Bridging the divide

Utahns share stories in hopes of greater religious understanding

Utah's own "elephant in the room" has found a group of regular folks who are willing to do more than either (a) pretend it's not there or (b) use it as the proverbial whipping boy.

The state's widely public religious divide — and its accompanying hurts — is getting detailed scrutiny from ordinary Utahns willing to risk their own long-held assumptions to hear about those of "others" they usually don't befriend or share much common ground. Discussions have been painful and even heated, yet often healing, say participants, noting that little of real value in human relationships comes easy or cheap.

Participants in Salt Lake City's "Bridging the Religious Divide" project have come together during the past year, first in open public forums hosted by Mayor Rocky Anderson, and then in 13 smaller discussion groups of 10 people representing multiple faith traditions. Each group had more than one Latter-day Saint, though none of the groups were majority LDS.

They shared their stories, explored their pain and now hope for continued dialogue, according to John Kesler and Terri Martin, two of the professionals who helped facilitate the discussions.

The result of their effort is not only greater understanding and empathy among participants, but a desire to share what they've learned through an open letter the community, released to the media today (See accompanying story.)

Utah's power brokers formed the Alliance for Unity after public sparring both pre- and post-Olympics over issues including liquor laws, the Main Street Plaza and hate crimes legislation. But grass-roots Utahns were left without a voice or any organized forum for discussion other than within their own workplaces, neighborhoods or churches.

"The consensus was we needed to explore how to talk to each other," said Martin, who helped draft the community letter. "When the groups came together, people wanted to go deeper than just make nice tea party conversation. They wanted to explore what the divide is about and how it affects them," she said.

Consciously or not, religious identity is pervasive in Utah, whether or not residents claim any belief in God, according to religion scholar and LDS observer Jan Shipps, who has studied demographics and religious fervor in the Beehive State. Because The Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints is so dominant here, everyone has a religious identity, said Shipps, professor emeritus of history and religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University. "Even people who don't claim to be anything when they come to Utah find out they are something — they're either Mormon or not." So pervasive has the identity issue become that often the first question asked of both new residents and Utahns visiting outside the state is, "Are you a Mormon?"

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