Inside Mormonism in Nightline tonight.

[napi21]

The Mormons and Mitt Romney

Every year, a large gathering of Mormons assembles at one of their faith's holiest sites in upstate New York. It was there, they believe, that a young Joseph Smith had the tenets of Mormonism revealed to him by God, and it's there that they reenact the revelation in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Not only do hundreds of believers don elaborate costumes and makeup for the performance, but they live together for two weeks under strict rules. ABC's Dan Harris attended the gathering -- on the condition that he adhere to the same rules -- and asked how members of the community feel about the presidential candidacy of a high profile member of their faith. A Mitt Romney presidency will put their religion in the spotlight, and that prospect has produced both hope and concern.


I think this might be interesting. Even in this promo there are things I never knew about Mormons.

[valerief]

1. I like the South Park episode on Mormonism. Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. nt

[Connie_Corleone]

2. That was a great episode. I was rolflmao.

I saw a 2 part documentary on PBS about the Mormons. Getting revelations from a hat is fascinating. LOL. They even did that on that show Big Love on HBO.

[aquart]

3. Like the Sorting Hat?

[goodgd_yall]

4. Probably not good for Romney's candidacy n/t

[AnotherGreenWorld]

5. I'm guessing it will generally highlight the things it has in common with Christianity, and not the

sort of things that would piss fundies off.

But Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in the US. And things like: Jesus will rule over the universe from Missouri do have an appeal to the modern American. So maybe that's for the best. I don't know.

[Ezlivin]

6. I studied Mormonism (sic) when I was a student at a Baptist seminary

The Southern Baptists loathed the Mormons because they were very successful in converting Southern Baptists to Mormons. Baptists absolutely sucked at converting Mormons to Baptists. The closest I came was convincing one missionary to take a book critical of his faith; unfortunately his senior partner took the book from him and gave it back. (Mormon missionaries work in pairs, with one experienced missionary watching over the new guy.)

For research purposes I attended a local LDS church. What I found astonished me: Ordinary people concerned about the welfare of their family. They were very nice and I thought that if I didn't "know" better, I would have joined them.

In the end I became an atheist, having seen little to distinguish one "cult" from another and realizing that every religion is a purely human construct to explain the currently unknown.