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108 5 The Power and the Glory Idaho’s Religious History Jill K. Gill I daho’s published religious history looks much like the state itself: bottom-heavy and abundantly Mormon. Historians have concentrated their research on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious stories, many of which involve the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The amount of research thins considerably for the period between 1920 and 1970, just as the middle of the state does in population. One finds small clusters of studies on particular sociopolitical religious topics between the 1970s and 2000, particularly those related to modern-day culture wars, just as one encounters scattered population centers when reaching Idaho’s panhandle. For anyone interested in religious history, therefore, Idaho is still a frontier; it contains vast areas of uncharted terrain, especially with respect to twentieth-century religious subjects. This presents an opportunity for anyone seeking fresh research ideas but poses a challenge for those attempting to analyze the state’s full religious past. Compounding this problem, the religious novelties of Idaho’s western and southern neighbors have drawn more scholarly attention, leading researchers either to ignore Idaho or to base generalizations about Idaho’s religious character on that of its neighbors. For example, Oregon and Washington have become famous as the nation’s official “none zone,” the area with the fewest religious adherents. Only 36.7 percent of Washingtonians and Oregonians subscribe to an organized religion.1 Of those, Catholics are the largest religious group, constituting about 11 percent of each state’s population. Mormons account for a mere 3 percent, and Protestants for about 20 percent. By contrast, 50 percent of Idahoans claim a Idaho’s Religious History 109 religious affiliation, a figure little changed from the 46.1 percent of Idaho’s population who declared so in 1906. While the Mountain West contains the second-lowest number of religious adherents in the nation, Idaho cannot be included easily with the “none zone” in terms of religion. With the exception of its panhandle, which has rates of religious unaffiliation that rival Washington’s and Oregon’s, it makes an awkward fit.2 Idaho’s southern neighbor, Utah, also has drawn more interest than Idaho due to its unique Mormon hegemony that has functioned almost like a state religion. Fully 76.5 percent of Utahans are religious adherents, 86.8 percent of which are Mormons; Mormons compose 66.4 percent of Utah’s population. Conversely, Idaho’s Latter-day Saints make up 48.1 percent of its religious adherents and 24.1 percent of its total population. While the Saints are by far Idaho’s largest religious group, they do not wield the kind of statewide dominance as in Utah. Only Idaho’s most southeastern counties approximate Utah’s religious makeup; as one travels west and then north, the numbers of Saints decrease, while those of Protestants, Catholics, and the unaffiliated grow. Catholics are the second-largest religious group in Idaho, encompassing about 20 percent of the state’s religious adherents and 10 percent of its population. Together, various Protestant groups represent 31.5 percent of Idaho’s religious adherents, or 15.8 percent of the population . Therefore, throughout Idaho’s history, the Saints have contended with non-Mormons numerous enough to have made turf, economic, and political struggles quite heated.3 Despite the gaps in published works on Idaho’s religious history, enough exists to draw a few thematic conclusions about the nature of religion’s influence on the state. First, as in most of the West, nearly all religious groups played critical roles in transforming Idaho from what white settlers deemed “frontier” into permanent communities. In addition to dotting the countryside with missions, churches, and temples, religious organizations built much of the state’s infrastructure of hospitals and schools, while serving as centers of social activities, networking, and critical services. They aimed to help civilize, settle, and root western people. Second, Idaho’s unique religious makeup and sectional distinctions exacerbated explosive economic and political conflicts. Some used religious differences as tools for dividing and conquering rivals. With the exception 110 Jill K. Gill of a few pacifist sects and Jehovah’s Witnesses, rarely did Idaho’s religious groups treat religion as a purely “transcendent,” private, spiritual matter. Rather, Idahoans thrust it into the public square repeatedly to serve worldly purposes. From the 1970s onward, when the West became central to religiously driven political battles over social issues, Idaho’s fast-growing conservative...

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