Groups focus on Utah religious divide

When it comes to the divisions that exist between east and west in Salt Lake City, where do perception and reality meet? And how does stereotyping change the way reality plays out in classrooms, neighborhoods and churches?

The questions were fodder for the most recent discussion this week by members of Chamade, a creation of the Utah Psychological Association. Members include psychologists and other professionals, and they gather monthly to discuss various facets of the religious divide in Utah. Their discussions began last fall and have become more free-flowing because members have agreed not to identify each other with their comments outside the group.

Irene Fisher is director of University Neighborhood Partnership and former director of the Bennion Center at the University of Utah. She has spent nearly three years working on a way to bridge the gap between east and west from about 2100 South to North Salt Lake, a gap that is reinforced by physical barriers such as I-15 and the railroad tracks. She told participants on Wednesday that in spite of her work for the University of Utah in bridge-building, she is leery of talking about divisions for fear of reinforcing some facets of the difference. "I know so much of it is perception that I hate to stress it."

Yet there is no getting around the fact that cultural, economic, geographic and religious differences exist, she acknowledged.

In walking west-side neighborhoods and talking to residents, Fisher said she found at least two key commonalities: they agreed their diversity is a strength despite the challenges it brings and that their lifestyles and values are not focused around material possessions. "They tell me they're not always trying to get more money than the people next door, that they are not trying to keep up with the Joneses." Some believe that as a result, neighbors are more willing to share what they do have.

Fisher said she doesn't have a way to gauge the accuracy of that characterization, but if it's true, "that's something our culture needs a lot more of."

As the discussion progressed, economics came to the fore as an underlying force that seems to shape many of the differences between east and west, not only in lifestyle, but in education, socialization and even religion.

One woman, an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a psychologist in private practice, said she and her husband bought a home on the west side early in their marriage but moved to the east side when their children approached school age.