SALT LAKE CITY -- More than two-thirds of Utah's residents perceive a social, cultural or political divide between those who are Mormon and those who are not, according to a poll published Sunday in The Salt Lake Tribune.
The 68 percent of the poll's respondents who agreed there is a religion-based divide were themselves further divided: 58 percent of Mormon respondents perceived the discordance, compared with 86 percent of non-Mormons.
The survey conducted by Valley Research polled 600 randomly selected adults in Salt Lake, Weber, Davis, Utah, Tooele and Summit counties during two weeks in October. The error margin is plus or minus 4 percent for some results, and slightly higher for some query subcategories.
The results of the poll were published as part of a 6-page ad-free insert. A team of reporters and editors examined intolerance, insensitivity and misinformation on both sides of the religious gap in Utah, where the Mormon church claims 70 percent of the state's residents as members.
"The divide has been growing in past years, especially in Salt Lake City, and has been confronted in a highly visible way several times this year," said Tribune editor James E. Shelledy.
In July, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Gordon B. Hinckley urged members not to be "clannish," or to "adopt a holier-than-thou" attitude.
M. Russell Ballard of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles fortified that sentiment in the fall, when he described some church members as "too narrow."
He made his remarks at a news conference arranged to announce the Alliance for Unity, a group of community leaders worried about intolerance in the state.
Meanwhile, the Tribune's editorial pages have been laced with polarizing letters from residents both vilifying church influence in Utah and demanding that those not in agreement with Mormon ways leave the state.
Shelledy said the newspaper was confronting the issue head-on for the first time. "If you discuss it, there's a chance to come to grips with it and narrow the divide," he said.
Poll respondents were evenly split on whether the fissures are healing. Ten percent said differences were intensifying. Optimism was strongest among Mormon respondents: 62 percent said the gap is closing, while 23 percent of non-Mormons agreed and 53 percent believed it is neither widening nor narrowing.
The religious divide was least recognized in Utah County, where 43 percent were unaware of any problems.
Forty percent of all respondents said the Tribune, the state's largest news media organization, contributed to the divide. While few viewed the Tribune as a significant contributor to the problem, more Mormons than non-Mormons assigned blame to the newspaper.
People who said they seldom or never read the paper and residents of Salt Lake County cited the Tribune's culpability more often than regular readers or residents of other counties. Utah's news media in general was cited by half of the respondents as feeding discord.
Other survey findings:
*60 percent of non-Mormon respondents reported experiencing discrimination or uneasiness in Utah because of their religious views; 31 percent of Mormon respondents said they had experienced religious discrimination.
*54 percent of non-Mormons said Mormons proselytize too aggressively.
*68 percent of Mormons and 64 percent of non-Mormons said both sides bear equal responsibility to heal any religion-based rifts.
*Mormons and non-Mormons in nearly equal numbers denied their opinions of people changed once their religious affiliations were known.
*Respondents said the single biggest reason for divisions is lack of understanding from either or both sides.