The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

Utahn Life

If there is such a thing.

For those of you still in Utah, what is it like? Are most of your friends still Mormon? Do missionaries come to your door? Does the culture still bother you, or are you coping happily? Planning to leave, or have already left?

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kevin Benko on August 15, 2009 at 12:42pm

((sorry, I had technical problems on this end and double-posted))

Permalink Reply by Krystal on September 9, 2009 at 1:20pm

I lived briefly in Tabiona, Utah. I don't even know where to begin. We were run out of town by the Mormons. I had been raised Mormon ( in Michigan)but quit when I was 19. Much later in life, we moved to Tabiona and I had no clue how the small towns up in the uinta mountains are. The "public" school was insane. One of teachers had actually married a teenager there. They don't have a homecoming king..just a queen who is chosen by the male staff in a beauty pageant. The prinicpal was hitting on my 15 year old daughter. The girls are obsessed with make-up and hair and most have eating disorders. The history teacher is illiterate. He reads on about a 3rd grade leval. He would have my daughter read from his teachers manual to the class because he could'nt. There are several polygamist families..and no...these are NOT the "other" Mormons. This is the main Mormon church. They are just so far out nobody feels in danger of the media finding out. Daily they were trying to convert my daughter. First through befriending her and then through alienating her and then through tricking her. At a "public" school ! The vice principal tried to get her to go to the beauty pageant behind my back.

I finally had enough and threatened to call authorities outside of the state, check on all the staff's university degrees etc... well they began terroizing us. They fed heartbeat sounds through my computer. They had guys in hoods stand outside my house holding up signs. ( I couldnt read what they said, it was dark) They had two members run a pick up truck through the fence and try to drive the truck straight into our living room. ( they got stuck fortunately) I called the police but they are Mormon too and when they got there they covered up the evidence and then went down and had coffee or (whatever they drink) at the very neighbor who sent the pick up truck's house ! They said and I quote " You are not a credible witness" (there were two more witnesses there they ignored )and warned me not to make any trouble for their "friends". I still have documentation from some of these events and still have photos of the pick up truck after it crashed our fence. I think what's what the guys in hoods were doing out there. perusing the fence for the best weakness and trajectory into our living room. They did'nt stop there either. This is a much longer story.

We finally had to leave one day literally in fear of our lives.

They don't do this stuff in the big cities because there is too large of a non Mormon population. Don't live in the little towns. Ok well..south utah is a bit different. Moab..I've stayed there and did'nt run into any Mormons at all and everyone was great.

Permalink Reply by Aaron S. (USA) on September 9, 2009 at 4:22pm

Crap, that stuff is crazy! I've never heard of all that before. Have you reported them to higher levels of government, or the press, or anything?

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 10, 2009 at 11:21am

Ok, maybe not all Mormon neighbors would be ok to live with.

:-/

Permalink Reply by Jezzy on July 22, 2010 at 5:36pm

You should definitely be able to get that story out. It's insane!! I thought my school was bad-- absolutely NOTHING like that!

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 16, 2009 at 1:41pm

"My other brother in love and his wife, leave the movie teather at the 5th minute of Mama Mia (no good moral teachings)"

Begs the question, why did they buy tickets to see "Mama Mia" in the first place? Do they not find out what a film is about before going? There's nothing in the first 5 minutes that isn't established in the movie's trailer.

Permalink Reply by Shane Smith on September 17, 2009 at 4:19pm

No, missionaries don't come to my door. I am, however, constantly reminded of the religious factor. Mostly all of my neighbors are religious, my family is all strongly religious and you can't walk a single block without seeing a single Mormon church. At one block I counted close to 6 churches on one block! There are billboards everywhere advertising the temple.
Non-Mormon churches are doubling their efforts to compete with the Mormons.
Blue laws including Liquor laws that in some cases don't even make sense are everywhere.
Almost nothing is open on Sundays.
So overall, it sucks, I hate it and I want to move.

Check out my latest youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1kl5P1bveM

Permalink Reply by Kevin Benko on July 22, 2010 at 9:45am

The Mormon thing is so ingrained into the political structure in Utah. For example:

For a Utah driver's license, one of the permitted forms of proof of Utah residency is "a letter from your bishop". To verify Utah residency for the University of Utah, a "letter from your bishop" is also on the list.
While these are but two examples of what I have run into around here, it seems to me that "a letter from your bishop" is like the magic key around here that will open doors.

When looking for a job, good luck and there is a Mormon filtering out resume's, good luck if you have a degree from somewhere other than Brigham Young University, although I think that if, somehow, your resume mentions being a Mormon, that's probably going to get your foot in the door.

Go look on a job search website, it seems to me that many, if not all, the job postings for the LDS church (they have a huge number of computer clusters) require a "temple recommend"-- I originally wouldn't have minded working for the Mo, as long as I didn't have to pretend not to be an atheist, but I've hit my head against this Mormon-requirement in the area so many times...........

Permalink Reply by Remy on July 27, 2010 at 10:18am

The letter from your bishop to get a driver license is absolutely not true. I can't comment on the University stuff because I don't know. I've been here for 10 years and have mostly worked with mormons. Your complaint here seems to be overblown too. It seems to me that a lot of the problems you have with mormons are based on misunderstanding. There are plenty of reasons to dislike people, you don't need to invent new ones. I do, however, fully appreciate that people like you perpetuating the weird Utah stereotypes keep the mountain bike trails empty and the lift lines short. Keep it up!

Permalink Reply by Brian on July 27, 2010 at 5:58pm

I just got a new drivers license and that is 100% bullshit. I asked a co-worker, who is from Maryland and a graduate from the U of U and who hates mormons about that letter from your bishop. He said "don't be fucking stupid. Where the hell did you hear that?"

The part about being a BYU graduate or putting your mission your resume can work against you too. I've worked for more than one person that would immediately toss out a resume if either one was on it.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Benko on August 19, 2010 at 8:58pm

Sorry, I don't check social networking sites that often.....

The driver's license/Bishop's letter comment was made by an elderly clerk at the DMV at the fairgrounds in Salt Lake City in the spring of 2009, less than a week before 16 April 2009.

The University of Utah residency/ Bishop's letter comment was on 3 March 20009 at approximately 4:30PM made in a telephone conversation with Leslie Diane Edwards, an employee of the admissions office. (I have the name/date/time because I filed a complaint)

Permalink Reply by Brian on August 22, 2010 at 8:58pm

None of that means it's official policy, because it isn't. It's "old woman that works at the DMV and would probably get in trouble if her boss found out" policy. Same with Ms. Edwards.