majority of power is in one place . . . The solution to that doesn't seem to be tolerance . . . They are afraid of losing their power and I'm afraid of never getting any . . . The real elephant in the room is that the majority rules."

Rob Latham said Utah's "winner-take-all" elective power structure ensures that the majority will be over-represented and the minority will have little voice. He suggested reshaping the way Utahns elect leaders by instituting a proportional representation system. "If you get 60 percent of the vote (by party) you get 60 percent of the seats" in the state legislature or municipal governments. He said the system works well in Cambridge, MA, and would level the playing field in Utah.

The biggest applause of the evening went to a man named Bart, who said he wants to be able to buy full-strength beer in places other than state-run liquor stores and doesn't want to line up for an arm band to get a brew at sporting events. He's also concerned about the effect LDS seminaries have on students who use religious smugness to ostracize their peers. "I'm so happy I said what I said," he grinned. "I can't believe I did it."

A Jewish man who came to Utah only three weeks ago told of conversing with LDS missionaries on Temple Square. "I'm not going to join," he said, but he enjoyed learning about the faith and encouraged others to simply ask about beliefs other than their own.

Jack Gallivan, who identified himself as a "sixth-generation Roman Catholic, a minority, and a frustrated beer drinker," said he believes the religious divide can be overcome only if the First Presidency of the LDS Church issues a declaration instructing members to teach their children to "respect all other faiths in the spirit Jesus taught in loving our neighbor." If Latter-day Saints would adhere to such instruction, he said, "the divide could be bridged in a generation or less."

Katherine Nelson grew up LDS in Australia where she tried to hide her faith for fear of persecution. Once she moved to New Jersey, she experienced a freedom to live her faith in a way she hadn't known before. So she was troubled to hear a new neighbor here tell her how much she would love the neighborhood because "there aren't many Mormons here. If we put the word 'Jew' or 'black' in that sentence instead, we all would be horrified.

"I think the problem is in our hearts and can only be changed by love," she said.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com