Day 13 - The Mormons in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City is named, as the name suggests, after the immense Great Salt Lake. This giant salt lake is no less than 5,100 km2. The salt content of the lake is between 5 and 27%, which is much higher than that of seawater. The reason for the high salt content is the fact that Salt Lake, like many other salt lakes, has no drainage to the sea. The minerals in the rivers that feed the lake remain present, while the water partially evaporates, which increases the salt content. There are only a few lakes in the world that have a higher salt content. From the city, ski areas in the surrounding mountains can be reached within half an hour. The city has the reputation of having the best snow areas in the world. For this reason Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics.

The city itself was founded in 1847 by Mormon pioneers who tried to escape religious persecution in the east where the church was founded in the state of New York. On this specific morning, Brigham Young, who led the group of Mormons after the murder of their leader Joseph Smith Jr. in prison, spoke the historical words: ‘This is the place’. He referred to a vision in which he was told where the Mormons had to settle. The city is not only the capital of Utah but also in a way the capital of the Mormons.

The city is built around Temple Square, say the Vatican of the Mormon Church. The Mormon church was founded by Joseph Smith. Their religion is based on the Bible, but they also have their ‘Book of Mormons’, which corrects some ‘mistakes’ made in the Bible. This book is based on inscriptions he received from the heavenly messenger Moroni. The Church is represented in about 176 countries with more than 15 million members, of whom about 48% regularly attend Sunday services or other activities. Nearly 42% of all the members live in the United States.

The first members were polygamous. For example, Brigham Young had 77 women and 56 children. Despite that, he died at the respectable age of 71 years J. In order for Utah to become a member of the Union, polygamy was abolished. The fundamentalist Mormons did not agree and split. They are still polygamous but are only legally married to the first wife. With the other wifes, it's just a spiritual marriage. They mainly live in Nevada. There are also the sectarian Mormons. Both traditional and fundamentalist Mormons don’t want anything to do with them.

Mormons have a big social network. They do not believe in wellfare, but in hard work and those who are unemployed are taken care of  by the community and financially supported.

It is a tradition that young people at home and abroad proclaim the faith and the story of Joseph Smith. This is called their mission. This is mainly done by boys, but it is not an obligation. It costs around USD 400 a month and is organized by the church. You can not choose where you're going. Girls often also do their mission by guiding tours on Temple Square. Two of these so-called 'sisters' lead us today. We can finally see the infamous Tabernacle from the inside. 

This was specially built for the great acoustics. These acoustics were so great that one had to build a stand to temper it. My eye falls on the organ. Despite the fact that this organ has 11,000 pipes, it's a lot smaller than that of the Convention Center, where we  listened to the beautiful choir at the start of this trip. This is explained by the large amount of small pipes in this organ. Next to the Tabernacle lies the imposing temple, which looks like a cathedral. 

You can only enter here if you are baptised into the Mormon church or for a marriage. Next door is the visitor center, where there is a maquette of the temple with a view inside. The temple does not look like our traditional church. There are several floors, including some parlors, meeting rooms and, of course, the slightly more traditional 'chapel' where the celebrations take place. Despite their enthusiasm, I do not think that the 'sisters' have won a sole today on Temple Square. The Mormon church is a bit too far from our traditional religions. But with their choir and Tabernacle, they have stolen my heart a little bit.