The Utah Mormon Debate

There is a post on my friend Christie's blog about how she's sick of the Utah mormon stereotype. Well, she's (no offense) too Utah to really see. As much as I argue, I don't think she'd ever get it unless she lived outside Utah. Here is my side of the story. I think I'm gonna break down her paragraph piece by piece.

"I am so sick of people saying UTAH MORMONS. I'm sick of people putting me in a class and saying that I'm clicky and don't know what the real world is like!" First of all, Christie isn't clicky. She was always outgoing and open minded. I liked that about her. Second of all, it's not mormons that are clicky. People in general can tend to be clicky. We just happen to have a common religion. That doesn't make mormons clicky. It's just what people tend to do. As for not knowing what the real world is like, well, I know Christie has been through a lot. However, there are things that don't happen in Utah that do happen out here. What is the real world anyway? The Chinese have a different reality than Mexicans, or Russians, or Americans, or Brazilians, or Africans, and so on. Utah has a different real world than Georgia, or California, or Massachussets, or Tennessee.

"Ok, truthfully, I feel like I've experienced the world." I really, I don't know what to say to that. If you can say that sentence, and actually believe it, then you really don't know what you're talking about. Especially when you've never lived in a different society.

"I don't push people out just because they drink or smoke or don't believe in abstinence." Neither do I, but you look at them differently, don't you?

"People generalize WAY TOO MUCH!" Aren't you generalizing about people in that sentence?

"I hate it when people are always saying Utah Mormons are horrible. We're people too." Yes, you are people, horrible people. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You're not. Let's make up a scenario. Let's say a black kid in black clothes, baggy pants, tattoos, gold chains, multiple pearcings, and a beanie walked in church. Any Utah ward at all. Do you think he'd be warmly accepted? How well do you think he'd be fellowshipped? I'll be honest, a year ago, I would've steered clear of him too. A couple of sundays ago, I gave a ride to three kids like that. That is the attire they wore. I was so stunned at how my ward accepted them. It didn't even make a difference what they wore or how they looked. Fact is, most of my ward is from the inner city ghetto. It's a dangerous and frightening place. My primary children grow up there. They see horrendous things every day. I can't believe how caloused a nine year old can be because of the things he has to go through on a daily basis. It breaks my heart. The city I live in is in the top ten most dangerous cities in the United States. Every morning, I wake up to the radio reporting on yet another homicide, yet another rape, yet another gang fight with many innocent casualties. Things I never heard of back home. Things I know my ten little primary kids are seeing every day. Those ten children are stronger than I will ever be. The testimonies of the Saints out here never cease to amaze me. I knew some strong people back home, but I never knew people like this. You can deny it all you want, but Utahns just don't understand.

"We're not perfect. Yes, we've been raised in a different way than most people." Raised different? Refer to above paragraph.

"The truth is I'm sick of people looking at Utah as a place that is just infultrated with religion. " Utah is a place infultrated with religion! Are you kidding me? How many temples are there? How many church building are there in our home town alone? How many non members do you know? Compared to how many members you know? Can you walk into any store and know there are other mormons in the store? I can't do that.

"All around the world there are places where one religion is dominiate and it's not just LDS.Look at people individually!" I talk to this one guy in my class. He is from Pakistan. He's muslim. He comes from a dominately Muslim society. When you think of Pakistan, don't you automatically think of the Muslims? Why do you do that? Why don't you look at people individually? Why don't you look at the women behind those eyes, and behind all their head coverings? Oh, is it because you don't know anyone individually? You just have to make a generalization about their society, don't you? Huh. There's a little food for thought.

As for the 'mission' arguement in the comments section of her blog. I'll just copy and paste my comment on that. Missions are a whole different story. Missions are great. You get a lot of experience. You experience the world, but a mission is not your real life. It's different when there's rules and you're watched and you're studying intensely and knocking on doors. How many missionaries come home and continue to do that? That's not their real life. I think there is a big and distinct difference between living life outside of Utah, and going on a mission. I'm not discounting the fact that missionaries did experience the world, but a experiencing the world on your mission and experiencing the world in real life are two different things.