I would put the difference at the diversity of belief (or lack thereof) within the two communities. Jewishness is not merely a religious identification for most Jews, but also a cultural one and even might be considered an ethnic one. That is to say, you don’t choose to be Jewish, you just are born that way and will die that way. And that’s true whether you’re an atheist or devoutly Orthodox.

As an outgrowth of that, there is an immense diversity of thought and practice within the American Jewish community. Andfor most Jewish people they see no conflict in being Jewish with any sort of other choices they make in their life.

By contrast, the Mormon (and I elect to continue using that word at least as it relates not specifically to the church itself but to the community and culture) community is still largely one of voluntary association, and is comparatively homogeneous in terms of belief and practice. Therefore many outside of a certain “type” feel excluded (either by their own choice or by the community) if they do not conform to the community’s standards. And I think it’s fair to say that the community’s standards fully embrace the professions of the sort I mentioned, but are frequently uncomfortable with and even often hostile to much of the cultural fields.

And so the community simultaneously nudges its members towards the professions and away from the arts, while also existing in seeming conflict with much of the cultural fields.

I realize that the above is grossly overgeneralized and that numerous exceptions surely exist. And also that I don’t have much to back this up other than my observations and intuition and so it’s worth little other than to say it’s my impression of the thing.