Religious

Landscape

PRESTON BODILY

VALERIE JOHNSON

MICAH LEHMAN

ANGELA SOMBATH

PRABHJOT BHATIA

OBJECTIVES

Look closely and critically at the diversity of our community, analyze

what this means practically for us and compare it to the National
Religious Landscape (Critical Thinking)

To communicate your finding orally, visually and in writing

(Communication)

To gain knowledge and understanding of some of the religious

communities mapped in your area through personal interaction
(substantive knowledge, civic engagement)

Analyze your personal biases and assumptions about religious

communities (civic engagement)

POPULATION
269,687

 Religions found
here include Sikh,
Protestant, Muslim,
Catholicism,
Mormonism, and
some New
Age/Other
religions. In terms
of churches it
shows more favor
towards the
Mormons followed
by Baptist and
then Non
Denominational
churches meaning
they are
accepting of any
Christian religion.

Goals For The Exploration and

Discovery of Religious Institutions
within the Area

The History of the place

Who worships there now (demographics)

What happens there daily

Their relationship with the wider community

Challenges they face

SIKHISM

In 1980 a handful of families arrived in Utah meeting in the home of

the Bhatia Family.

Currently there are 250 Sikh families in Utah or about 800 to 1,000
people meeting at 4897 South Redwood Road each Sunday.

Sikhism emerged in 16th century India as an offshoot of the Hindu an

Muslim religions. The founding father was Guru Nanak Dev

Today there are 23,000,000 Sikhs worldwide and is the 5th largest
religion worldwide

SIKHISM

CHALLENGES

God remains above all, challenging materialism

Identity with true Sikhism is difficult to maintain

In current society, the I-ness of an individual is

identified as a major evil, in the spirit of the
ultimate Sikh community, there is no place for the
individual.

Study of Sikh scripture through Judeo-Christian

approaches are challenging texts

DAILY OBSERVANCES
Sikhism emphasizes daily devotion to
the remembrance of God. One
should remember God at all times.
Sikhism teaches religious freedom.
All people have the right to follow
their own path to God without
condemnation or coercion from
others.
Sikhism emphasizes a moral and
ethical life. A Sikh should represent
moral responsibility and
righteousness.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WEST

VALLEY
100 people average attendance on each day.
Music is used to praise the Lord and lead the
congregation through song
Est. Summer of 1959. This church was founded because of
a mission from the Kearns Baptist Church which is part of a
different group/fellowship called the Cooperative Baptists
Fellowship.
FBCWV supports the Southern Baptist Convention, UtahIdaho State Convention, & Salt Lake Baptist Association. (
Primarily supporting the Southern Baptist Convention,
which is a largely distributed church found throughout the
united states, although no two churches are the same &
having around 50,000 churches in the U.S.)

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WEST

VALLEY

CHALLENGES

Different denominations denoting heresy by

other views of the same religion.

Women becoming ministers, women are not

discriminated by sex but roles are seen to be
fit with men only being able to become
ministers.

Gay marriage, homosexuality being a sin,

and some believing between in which, He
(God), loves all sinners (homosexuals, etc.)
but repents them because of Jesus death.

Theres been
a shift of
protestants
leaving the
area with
more
Christians
coming in
such as
Baptists and
Catholics.

 70.6% of the U.S.

Is Christian within
that evangelical
protestants take
up 25.4% and
Catholics take
up 20.8% with
the rest divided
amongst
mainline
protestants and
other forms of
Christianity.
Eastern religions
take up about
5.9% other world
religions 0.3%
other faiths
about 1.5% and
0.6% of the U.S.
Just doesnt
know.

Compared to the U.S.

As we can see in the
comparison, the
closest correlation
between the national
amount and what our
area contains would
be the Eastern
Religion diversity while
the biggest outlier is
the community of
Christian groups and
Catholics groups.

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day we can see that a strong community of

Christianity has built itself in here and while our Eastern religion diversity
remains somewhat close to the total. We still have a large amount of
diversity in our area that doesnt correlate with the entirety of the U.S.

We can also conclude that Evangelical forms of Protestantism are quite

strong in the area despite the Mormon influence, it also seems to have
pushed a large amount of Mainline Protestants out of the area or
converted.

Visting the Sikh Temple and Baptist church helped us can an

appreciation for cultures that are quite different from what we were
used to. It opened our eyes being a humbling and interesting
experience.

WORKS CITED

Google Maps. Google Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2016.

Wormald, Benjamin. Religious Landscape Study. Pew Research

Centers Religion Public Life Project RSS. N.p., 2015. Web. 07 June
2016.

"Ministries." First Baptist Church of West Valley City. N.p., n.d. Web. 08
June 2016.

"Southern Baptist Convention." About Us. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June

2016.

M. Owen Personal Communication June 07, 2016 from The First

Baptist Church of West Valley City, Utah