I ask, because apparently a bunch of parents are trying to ban a popular adolescent literature book and a teenager actually had a chat with the cops because she was trying to give copies of the book away at a book giveaway.

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/teen-policed-for-giving-away-absolutely-true-diary/

From the link above…

"A National Book Award winner, The Absolutely True Diary is a searing coming-of-age story about a Native American teenager who decides to attend an all-white high school outside of his reservation. It's a powerful narrative about modern race relations in the U.S. But the Meridian school board sided with parents who objected to its alleged sexual and anti-Christian content."

I've never read this book, but it sounds interesting. This incident reminds me of the PacSun situation with Judy Cox, Mormon crusader!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2014 06:57PM by knotheadusc.

Judging by comments from here and other places I believe Meridien is slightly less mormon than Utah county (Home of the Pacsun crusader).

I have a friend that went to Boise on his mission and spent most of his time in Meridian. From what he's told me, it sounds VERY Mormon.

I have Mormon friends there....and next door in Nampa....VERY MORG.

Ron Burr

Graduated high school there a few years ago. 40 out 44 people in the school choir were mormon.

It was totally kosher on our choir trip (keep in mind this is a public school) to go to the Conference Center for "historical reasons"

More than a few areas have multiple stakes for the same neighborhoods.

There is obviously a temple being built there during this mormon growth plateau.

Meridian, Idaho = very mormon/ major presence to heavily influence area

Nothing can better answer the query than the first two lines of his post: Graduated high school there a few years ago. 40 out 44 people in the school choir were mormon.

It was totally kosher on our choir trip (keep in mind this is a public school) to go to the Conference Center for "historical reasons"

If the info of other posters is actually correct (25% of the pop) then I'd like to suggest that the choir director is LDS.

I lived there between 1990 and 2001. I would guess that it was around 25% LDS and growing. This was higher than the % for Boise, probably because the cost of living was lower in Meridian and the tithing poor LDS with large families could only afford one of the cheaper bedroom communities like Meridian or Kuna. As an example, we were TBMs and could not afford to live in Boise and had to live with a commute, whereas are Jack Mormon friends moved from Meridian to Boise after healing from a business-related bankruptcy.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2014 10:32PM by Facsimile 3.

Moved from SLC to Nampa, one block from Meridian border, and don't feel pressure or presence of Mormons in any way except when I pass an LDS building.

Southern Idaho is more TBM than Boise and beyond.

I think you mean south-central and southeastern Idaho. Boise and Meridian are in southern Idaho (southwestern to be precise).

Meridian is very Mormon. I've lived in this area most of my life. Sometimes it seems like there is a Mormon church building on every corner. Boise is preferred to any of the towns around, but still a lot of Mormons in Boise.

My daughter lives there. Less Mormon than some may think. But plenty are there. See quite a few Christian churches when driving around. My daughter is the convert....think she converted there in '08. Her hubby's family got her when they were struggling financially.

I lived in Meridian, recently, for several years. It is probably the epicenter of Mormondom in the Treasure Valley (which totals around 600k people)...probably because it is relatively new, relatively affordable (compared to Boise), and very conservative (all traits that probably attract Mormon families).

That being said, I somewhat disagree with the impression given above that it is *very* Mormon. Cumorah.com states all of Idaho's mormon population at only 26% of the total. That statistic is pushed higher by eastern Idaho (which is essentially just an extension of northern Utah as far as religion goes).

Western Idaho is very different than eastern Idaho. I saw stats for Ada and Canyon counties (Treasure Valley) once (can't find them now), but if I remember right, they were in the low tens for percentage mormon (e.g. 12% or 13%).

Several years ago, out of curiosity, I counted the number of homes in the boundaries of my ward (using Google maps). Then I counted the number of families listed on the web ward directory. About 15% of the homes were "Mormon" (counting active and inactive).

Mormon chapels are "visible" but not overwhelming. According to mormon.org, there appear to be about 13 chapels in Meridian, population around 80k. Nampa, next door, population around 80k, has about 11 chapels. Boise, population around 205k, has around 24 chapels. So based on number of chapels, they're all similar. For comparison's sake, Idaho Falls (in eastern Idaho, population around 55k), has around 30 chapels.

Most of Boise on the north east side of the river is relatively liberal and therefore, less Mormon. My initial impression of the valley when I moved here was that it was 1) extremely conservative politically and 2) surprisingly evangelical religiously. I fit neither category and am therefore a duck out of water....sigh....

By the way, I saw the news about Sherman Alexie's book mentioned in the original post. The people who were all upset about the book wanted it removed from the "supplemental reading list", the books that students can choose from to read. It wasn't even "assigned" reading. There was quite a swell of opposition in favor of the book. The decision makers punted and temporarily removed it from the list, though.

I ended up getting the book and reading it. I highly, highly recommend it...a fantastic, powerful story. Yeah...it's "real", talks about teenage boys and therefore talks about stuff like masturbation and has swear words.... I guess that's real life. Some people want to live in a make-believe bubble.

I've not read the book but it looks like something I would enjoy. I might have to pick it up.

I know 2 families from husband's grad school days that live there and are super TBM. Also, my FIL is MP in the new Nampa mission. How is there any work for the missionaries in such a huge TBM-populated area!! It sounds like they have a TON of missionaries with not a lot of work to do. He is mostly just taking care of problems...mental issues/behavioral issues.

I think Nampa/Meridian may have more wards than southern Alberta....waaaaay to fucking many Mormons.

Ron Burr

I think it's for Mormons who feel Boise is too secular.

I hear there is some singing family from the area that gives mormonism kind of a bad name because of their arrogance.

Its terrible here in Nampa. Don't move here..

A LOT of Nazarines in Nampa, along With their own university there. I'd say more Nazarines than Mormons in Nampa.

Interesting that Nampa would come up in this thread. A few weeks ago, I blogged about a news story about a couple in Nampa who adopted a girl from Haiti and "rehomed" her when it didn't work out. The girl ended up in the home of a guy in Ohio who sexually abused kids he'd adopted from overseas. I thought maybe the couple who had originally adopted her might have been LDS, but it turned out they were Pentecostal… however, a family member who was LDS found my blog and actually reached out to me to give me more of the story. The LDS lady was actually very nice under the circumstances.

http://theovereducatedhousewife.blogspot.com/2014/03/more-on-adoptions-gone-wrong.html

It's fairly Mormon in Meridian, but it also is what you make it. Non-mo hubby and I live in a nice subdivision and haven't had any problems...but we don't have any kids and don't socialize with our neighbors (we're just busy, ditto to them too). Alternatively, that means there are also quite a few exmos too. At work our ratio of exes to active mos is around 1:1.

Just so everyone knows, I have no desire to move to Idaho. I was just wondering because of that article I linked about the book banning.

Glad to hear you are not moving here. Right now it seems the whole world is.

Well even with the book banning...most of the mos I know (and like) would probably think that stuff is crazy even though I'm sure they wouldn't want their kids reading that book.

Many school principals or vice principals in the Meridian School District are members of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. The representation of school leaders seems to be more Mormon than not.

“Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”

The church was sued for calling itself that. As part of the settlement they changed Latter Day to Latter-day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a totally different church.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2020 11:15PM by bradley.

I can't figure Why, but Idaho is drawing lots of retired ppl from Cali, airline pilots, retired police & firefighters.

to me at least, it will be interesting to see how Idahoans vote in the November elections, DJT got 59% there in '16.

Utah seems to be the fastest growing state @ 16% (2010-2019), Idaho comes in @14% about the same as Colorado & Nevada. D.C. grew at a 17% rate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2020 01:15PM by GNPE.

Have met several retiree transplants from California here in Idaho. Part of the reason is lower property prices but most cite wanting to leave a blue state for a deep red one and there are few of a deeper red than Idaho. A few months ago, before covid, it was said 2000 people per month were moving into the Boise area. The downside is that locals are being priced out of the housing market.

Are these transplants mormons or are the of other faiths?

This is an old thread but I'll bite.

I have connections to in-law relatives in Meridian. They are the in-your-face kind of Bible thumping Christian. There are part of a large Christian group there. This might not be (only) Mormons involved in issues like this.

I think Meridian Idaho is as far removed from Mormonism as the Catholic Church is to football at Notre Dame.

I had a companion in France from nearby Eagle, Idaho, but I'm pretty sure we also had elders from Meridian, Nampa, and Boise.

Tyson

I think Nampa has more wards than in Lethbridge the local Moridor.

The cops didn’t find any problem, but...

“Alexie’s publisher, Hachette Book Group, has responded to the students’ campaign by sending Rediscovered Books an additional 350 copies. So if you’re in Meridian, go pick up a free copy.”