The debate comes up regularly among our member friends from around the country (and the world): Is it better (by whatever definition we choose) to be a Church member in the “Mormon Corridor”--Utah, Idaho, and areas of Nevada and Arizona--or in the “mission field” (everywhere else)?

[Note: I don’t personally support the use of the phrase “mission field” to describe every other part of the world, but that’s the colloquial usage around here…]

Advantages for being LDS in Utah:

Accessibility and convenience: The advantage to being a culturally dominant majority in an area is that businesses are tailored around your needs.  Even businesses owned by non-members, as any good businessperson knows how to analyze the market and give people what they want.  In Utah, it’s easy to find bookstores that carry church books, videos and other materials.  It’s easy to find missionary clothes and materials.  You can find General Conference (and other Church-related) broadcasts on local TV channels without having to drive to a stake center. Granted, the Internet has made many resources available to all members regardless of location, but there are still definite advantages to having local resources oriented around Church culture where you can basically drive down the street and find everything you’re looking for.

Entertainment:  Outside of Utah, you go to a comedy club and you’ll never know whether you’re going to get Bill Cosby comedy, Jerry Seinfeld comedy, or Chris Rock comedy.  In Utah, at least, things tend to be the PG level by default--same with plays and other art forms.  You can even find edited movies pretty easily (if that’s your thing…)

Small locations:  In high LDS areas, having more members creates more stakes and wards, with each ward covering a smaller geographical area compared to most other parts of the world.  Smaller wards (in terms of boundaries) means Church members usually won’t have to travel 30-60 minutes to get to their chapel, nor do home/visiting teaching, etc…  Not to mention temple proximity.

[Note: Contrary to popular belief, the rumor that you can stand anywhere in the state of Utah and see an LDS temple is a falsehood.  As it happens, there's a spot in the desert west of Salt Lake City where no temple is visible, at least pending the completion of the 40.2938 N, -113.4516 W Temple sometime in 2011.]

Activity support:  Sure, there are plenty of members who don’t follow the commandments (more on that below), but church standards are still the ‘default’, not the ‘exception’ in most cases.  Few activities are scheduled on Sundays, colleges make it easy to serve a mission without losing scholarships, and generally speaking, you will always gain more friends than you lose by being baptized.  While many are still inactive, any one person who wants to be active will undoubtedly find fewer challenges towards doing so (if they have a mind to) because there's always an appropriate peer group from which to find ‘good’ friends that can support you.

Dating:  Should go without saying that more single Church members means more opportunities for dating, and finding someone who shares your standards AND your interests without having to choose one or the other.

Problems with being LDS in Utah:

Lack of diversity:  The Salt Lake City/Provo area is underrated (given its reputation) when it comes to racial diversity, with a larger (per capita) Hispanic, Polynesian, and Asian population than generally given credit for.  (If you’re one of those who defines “diversity” as “blacks”, then, well…)

Still, one problem with those non-white faces is that they’re just as likely to be Church members as the white ones.  While it is true that diversity of interest and opinion is also underrated from within the Latter-Day Saint population, it’s still quite a ways away from other areas of the country where you can have a Jewish neighbor on one side, a Buddhist with a streak of Tao on the other side, and a Muslim family across the street.

Bad members:  Everyone knows that in any part of the world you’ll run into some people who are great and wonderful, and some people who are just total jerks.  Utah and the Mormon corridor are no different—the problem is in Utah those ‘jerks’ (and criminals, and people with no ethical standards whatsoever whom you can’t stand) are often LDS as well.

Even if the ratio of jerks, idiots, and general scum of the earth is the same as in other areas, the fact that Church members comprise a larger percentage of them in high LDS areas can provide a stumbling block for both member and non-member.  Outside of Utah, it’s easier to conceptually separate the Church from the members—even if you happen to also know many members you can’t stand—simply because the numbers are smaller and less representative.  When you can name one after another 'bad' member, then it can be hard to maintain the ideal that being a Church member represents some higher standard of living.

Even worse than “bad” members, though,  are those whom I often call “C-“ members.  It may be easier to be ‘active’ simply because of everyone around you, but being ‘active’ doesn’t mean as much in the Mormon corridor.  There are many who go through the motions, but have no core spirituality in their religious observance.  Many who do the bare minimum to get by—staying (mostly) away from the big stuff, but embrace the small stuff regularly.  In some ways, being around average members who genuinely don’t care may be a bigger stumbling block than being around outright ‘wicked’ members to many.

The ‘whited sepulchre’ effect has an impact here as well.  Outside of the Mormon corridor, being LDS is more difficult for the most part, but that means the members you meet are generally more committed, with “bad” members having long since abandoned activity.  In Utah, however, there are cultural and familial pressures to at least seem active and righteous, even if you are secretly—and happily--disobeying even the most basic commandments.

Outside Utah, a single Saint who’s looking for a suitable mate can usually figure out a person’s standards fairly quickly, since un-gospel-like behavior is often right out in the open.  In Utah, though, you’re far more likely to meet returned missionaries who look white on the outside, but contain rotting corpses on the inside which have been carefully hidden away to ‘fit in’.  The road to the celestial kingdom is littered with the corpses of marriages where one partner thought his/her spouse’s standards and level of worthiness were far higher than they turned out to be.

Conclusion: Even if you accept that being an active member in the Utah area is ‘easier’ than outside (at least in the sense of 'more convenient'), that still doesn’t automatically lead to the conclusion that Utah is ‘better’ for Church activity.  What if it’s not supposed to be ‘easy’?  What if being an ‘outsider’ to local culture is better in the long run both for personal development (in terms of diversity in religion, background, and opinion)?  Perhaps the members are fewer, but stronger—where the gospel is worth more because it’s harder to live.  Perhaps being one of the only members in your company, or at your high school brings challenges and growth opportunities that high-LDS areas can't match.

On the other hand, being able to walk to church instead of driving an hour and a half may perhaps make someone less susceptible to ‘burnout’, and having more access to LDS-standard entertainment, including books, movies, and plays, may make it easier for some to keep some level of standards without making compromises with local culture simply because there are so few other options.

In the end, whether living in a high-LDS or a low-LDS area is ‘better’ for someone will depend on the individual.  While the debate will continue to go on for the foreseeable future, I doubt there’s anything conclusive that can be determined to show one area is demonstrably superior to the other.

Discussion:  What are some other obvious advantages/disadvantages in being active, living in your area of the world?