The Pluralism Project (Revised) Group Dr. Doom: Brindi Behrmann, Celeste Correia

The Pluralism Project (Revised) Group Dr. Doom: Brindi Behrmann, Celeste Correia

*Look for the religious diversity of our community. *Experience and understand a different religious groups in our area. *Compare, analyze, and present our findings. *Share our conclusion about religious diversity in our chosen area. *

Starting point

* 50 LDS Churches * St. Stephens Episcopal Church * St. Matthew s Lutheran Church * Trinity United Church * Cross Point Church * Freedom Worship Center * Kingdom Halls of Jehovah s Witness * Sikh Gurdwara Sahib * Prince of Peace Lutheran * First Baptist Church * Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake * Southside Church of Christ * Calvary Bible Church * Intermountain Baptist Church * St. Martin de Porres Church * Inglesia Apostolica Unida * 2 Oasis Vinyard Churches * Alrasool Islamic Church * Landmark Apostolic Church * K2 Church * City Church * Temple Lien Hoa

4% LDS Church 25% 71% Other Christian Churches Other Non-Christian Churches *Close to 1 LDS Church per grid block *Other Denominations average about 1.5 to 2 miles from starting point.

*Brindi Behrmann- LDS Church *Matt Sommercorn Jehovah s Witness *Celeste Correia- Al-Rasool Islamic Church *

Mormons came to be part of the Utah landscape because they were facing persecution wherever they settled. They were looking for a place to be their own where they could practice their beliefs freely. They trekked across the plains (most of them from Nauvoo, MI) until they reached the Salt Lake valley and settled here. One Mormon's attitude towards pluralism is, " it's awesome! It can really strengthen a community. You can learn new things and help each other out". (English) A challenge that one Mormon brought up was that they as a group they spend a lot of time helping out their own members and this kind of alienates them towards their non-mormon neighbors. This particular Mormon felt bad that they didn't make his surrounding neighbors a priority over his ward members. * The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS)

Jehovah's Witnesses in general are known for their missionary efforts. They are a worldwide church. The Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society founded in 1830 in New York, and later in 1831 adopted the name Jehovah's Witnesses. Their missionary efforts have brought them to over 8 million in membership. Like many other churches, they build places of worship as there is demand and resources to do so. Many people cringe when they hear about Jehovah's Witnesses. There are many misconceptions about Jehovah's Witnesses. The first and most prominent is that most non-members believe that they are not Christian. There is a lot of confusion when it comes to who they believe Christ is. "We have faith that Jesus came to earth from heaven and gave his perfect human life as a ransom sacrifice. (Matthew 20:28) His death and resurrection make it possible for those exercising faith in him to gain everlasting life. (John 3:16) We also believe that Jesus is now ruling as King of God s heavenly Kingdom, which will soon bring peace to the entire earth. (Revelation 11:15) However, we take Jesus at his word when he said: The Father is greater than I am. (John 14:28) So we do not worship Jesus, as we do not believe that he is Almighty God." (www.jw.org) They are also disliked by many for their belief in not participating in, armed forces, holidays, voting, and blood transfusions. They believe, like many churches, that in order to be saved you must worship God (Jehovah) the way God intended to be worshiped. They tolerate other religions, but generally are quick to let you know what they believe in effort to persuade to to become a Jehovah's Witness. They also can be seen working side by side with other Christians in relief efforts.

In the 1990 s some 60 members founded the center as their mosque where they are now using the facility to not only worship but to also teach religion, language, and culture. As membership grows they hope to be able to expand their places of worship and teaching to parts outside of Salt Lake area. They have a need for teachers and involvement. With their religion being a definite minority it is hard for them to get the numbers to establish places of worship with the incorporation of cultural teachings. They are very welcoming to visitors and are very much engaged in their interfaith outreach efforts since different Islamic cultural differences separate them as well. We are very open to all schools of thoughts while keeping our certain traditions and practices. We want to educate the public on who we are and what we believe. (Zabihah)

Non-Christian 5.9 4 Other Christian 25 68 National % Utah % Mormonism 1.6 71 Our Analysis: 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 *Christian faiths dominate the landscape *Diversity in religious sects is low in our community and our country *Pluralism is present with all the different denominations, and depending on where your reside one religious presence is more prominent than others as we see here in our state with the LDS faith. How we compare to the nation

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 54 55 46 45 15 85 Dislike Like 3 Studies show difference of opinion when it comes to the Utah religious majority: 1. In the 2008 Election 54% or Evangelicals claimed to have a problem if a Mormon were to become President. 2. The nations Unaffiliated American groups dislike Mormon s more than Evangelicals by an overwhelming 55%. 3. However in the religion itself, over 85% are able to feel a great warmth toward their own tribe. (http://www.beliefnet.com)

48 Religious Group Average Feeling Thermometer 41 51 61.5 Christians Non Christian Mormons Atheists The Pew Forum did a feeling thermometer in July 2014 to show on a temperature degree base how the nation accepted certain religions. (100 degrees representing the most positive acceptance-warm feeling- and 0 degrees a complete non acceptance of a religion-cold feeling: *Major Christian denominations are very accepted or give a warm feeling at 61.5. *Surprisingly with such little religious diversity, Non-Christians trump the Utah majority at a cooler feeling of 51. *Mormons are not very popular, actually being the third disliked religion in America. *Atheists are the least popular with a pretty cold rating at 41.

"Yes, religious diversity and pluralism are present in our communities both locally and nationally. That being said the extent of our diversity is somewhat small insomuch that there is a vast majority of Americans with very similar beliefs. Differences in religion do exist, and there are many different kinds, but when you look at the population percentages the differences seem to fade". I think that there is both diversity and pluralism in our communities. One definitely trumps the other- pluralism over diversity. However I do think that possibly what might be preventing that is lack of understanding about other religions. And maybe as religious groups become more recognized in the public eye we can be more diversity in our society. There is definitely pluralism within our communities, however diversity not so much. Christianity is still quite the dominating religion here, but more groups are becoming recognized which can give us a more diverse religious culture. Hopefully acceptance of them will be more prominent as well.

Our Information: * empyreanbooks.com * wol.jw.org * http://www.pewforum.org/ * http://archive.sltrib.com/article Our Interviews English- Interview on Mormon religion and also participant in Mormon religion. Zabihah- Interview on Muslim religion and also participant in Muslim religion. *