Mormons make Utah nation’s 2nd most religious state

By Donald W. Meyers | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Mar 28 2012

Poll » LDS influence becomes “hot-button” issue in many settings.

Robert Lane doesn’t need to see Gallup’s new poll to learn that Utah is one of the nation’s most religious states. He knows that by simply looking at Capitol Hill. "We have a de facto theocracy," said Lane, board president of the Humanists of Utah, "because most of the Legislature is LDS."

Gallup’s "State of the States" survey, released this week, ranks the Beehive State as the second-most religious state, behind Mississippi.

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 to 4 percentage points,

shows 57 percent of Utahns see themselves "very religious," compared with 59 percent of Mississippians.

In fact, Utah is the only Western state in the top 10; most are in the Deep South.

The poll defines that category as people who attend worship services at least weekly and make religion a part of their daily lives.

Despite Utah’s large number of "very religious" residents, a significant segment (28 percent) say they are "nonreligious," while 15 percent are "moderately religious."

Pam Perlich, senior research economist with the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic Research, said the numbers reflect the dominance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

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