I’ve lived in Lethbridge for 22 years. One thing I have heard quite often is that Lethbridge is a Mormon town. Some people even claim that Mormons sit in high positions of power in this city, which is weird considering that—according to my knowledge—no Mormon has been mayor, and I believe only one has even sat on city council.
One would think that as a Mormon myself, I’d relish in the idea that Lethbridge is a Mormon town. However, this claim is rarely ever said in a celebratory way; it’s always accusatory.
I already knew that Mormons made up a minority of the population of the city—unlike some of the surrounding communities, Lethbridge was founded by coal miners, not by Mormon irrigation workers—so with the help of a friend, I decided to do some research recently and set this rumour to rest once and for all.
I found the religion data table for Lethbridge that is part of the 2011 National Household Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. This is the newest data available, since it’s conducted every 10 years, which means there should be an update next year.
Here are some interesting things I discovered in that survey.
When looking at religions as a whole (without breaking it down by their component sects and denominations), Christians make up, by far, the largest religious group in Lethbridge. Over 2 out of every 3 residents identify as some type of Christian.
The next largest group is all those who are not religious. This includes atheists, agnostics, humanists, and simply “no religion”. This makes up almost the other third of residents. Combined, Christians and those with no religion make up 97.55% of the population. The other 2.45% are religious, but not Christian; Hindus, Jewish people, Sikhs, Muslims, etc would fall under this group.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. If we break Christianity into its component denominations, we find that “non-religious” is actually the largest “religious” group in Lethbridge, being larger than any single Christian denomination. There are over 50% more non-religious people in Lethbridge than there are Catholics, which is the singlemost largest Christian group, making up roughly 30% of all Christians in Lethbridge.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actually only the 4th largest Christian denomination in Lethbridge. Catholics, United, and non-denominational Christians are each larger than those claiming to be Mormon. And while they make up roughly 12% of the total number of Christians in Lethbridge, Mormons are only about 8% of the general population.
Now, there is a higher percentage of Mormons in Lethbridge than there is in any other metropolitan city in Canada. And they do make the top 10 largest religious groups in Lethbridge; heck, they even make the top 5. But that being said, there are 2.5 times as many Catholics in Lethbridge as there are Mormons.
In fact, there are roughly 400% more non-religious people in Lethbridge than there are Mormons.
So, it’s a bit of a stretch to really call Lethbridge a Mormon town. Especially when there are so many actual Mormon towns nearby.
9 replies on “Lethbridge is not a Mormon town”
I know this is old now, but I think you should do research in whether or not there are more mormons per capita than other places because although Lethbridge is not a Mormon town, there is still a lot of mormons compare to even Calgary. (At least from my experience)
It has the highest per capita population of any meteorological areas, but there are plenty of smaller centres with much larger proportions. But it also has a high per capita population of Catholics.
LDS are not Christians. The church claims to “believe in Jesus of Nazareth” and many of the people that attend the church think they are Christians but they are not. They believe in and prioritize the teachings of a modern false prophet named Joseph Smith (1800s AD) over the teachings of Jesus (30 AD). Jesus said that there would be false prophets that would deceive many. Joseph Smith was one of these. Joseph Smith claimed that a spiritual being told him that “ALL the churches are abominations.” This is the type of claim that false prophets make. LDS claims you must work to earn your salvation and eternal life. This contradicts Jesus who taught that the only way to receive salvation and the gift of eternal life is to believe HE earned it for us through his suffering, death on the cross and his resurrection. Joseph Smith (king follet discourse) and LDS church teaches “good Mormons” will become gods of their own planets one day. This is similar to the first lie ever told on earth by Satan (garden of Eden; see Genesis, Holy Bible).
Cool. Not sure how that’s related to the article.
Really? – Maybe this will help you correlate. Latter-day Saints do not accept the creeds, confessions, and formulations of post–New Testament Christianity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not descend through the historical line of traditional Christianity. That is, Latter-day Saints are not Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant. The article builds on the false premise that Mormons represent some percentage of the Christian church in Lethbridge.
No, it doesn’t. You need to reread it if that’s what you took away from it.
I reread the article as you suggested.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actually only the 4th largest Christian denomination in Lethbridge.”
This sure seems to be including LDS as Christians to me. By their polytheistic doctrine, their dedication to the teaching of their founder, Joseph Smith, and considering the secrecy of their temple rituals and strict tithing requirements, they are by these criteria a cult (see definition) not a Christian denomination. If accuracy is of any Importance to you, they should be categorized as such.
Pretty sure our current mayor is Mormon. 🙄
Okay.