My students love Mormonism–or, they love to talk about Mormonism, often quite critically. And it’s not just my students. Usually when I mention to someone who is not Mormon that I study Mormonism, their eyes light up and they have a story to tell me: They just heard lyrics from “The Book of Mormon” musical, they’re angry about not being able to attend their Mormon cousin’s temple wedding, they’re concerned about Romney’s ties to the LDS Church. For years I’ve been trying to figure out why non-Mormon Americans, including me, are so fascinated by Mormonism. I have only some speculations.
I wonder if Mormonism is a “safe” way to talk publicly and critically about religion in an age of political correctness. My classes have confessed to me that Mormonism is one of the few religions that it is still okay to openly criticize. Based on anecdotal evidence from my many encounters with non-Mormons talking about Mormonism, I would have to agree with them. I am still surprised at how often fair and well-educated people will make openly critical and ill-informed remarks about Mormonism in a tone and expression that they would never use to talk about, for instance, Judaism or Islam or other groups that are perceived as being non-Christian or “exotic.” And I’m not talking here about honest disagreement with points of belief or practice or history. I’m talking about angry and badly formed opinions.
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