About 15 years ago, as Mormons were readying Salt Lake City to welcome the world at the 2002 Winter Olympics, an unexpected edict came down from LDS Church headquarters:
No proselytizing.
No identifiable missionaries strolling downtown. No black church nametags. No one handing out religious pamphlets on Main Street. No pushing the Book of Mormon on unwary visitors. No scolding smokers or drinkers. No public preaching.
Choosing not to use the games as a platform for conversion was an odd turn for a city built on the missionary zeal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But it worked.
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