I would disagree with you, however, on a couple of points. I believe there are other Christian churches out there who consider themselves the “right” church–most obviously the Catholics. I’d also note that I haven’t met many people from other churches who believe that “God has nothing to say to us today”–in fact, there’s a big sign on the UCC church which a friend of mine attends that says “God is still speaking.”

I’d agree with your overall point, though, that given the odd-sounding claims that various religions make, people who accept some form of religion aren’t generally in the best position to dismiss other belief systems simply because they sound strange.

YET a 15 year old boy asks God in fervent prayer which church to join and it is totally out of the realm of possiblity!?! Are you kidding?

It’s also fascinating to hear what Mormonism sounds like from the point of view of an interested (and involved, it sounds like) non-Mormon. Even if it sounds like you’re leaning toward thinking we’re a little off.

Please feel free to jump in and comment again if you like.

As a non-member, I’ve spent a little over a year deeply investigating the LDS church. I came into this search knowing only ‘the basics’ taught to me by my own church while in high school. None of it wrong, but definitely not the entire picture.

Throughout this past year, I have developed close relationships with members of the church and can now say that almost all of my friends are LDS. They endearingly call me a ‘dry Mormon’. Being a part of the community has really made the Mormon faith very appealing and not at all scary, and at times I think to myself ‘Well, what the heck? It’s pretty much the same thing, except they have a few extra visions, a few more prophets, more experiences, scriptures… What if it’s true?’ And every single one of them is more than happy to answer any questions I may have.

But it stops there, because it’s so much more than ‘just a little extra’. Although the people I have come into contact with are amazing and I know they have a true relationship with Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, I have to know what I’d be getting into. So, I do my research, both on/in LDS sites, books, television shows (yes on the BYU channel) as well as what you would call ‘anti Mormon propoganda’ websites, books, etc. In this research, it does nothing but solidify my belief that you don’t have it right. (Please don’t take offense at this. I honestly say this with as much respect as possible.)

Reading The History of the Church (all of it, not just what is in the Pearl of Great Price) makes me question so much about Joseph Smith. And if Joseph Smith wasn’t the man he presented himself to be, then it’s quite plausible that the Book of Mormon isn’t what it’s been set out to be either, and that’s what your faith is based on. It seems like a slippery slope argument I’m laying here, but even Gorden B. Hinkley has said, “If the First Vision did not occur, then we are involved in a great sham. It is just that simple.”

This may seem like I’m trying to go off topic or push my own agenda (all while rambling incessantly), but I guess I just wanted to give you some insight into what someone who really has been trying to go at this with an open mind and heart has gone through when becoming ‘educated’ about the faith/church. Like I said, I’m torn. I LOVE your church. I do. I would not attend Sacrament meetings or other church functions if I didn’t. But I think I love the people and practices of the church more than the beliefs and the history of the church or else I’d probably have been baptized by now.

Sorry for barging in on your page….

The answer, I believe, is that it will be largely a negative view… for one simple reason: People will go to the internet for information, before they go anywhere else. And we all know what you get when you type “mormon” or “mormonism” into Google. And the problem with anti sites is that, unfortunately, much of the information they provide is actully true — it’s just presented in the worst possible light. And I don’t think very many people will probe beyond the first few shocking facts they’ll learn:

–stone in a hat
–funny underwear
–think they can become just like God
–the papyri
–JS had lots of wives and seems to have lied about it
–apparent similarity in LDS and Masonic rituals
–no Hebrew DNA in American Indians
-etc. etc.

This is the kind of stuff that is used as ammo against the Church and I can just imagine someone learning these things right off the bat and deciding they’ve heard enough and don’t need to know more. They’ll decide that Romney belongs to a “weird cult.” After that, maybe they will pity him, but I don’t think they will vote for him.

Catholic theologian David Tracy proposes that we make use of what he calls “the analogical imagination” in interfaith dialogue, which involves maintaining the tension between similarity and dissimilarity without collapsing the relationship into either one, and I find that a potentially helpful way of thinking about this. In other words, our doctrines may have analogues in those of other traditions; they’re not exactly the same, but nor are they utterly foreign.

Matt B. said (#2):

Personally, the more freaky stuff about Mormonism I learn the more I like it.

That figures.

Actually, I think you raise a good point–what one person might find off-puttingly weird might be embraced by another as refreshingly different.

Dave T. (#3), I agree that one of our problems is that we locate our supernatural stories in the recent past, rather than having them shrouded in centuries of tradition. Angels in the 19th century simply sound stranger than angels in the first century.

A couple of comments make what I think is a relevant distinction between Mormons as people, and LDS theology. My guess is that it’s easier to persuade others that Mormons are relatively normal folk than that LDS beliefs aren’t bizarre. Though I want to think more about the extent to which the two can really be separated.

I also think Petra makes a good point: the assumption that education necessarily eradicates prejudice is definitely one worth examining.