Discomfort zone: Breaking out of one's circle is key to bridging Utah's religious divide

While religion is included in the list of topics many Americans say they avoid in polite conversation, issues involving faith are paramount for discussion in Utah's LDS-dominated culture.

Yet it is the timing, tone and temerity of the discussions — and the range of participants involved — that perpetuate a chasm; most believe only Utahns can truly understand.

For the most part, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints talk about religion with one another, in the safe zone that encompasses their neighborhoods and meetinghouses. Wary that they might create offense, many restrict their deep discussions of faith to those who believe as they do — both religiously and politically — despite urging by top leaders to share their beliefs. Some believe Utah would be a better place if those who believe otherwise would just "get on board."

Leaders of other faiths acknowledge their members tend to do some of the same. They feel safe discussing their faith and and politics with each other, but because many feel marginalized politically and socially within their own neighborhoods, their discussions sometimes focus on being among "the minority." Joking about and even jabbing LDS culture is a common way of dealing with what for some has become a deep distrust for "the Mormons" and the state's conservative culture and politics.

Despite recent efforts by religious leaders, the Alliance for Unity and organizers of the Winter Olympics to bridge the ongoing divide, it persists for many in ways that have a dramatic effect on daily life.

So members of a task force formed by the Utah Psychological Association have made it their mission to not only tackle the divide among themselves but to form a nonprofit group dedicated to the premise that ordinary Utahns need to move outside their own comfort zones and learn to talk to each other.

Because they aren't willing to give a prescription they won't take themselves, several local psychologists who form the Utah Psychological Association's task force on Utah's religious divide gathered last week at Fort Douglas with a cross-section of other professionals, trying to create a safe space for dialogue.

Facilitated by the Utah chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice, the daylong workshop's theme was "Facing Fear of the Other: Maintaining Respect and Understanding in the Context of Diversity." NCCJ executive director Kilo Zamora moderated the sessions with Joan Smith, former NCCJ director.