THE RELIGIOUS Trista Holder

LANDSCAPE
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

(substantive knowledge, civic engagement)
 ❖Center Point:
GEOGRAPHICAL 7800 S. 2700 W.

ANALYSIS
❖North: 5700 S. 2700 W.
❖South: 10400 S. 2700 W.
❖East: 7720 S. State St.
❖West: 7800 S. 5600 W.
MAP
We chose to do the area of West Insert text here
Jordan due to it’s diverse community
and dense neighborhoods, and
because of our familiarity in the
area.

West Jordan is well known for its

dense Mormon population, it seems
as though there is an LDS Church on
every corner. But as you dig deeper
you can see that there are many
different churches and religious
diversity throughout The City of West
Jordan.
PROPORTIONS GRAPH
Adventist Presbytarian Lutheran Episcopal Orthodox
2% 1% 1% 1% 1% Meathodist
Native American 2%
1% LDS
Baptist 70%
4%

Catholic
6%
Jehovas Witness
1%

Christian
10%
CONCLUSION ON LANDSCAPE
As I was doing this project I became aware of the true diversity in our
community. While doing my research I was finding many churches that I had
never seen before, yet driven past almost every day.
Looking at these numbers we can see that although our community is
diverse, the LDS Church is clearly the one with the most church buildings and
temples-as expected. But we also have many other minority groups
throughout our landscape.
Mormon 70% 66
Adventist 2% 2
Baptist 4% 4
Catholic 5% 5
Christain 10% 9
Episcopal 1% 1
Jehovas Witness 1% 1
Lutheran 1% 1
Meathodist 2% 2
Native American 1% 1
Orthodox 1% 1
Presbyterian 1% 1
RESEARCH AND
COMPARE
 Utah as compared to America as a whole
has more Christian faiths, but we also have
more Unaffiliated Individuals. Non Christian
Faiths in Utah are about the same
COMPARISON percentage as the National percentage.
The biggest difference is the section of the
population that we don’t have any
information on in regards to their religious
beliefs. Utah only has 1% whereas the
Nation as a whole has 20%. Overall utah is
only slightly less diverse than the Nation as
a whole.
 UNAFFILIATED COMPARISON
The most significant difference between the Unaffiliated population of Utah and the Nation is the percentage of the individuals that
stated that they are not part of a specific religion and they do not believe that religion is important, the percentage of Utahns is just
under double that of the Nation. The percentage of Atheists are almost exactly the same and Agnostics are only slightly fewer in
Utah compared to the Nation. Individuals who stated that they are not part of a specific religion but still believe that religion is
important is much lower in Utah than it is in the Nation, coming up to just under one third of the Nation’s percentage.
 CHRISTIANITY COMPARISON
As expected, most of the Christian population in Utah is Mormon. Taking up 55% of the state’s population, it is far above the next most popular
Christian religion in the state, Evangelical Protestant. In comparison-the most popular National Christian religion is not Mormonism. The Mormon
religion is not even one fifth the size of the Evangelical Protestant church, which is the Nation’s largest Christian religion. The Christian religions of the
Nation, though not at all balanced, are much more equally diverse than that of Utah. When comparing The City of West Jordan to the Utah
population, you can see that West Jordan has a significantly higher concentration of Mormons as well as a much less diverse landscape.
CONCLUSION ON COMPARISON
Overall Utah (and our specific area) are not as diverse as the rest of the
nation. Utah’s largest religion is that of the Mormon faith which takes up 55%
of the population. The leading religion for the Nation is Evangelical Protestant
that takes up 25% of the nation’s population. However, Utah is not as far
behind the nation’s religious diversity as you’d think, considering the
population of the unaffiliated individuals and individuals that belong to non
Christian faiths in Utah are about equal to that of the nation’s population.

Utah is More diverse than people tend to think. Yes, the Mormon church has
quite a lead in the population, but we also have so many other religions here
in Utah that aren’t as large but are just as influential and important to Utah’s
history and future.
 Native American Church of
A’-Shii-Be-To’

EXPLORE AND DISCOVER Mount Vista United Methodist

Church
NATIVE AMERICAN ❖The History of the place
CHURCH OF ❖ This church was established in 1980 and was
founded by Mike Etstitty.
A’-SHII-BE-TO’ ❖ Mike Etstitty is no longer alive and but the
church is still taken care of by his wife Annie
Sherman
❖Who worships there now
(demographics)
❖To belong to this church you must be Native
American and you must bring the proper
documentation to prove it.
❖What happens there daily
❖They work daily to bring across their message
to others and to find more ways to help. They
visit hospitals, they plan fundraisers, they help
schools and so forth to be active members of
their community and to make sure that they
are always helping one way or another.
NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH OF
A’-SHII-BE-TO’
❖Their relationship with the wider community
❖One of the things they do the most to help the
community is fundraisers. They make food sales and
gather the funds to help others in need.
❖In December of 2015 they created a portrait in the
primary children’s hospital as well to bring their
culture in and to bring happiness to the families and
children of the facilities.

❖Challenges they may face

❖Since they are a smaller community they struggle at
times with funds. They do a lot of bake sells to help
the communities and people around but they also do
it to help themselves. They run off donations but
they’ve learned to manage their funds and they
focus a lot on helping others before themselves
MOUNT VISTA UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
❖History of the place
❖This is a fairly new church. They started the construction for the building on May13, 2001
and was completed in November of 2001.
❖They started the construction of the second building on August 20, 2008 and it was
completed in early 2009.

❖Who worships there now (demographics)

❖I called to find out what ethnicity participates the most in this religion, they said that they
have a little bit of everything but they only offer their service in English so people who don’t
speak English don’t go. The majority of the people who attend the service and are of that
religion are Caucasian.

❖What happens there daily

❖The have what’s called the “the upper room daily devotional guide”-This includes a
personal encouragement where you can comment and talk with others.
❖They also have a daily devotional blog- People write in the blog and comment and they put
in prayers for those who read and join in.
MOUNT VISTA ❖Their relationship with the wider
community
UNITED METHODIST ❖they try to give back by hosting a red cross blood
CHURCH drive in their church
❖they are planning a thanksgiving dinner for the
community
❖they are doing a refugee presentation to learn
more about the services that they
❖offer and how they can help
❖They make food and clothes drives to donate the
money and clothing to
❖homeless shelters and organizations that need
the funds.
❖They also make food drives with cooked food and
sandwiches and they take
❖them to the homeless shelters and feed the needy
that same day.
❖They also hold AA meetings on Monday’s,
Wednesday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s
MOUNT VISTA UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
❖Challenges they may face
❖In this church the minister is a women and that causes a lot of problems for them. The lady I
spoke to on the phone says that people often attend their service and when they find out that
the minister is a female they decide to not return and even make comments towards the way
she administers things. I think this has been one of the biggest challenges that they’ve faced
but they are definitely overcoming it.
Conclusion
Doing this project helped us see the true religious diversity present in our
community. Although as expected the majority of the religions are Mormon
and Christian, it was very eye opening to see the many minority churches
that have been there for so long.
It was very interesting to compare the stats of our diameter to the state as
well as the nation and see the differences and similarities between them.
When exploring our two churches of choice it was fun to learn more about
different religions and see the history of these locations and the growth and
development in the area.

In conclusion-I think we can all say that our community is truly more diverse
then we had thought. We have many beautiful religions all around us and
we are pleasured to take a deeper look into and becoming more aware of
our landscape.
SOURCES
http://www.ashiibeto.org/
http://www.mtnvistaumc.org/index.htm
http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/
https://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl