A View From Outside the Temple
Mormons don’t let outsiders into their temples, and they themselves must be deemed in good standing to enter. That means submitting to a lengthy interview process that includes testimony to the Gospel, a declaration of pure bodily condition and evidence that they are keeping up with their tithing. If they pass, they enter wearing all white-suits or full-length white dresses, focused on interacting as directly as possible with God.
Despite the strict rules for entrance, the church still wants curious outsiders to get a sense of what they’re missing. At the Salt Lake Temple, which I attempted to visit on a recent Sunday evening, one can enter a visitors’ center, pass an animatronic Joseph Smith, handsome and asexual, and see a large-scale model of the Temple, cut in half so you can see all the rooms.
In the basement are 12 cows, standing symmetrically in a circle. I asked my guides, two young female missionaries who quickly befriended me upon my arrival, if Mormons actually kept cows in the basement. The actual Temple, one told me, contains 12 statues of what she unselfconsciously called "golden oxen." The model shows that the Temple baptism pool rests directly above the oxen—it looks as if it's held up by their strong golden oxen heads.
The Mormon temple is central to the process of becoming more like God, a process very much focused on the family unit. The controversial practice of baptizing the dead is necessary, Mormons believe, because it's the only way to allow family members who did not accept the church to be with their families in heaven. The Temple is also where families of the living are bound together in sealing ceremonies that ensure they will be together in heaven, and where marriages are performed between two committed, chaste Mormons, marriage being a central step in the journey toward godliness.
Next to the Temple is the Tabernacle, a turtle-shell-shaped building whose stunning acoustics derive in part from the almost impossible lack of support beams. I entered not long after interfaith celebration had let out and took in the massive pipe organ towering over the pews below. Owl-faced older women with black name tags roamed the aisles, making stragglers feel like they’d done something wrong.
My guides were Sister L. and Sister R., both perhaps 20 years old, the former a blond onetime hairdresser and the latter a Japanese-American young woman with a black mole just off the tip of her nose. Sister R. corrected me when I asked why Mormons don’t drink caffeine, a conclusion drawn after a fruitless search for a coffee shop near the Brigham Young University campus in Provo two days before. “We can’t have coffee but we can have Coke,” she said, grinning like a teenager who had just broken an unimportant rule. “Just no strong drinks.”
I couldn’t help but like Sister L. and Sister R., and be drawn to their earnestness, their charm, their lack of moral ambiguity. They carried with them a happy self-assurance that made skeptical questions about their pitch feel irrelevant, maybe even pitiable. When I asked if there are gay Mormons, they responded sure, of course; there are probably some around here right now.
“It’s just,” Sister L. said, “that the Church feels strongly about marriage, and you can’t have sex before marriage.”
I asked if that meant gay Mormons just don’t have sex.
She nodded and smiled and said: “Uh-huh!”
There was no subtext in that affirmation, nothing but pure enthusiasm: I got it. Asked about the Church’s political activity, specifically California’s Prop. 8, Sister L. said the Church isn’t political, it just gets involved in issues it cares about. “It’s not a Republican or Democrat thing,” she told me.
I didn't know much about Mormonism when I visited, but I did know Mormons believe Jesus came to America after his resurrection, so I asked exactly how he got here. Not for the first time, Sister L. tried to press a copy of the Book of Mormon into my hands.
“We don’t know!” Sister L. said, her eyes wide and wonder-filled. “We just get to imagine it!”
The sisters told me on three separate occasions that Mormons are just like normal people, a note struck repeatedly on the Church’s website, which is peppered with photos of people just like you who happen to be Mormon. This is true from a religious perspective: The vast majority of Americans believe in God, a communal leap of faith that seems far more significant than the differences among believers.
And yet the otherness is undeniable. Mormonism is a relatively young religion, and people are, rather dramatically, either in or out; the middle-ground option available in older Christian faiths, the acceptability of casual and compartmentalized belief, is simply not an option.
Indeed, the rules are strict and many, and they must be followed. That means no alcohol, a two-year pause in life for missionary work (the church chooses where), fealty to an honor code that recently resulted in one of BYU's best rebounders being suspended for premarital sex. It means wearing the “special underwear” worn by Mormons after completion of the Temple endowment ceremony, and ignoring the smirking references to it by outsiders.
And yet while I came away from the visit convinced that Mormonism isn't really built for the modern world, I did understand the appeal. It starts with the Sisters themselves, content in their unshakeable faith and clear path forward, and extends to the massive Temple itself. It looks benevolent at night, the lighting perfectly appointed, but it’s also a massive presence, incongruent among the low buildings and wide streets of Salt Lake— a Disney castle that escaped from the fantasy realm and, refusing to accept its nature, remains in the real world.
Brian Montopoli last wrote for the Awl about porn valley .
Photo by Bjørn Graabek, via Wikipedia Commons.
Krull!
There's a great line in a great song in the great new musical 'The Book of Mormon,' as the protagonist is having a crisis of faith and wondering how and why he can believe all of the insane bullshit that the religion purports. The conclusion he reaches?
"I'm a Mormon, and Mormons just believe."
There's a common saying in Mormonism – if something bugs you or rubs you the wrong way, just put it on your shelf (that is, set it aside in your mind and concentrate on something else). Polygamy? Put it on the shelf. Prop 8? Put it on the shelf. Sexism racism homophobia abuse? Put it on the shelf.
Not super conducive to mental health, as you may imagine. Those shelves get weighed down!
The song in The Book of Mormon musical tells them to "Turn It Off" like a light switch. I was also raised Mormon, and of all the Christians I've met, they employ this head-in-the-sand method of argument-avoision the most. Because let's just think about nice things!!!
Also, hi Adam! Sorry I can't make it to your party!
I've mentioned this before: I nearly went to law school at Utah. Drove there to look for an apartment and everything. I probably met 100 people over three days. Some were landlords; some were academics; some were counter help in ice cream shops. Then there were the dozens who just stopped me in the street, to say hello and welcome me to their community, once they learned I was going to move there.
They were, to a fault, uniformly friendly. Eager, bright, and curious.
The one thing every last one of them was curious about: was I LDS?
As strong as the dread I had during the drive back across 1000 miles of barren prairie to the dreary dullness of Champaign, was the relief of being gone from that place where I could never be One of Us.
It really is a gorgeous building – it has overtones of Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Long ago, I read something comparing it to the Cinderella Castle and NOW I CAN'T UNSEE IT. (This is probably why I'm now totally apostate heathen etc.)
I actually got to go on a tour of the San Diego temple (they let heathens in before it was consecrated), and it was… wild. I saw the oxen with their jacuzzi balanced on their backs, so surreal. The whole place was really glitzy and filled with crystal and gold accents. It looked like Busby Berkeley's vision of heaven. Everything was also REALLY expensive: all the furniture looked custom-made. It was truly one of the most spectacularly tacky interiors I've ever seen.
Goddamnit, this was an easy one, and you completely fucked it up. Full disclosure, I'm a fucking mormon. Not one of those hey, I met this hot chick and before you know it I'm paying 10% of my income to the American Pope type of Mormons. I mean, a born and raised, missionary, married in the temple Mormon.
1. You ask any homely girl of about 20 and they aren't going to know squat about sex: straight, gay, or bestial. Even if they've had sex before. They are basically geldlings. Asking them complex issues about sexuality seems kind of stupid in that context. Many Mormons are very uncomfortable about the prop 8. Ok, SOME Mormons are. But surprise! It's a sizable number. Some have left the church over it, some stay on it as a cultural lifestyle.
The temple is sacred to mormons. Non Mormons need to get over it. Short of lying to get in, you're not fucking getting in. Nothing super wierd goes on there. Mormons believe gut being like god is a nAtural human progression, because we are his spiritual offspring. Is that so fucking hard to believe? It's in the fucking bible. Read it. 90% of cristians think we are sons and daughters of god.
All religions are weird, do weird stuff and wear funny clothes. All religions have rules that are arbitrary. What the fuck? Mormons didn't corner crazy shit by a longshot. Symbolism is an integral part of religion because it's not every day that Jesus, yaweh or Allah comes down and has a fireside chat. So symbols are used to identify and associate with the divine. Fuck. And you guys are intellectuals?
There is no doubt that mormons have a lot of 'splainin to do. From blacks, to gays, to the tea party, they really stick their craw in nasty shit. But this 'read' doesn't get at any of that. It was really a mockery of shit that one religion does as opposed to another religion.
Most Mormons aren't 'in or out' most Mormons aren't living up to the standards to attend the temple. Most Mormons believe in the continuation of relationships beyond the grave. Most Mormons try to raise their kids right and spend the rest or their lives worried about them if they make 'bad' choices. That money that try give does go to support temples. But it also funds a vast charitable organization.
That fucking b-ball player? Mormon. He made a commitment not to have sex outside of marriage when he aljoined byu. He could have gone Anywhere, but he chose byu. If you think the rules stink (and I did), go to Utah state, where you can become a great doctor and scores some of the finest trim in the Rockies. It's not byus fault that they want to enforce their standards. The thing is, this boy probably cnfesses and his bishop was obligated to tell the standards board about it. Probably broke his heart to do it.
Anyways, you could have done a much better job. As it stands, it's the same old shit, new blogger. You did not pick sufficiently to reach an awl standard.
OK, does anyone want to touch this? Anyone? Especially the use of "geldlings" in the second paragraph. Anyways, thanks for the alternate perspective, there.
Do your people pay property taxes on that sacred temple we're not allowed to set foot in? Also, don't you think maybe you use the word "fuck" too much?
Umm, "your people"? Please. When I first thumb-typed this on my phone, all that was there was "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck."
you do not know (non-mormon) ladies in their early twenties very well.
i am sooo over your temple being for mormons and i can't enter. i would consider being baptized for dead people so they (the dead people) don't go to hell to be some pretty weird shit, but i suppose your qualification works because i don't consider it super weird.
as for the progression to becoming a god? i guess everybody could use a little adonis dna, but most people would consider that bat-shit crazy. since you were born and raised in the faith i can understand your tunnel vision on the topic.
i wouldn't say that mormons have the corner on crazy shit but i would accuse them of insider trading.
as for the b ball thing: meh. you are right. he knew the rules when he chose byu and he broke them. it's a private university and they can do what they please as far as i'm concerned.
also, i am not an intellectual, just an insufferable prick that lived in slc in the early 80's.
I know MANY non-mormon ladies in their early twenties. I am not a woman myself, but I can tell you this, girls in their early twenties, regardless of sexual activity are still figuring it out. It's the same with guys. Now, they may have had a lot of sex, or they may have had a steady boyfriend, girlfriend through high school/ college, but odds are they didn't and are still trying to figure things out. Gay boys and girls even more so, because there are their parents and friends and religious leaders telling them that they've got it all wrong and they're not supposed to like the same sex.
The baptism for the dead thing is a quite elegant solution to the problem that many religions face when confronted with the doctrine of "you must convert or suffer damnation". Weird or not, it's a clever solution to a question that many religions simply brush over. Ask your catholic priest where he thinks babies go if they're not baptized. Chances are he doesn't have a book he c an go to and tell you. He might have his own opinion about it, but he probably isn't going to tell you that that baby will suffer in purgatory because he happened to be shot out of the birth canal without having devout catholic parents. The point is all religions are bat shit crazy fundamentally, and it seems kind of ridiculous to argue about which religion is the craziest. Pick your poison and shut the fuck up.
I didn't read the piece as mocking, though I would certainly take issue with the author's idea that Mormons are necessarily "content in their unshakeable faith and clear path forward."
(It's a fair point, though, that the Church would like that to be the impression it gives the outside world. Missionaries who serve in Temple Square seem to be selected for friendliness, enthusiasm, and an unwillingness to engage politically with visitors.)
More on all that faithful contentment: http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/prop-8-mormon-persecution-and-the-refuge-of-patriotism
Jack, seriously? The article's author put your religion in a much more positive light than you just did.
Dr.,
This wasn't about putting the religion in a positive light. As you might imagine, I'm not a spokesperson for the LDS church. They don't let their representatives drop the F-bomb quite as frequently as I do.
The truth is that the ones in SLC are there for a couple of reasons: They are being groomed for leadership close to church HQ; they have some illness or developmental problem which would complicate living a monastic lifestyle far from home or adequate care; they couldn't hack living overseas in destitute conditions, but serve very well as friendly faces of the church.
The church certainly wants others to know that mormons are strong in their faith. I'm failing to see how this is different from any other organized religion.
Prop 8 was the last straw for me. Couldn't in good conscience continue to go to church and listen to people say that it was fighting on god's side to get that passed. But that is no different from any other Christian faith in the U.S., besides the Episcopalians, right?
Way to go, bro, good job adding a bunch of "fucks" to the standard Mormon apologist talking points. We're all super impressed.
(this is coming from a former Mormon, by the way. Born in the covenant, baptized at 8, Young Women's, Institute president, all that shit. So I know where I'm coming from, okay?)
Riff,
There is not a Mormon apologist in me. I don't believe in God. If you had a similar upbringing as me, then you certainly know that the majority of mormons are not weird. My contention is that there was so much more to discuss and the Brian just went to the same old – Temple-Prop 8-Mormon Missionaries-Other shit that we see all the time. You and I should trade notes. I can still quote passages of scripture.
Dude, I was raised Mormon, most of my family is still Mormon, and even I think the majority of them are weird.
Hahaha, Brother Jackannapolis, so can I. Mainly thanks to the scripture mastery songs from Seminary. Did you have to do that too? Scarred for life, I am.
Anyways, I guess I'm just disappointed to see someone who's evidently left the church (which as I'm sure you know takes a hell of a lot of guts and independent thought) rely on the old "for real, you guys, Mormons are just as weird as everyone else!" canard. Because they're/we're not! People don't expect their religions to regulate everything, literally down to their underwear. People don't expect their religions to prohibit coffee and alcohol on pain of disaffiliation. People don't REALLY expect their religions to punish premarital sex – masturbation, even! – on pain of excommunication. Yes, Mormons do weirder shit than that, and you and I both know it. But that's no reason for the Awl, a general-interest publication, not to focus on the entry-level bizarro stuff. Why are you berating them for it?
And when you start your comment with "I am a Mormon," people are going to assume that you are still active, no matter what comes next. Far be it from me to take from you whatever you want to label yourself, but saying "I am a Mormon" and then "this article portrays Mormonism in a bad light, we're not all bad" is pretty much going to make everyone think you're an active believer. You can't really blame us for that.
There's actually a lot of evidence to support the idea that Mormon temples and their ceremonies are largely borrowed from the Freemasons. Joseph Smith was a Freemason back in his Missouri days, and he was likely kicked out of the club (and maybe even killed) for sharing its rites with non-members. I wonder if the golden oxen figure into the Masonic heritage of temple rites? Any Masons wanna break rank and share?
erik – yup, yup and yup. Mormon temples have a lot of free mason stuff in them. I'm not sure I believe the conspiracy theory much. The Prophet died because he was baptizing blacks, trying to make a presidential run, and filling the south with northern abolitionists that would surely turn the state anti-slavery. Oh, and scoring some major trim with that "god told me that we get lots of womens, now" story.
Well, sure, there were a lot of reasons to kill Smith, BUT, considering the appropriation of the Masonic stuff, and his reported last words (http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/josephsmithsdeath.htm), there's good reason to suspect their involvement.
I was under the impression that Smith's death had more to do with his destruction of the press that printed Nauvoo Expositor (which was writing exposes of his polygamist marriages) than anything else.
Riff, that's been my impression, too. Yes, there's a freemasonry connection, but I haven't read any legitimate historian presenting the theory that it had anything to do with his death.
I'm just saying it's hard to suss out the truth of the matter, and Masonic connections could have legitimately played a part. We can't necessarily believe Mormon historians for their whitewashing, and, conversely, we can't necessarily believe the super-anti-Mormon historians. The truth lies in between.
Ultimately, though, I feel like getting killed for busting up somebody's press is an overreaction, and this was a well-connected white man in MO we're talking about. There just had to be something else at stake for the mob.
@jackannapolis You're on the right track, but basically Smith was killed by rednecked Christian hillbillies from East Tennessee who took with them their "regulator" (the KKK prototypes) culture into Missouri and southern Illinois with the intention of building their own buck-toofed, barefooted plantation paradise based upon free land, negro slavery, and the blessing of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Joe Smith and the Mormons screwed these plans up on every level, but there was no Constitutional remedy for it. So they declared him a "heretic," and when that didn't work, they declared him a "traitor," and the pretext was a disputed city council order to squelch a press as a public nuisance–but then the same people who screamed for Smith's blood over the Nauvoo Expositor were regularly destroying Abolitionist presses, and slaughtering their publishers and supporters on top of it. The Masonic element was actually a minor one and there were literally hundreds of Christian ministers preaching Mormon extermination from pulpits, vehemently anti-Mormon presses inventing Mormon rebellion and atrocities from scratch and calling for their violent destruction, and when the political classes realized that pandering to the huge Mormon voting block was at that point now going to actually cost them the greater majority of the foaming fundamentalist vote, they turned their backs, looked the other way, and in some cases eagerly joined in the mobs. Relatively speaking, the Masons were probably more likely the good guys in that mix.
http://lrwhitney.wordpress.com/
@LR Whitney a primer: https://lrwhitney.wordpress.com/category/27-mormon-wars-part-3-hillbilly-rednecks/
Would anyone of the "Sure, Mormonism's weird, but so is every religion" mindset like to say a few words to the group about Kolob?
Or the men on the moon! Or Adam-God!
Speaking of Kolob, I would like to present the best headline ever attached to an article about Mormonism: http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/dogma/jesus-in-space/
(The dek is "Mormon astronauts: take me with you!")
Xarissa, that article made my afternoon.
I find most religion distasteful & deleterious, but I grant some leeway to ancient religions; they are too difficult to uproot & their crazy stuff was made up before the Enlightenment. Joseph Smith made up a bunch of crazy stuff after the Enlightenment.
We know that large-scale Jewish civilizations did not flourish in the Americas up until the fifth century. So a two hundred year old claim, with no evidence, is pretty thoroughly debunked. What sort of person continues to believe this?
Let's talk about polygamy, which, really — polygyny. It is required! Because Joseph Smith liked him some strange, & who doesn't? Until it is politically expedient that it is forbidden, which occurs at the same time that god has a change of heart on the matter.
Also, another group of people came from the Near East to America, before the Jews.
Alsotoo, after their death they become gods & rule over a planet somewhere full of inferior creatures.
The curve that fits these points looks like megalomania, or narcissism, or a belief that one is special. This religion was invented out of whole cloth two hundred years ago as a comforting, affirming framework for Smith's neurosis.
The correct course of action is to remove their tax-exempt status, but it's probably too late, & the Christians who run this country are too cowardly. Otherwise, it would be helpful if whenever a Mormon was mentioned in public, one of these inane beliefs were also mentioned. At least that way we'd run less of a risk that one of them ends up President. Because, come on.
Gotta agree with that. Sure, most Mormons I've met have been personally very nice people. And sure, most religion is pretty whacked out. But in the competition for sheer batshit craziest, only Scientology rivals LDS.
omega
Le veau d'or est toujours debout
Hi Brian,
The bar is rather low, but your piece falls fairly high on the "accuracy and fairness" scale of things written about Mormonism. You seem at the very least to be writing in good faith, which I genuinely appreciate.
A few thoughts/corrections:
"A declaration of pure bodily condition." If by this you mean a Mormon must confirm that they are abiding by the Word of Wisdom (no coffee, alcohol, tea, illegal drugs, etc.) then you are correct. The way in which you worded the phrase, though, made me wonder if you meant something else.
"Evidence that they are keeping up with their tithing." The only "evidence" required is one's word.
It's been a while since I've been there, but are you sure there's an animatronic Joseph Smith? I know there are statues, but I don't remember anything like that.
"People are, rather dramatically, either in or out; the middle-ground option available in older Christian faiths, the acceptability of casual and compartmentalized belief, is simply not an option." This is kind of true, and kind of not. I think it's fair to say that a vastly larger proportion of Mormons subscribe to the entirety of Mormon doctrine than one sees in the other, older faiths. That said, I can assure that there are many cafeteria Mormons. It's less acceptable, and harder to pull off, but they exist in not insignificant numbers.
"Fealty to an honor code" You may know this, but this only applies to BYU students.
Best,
Davis
@Davis But he misses the bigger point, because he is after all an outsider. He misses the towering Church Office Building that dwarfs the temple and looms over it like a giant. He misses the Meganacle across the street with its great and spacious expanse. And he misses the bums sleeping on benches all over the place, the gang wars, the drugs, the boondogle train that runs you over when you're not looking. He misses the statistical LDS minority of the city. And basically he misses the fact that Salt Lake City is a dump like any other major city in the United States of America, and in all honestly most of the good stuff there is down to the Mormons, and most of the bad stuff there is an even split.
As a non-religious woman who was once madly in love with a Mormon man, I've spent a fair amount of time agonizing over whether Mormons are "weird" or not. When we were dating, I walked a tightrope between a genuinely strange religion and the genuinely prejudiced account of it in mainstream culture. I tried so hard to keep an open mind, but the misogyny and just – there's no other word – cultishness of the religion continually creeped me out. At the same time, when people found out I was dating a Mormon, they would make incredibly rude comments to me in public: "Oh, does he have six wives? Does he live in Utah?" This type of attitude just makes Mormons feel righteously besieged by the world. If I had been dating a Muslim, would I have to put up with people asking me if he was a terrorist? Jewish? Catholic? Nope. Mormonism is the last religion you're still allowed to mock.
Don't get me wrong, it's mock-able. I never had to deal with the underwear because my boyfriend hadn't been to the temple yet (he wasn't on a standard Mormon timeline, had experienced years of doubt, which is why we were together in the first place – how was I supposed to know he suddenly wanted to renew his commitment to the faith?). Watching this religion, whose orthodoxy and bizarreness seems to isolate its members from the rest of society, tear up my smart and talented boyfriend's brain was hard for me. When he proposed after an excruciating "romantic" evening of seeing Christmas lights at the SLC temple, I knew for the first time that I would never be okay with any of it, never ever ever.
These days, I am prepared to admit that yes, a lot of Mormons are pretty weird, mostly because they have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to keep themselves believing what they need to believe in spite of the world around them. The secrecy and insiderish-ness of the religion is a compensation for them, not a punishment – give up the world (but not material things! That's another story) and you'll get this awesome palace that's only for you, and a planet to rule over in the next life. Most of the Mormon men that I met have a creepy look to them that's hard to explain – they're super nice, but their eyes sort of stare right past you. I didn't get to know many Mormon women.
Well, what I meant to say was that this article was kind of boring to me. Google "ex-Mormon" and you'll find dozens of websites' worth of angry, broken people ranting about how crazy the LDS church is. This blithe, touristy account has nothing much to offer that you couldn't learn in 5 minutes on one of those sites. It just sounds like the "outsider" who wrote the article didn't really engage with it all that much.
Oeditrix, that is rough reading. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Email me, if you'd like, at askarepublican at gmail
1) Mormons aren't Christians. There's a whole new book. That's what separates Christians from Jews and Muslims from Christians. With a new book comes new beliefs and a new religion.
2) The Mormon infiltration of the defense and intelligence apparatus of this country is some serious business.
1) Well, that depends on how you define "Christian," doesn't it? They believe that the New Testament Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Savior of humanity, so …
2) Agreed. But, also, there are already fundamentalist and/or evangelical Christians in every level of government. Business has been very serious whether or not you count the Mormons.
@My Number Is My Address Actually, Christians aren't Christians. The word itself appears only once in the Bible, and it's a tag given by King Agrippa while Paul is interrogating him. The early Church called one-another "Saints," and frankly, Mormons as you say are not "Christians" either. The thing today known as "Christianity" can't even define itself after killing itself off back and forth for nearly two-thousand years. But in the process, the term "Christian" is so compromised and co-opted by the corrupt, the truly uninspired, the violent, the ignorant, and the political, that I wonder why Mormons spend so much time trying to steal the brand back from its pervertors.
https://lrwhitney.wordpress.com/category/2-mormons-are-not-christians/
"Indeed, the rules are strict and many, and they must be followed. That means no alcohol, a two-year pause in life for missionary work (the church chooses where), fealty to an honor code that recently resulted in one of BYU's best rebounders being suspended for premarital sex"
A few clarifying points:
The mission is optional, you are not required to go.
We follow the Word of Wisdom which in an effort to stay away from addictive substances, "strong drinks". So that means no alcohol, no tobacco, no coffee (sounds strange, but really, it can be addictive).
The Honor Code is completely irrelevant to the LDS faith. The Honor Code is associated ONLY with BYU. It's no different than the moral agreement you make when attending any other private religious institution.
If you're attempting to make someone look stupid and "wide-eyed" in your reporting, mission accomplished. If your goal was to make Mormons these oblivious Disney World freaks, you also succeeded.
But as a convert to the LDS Church, coming from a very secular background. I can assure you that our faith is not oblivious. We believe the things we believe because of extensive personal study and testimony. I didn't just dumbly accept some kool-aid. I read the materials, looked up the facts, and most importantly, prayed for guidance and direction, and a testimony that it was true came with time.
If that sounds dumb and ridiculous to you, than that's your opinion. But please think twice before quickly dismissing someone's faith.
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