Olympics Shine Light on Mormons
Church Tries to Direct Media Glare Toward Dispelling Myths

Listen to the report by Howard Berkes.

The Assembly Hall on Temple Square. Photo: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Feb. 2, 2002 -- French reporter Jean-Sebastien Stehli arrived in Salt Lake City under orders from his editor: make fun of the Mormons. Stehli, who writes for the weekly L'Express, says he expected to meet droves of humorless men with multiple wives and rigid morals.

As Howard Berkes reports for Weekend Edition Saturday, Mormon officials were expecting such attitudes, and were prepared to address them. Rule No. 1: no proselytizing. "We're not going to have missionaries on the street…" says Mike Otterson, the church's director of media relations.

Although some people are calling this year's winter games "the Mormon Olympics," the church is planning to keep a relatively low profile -- using the event not to convert people, but to try to counter some of the misapprehensions that surround the religion.

For instance, the church has banned polygamy for more than 100 years. For a while, church leaders unofficially sanctioned the practice of men having more than one wife, but they no longer do. Still, thousands of people still practice polygamy, and many of them consider themselves the "true Mormons."

Also, while the church's beliefs do not jibe perfectly with mainstream Christianity, it is, in fact, a Christian faith that follows Biblical teachings. The Book of Mormon is called "another testament of Jesus Christ." It contains the writings of prophets that church members believe were discovered and translated by 19th Century Vermont native Joseph Smith, who founded the church and began a migration West.

Since Utah has by far the highest concentration of Mormons in the country, the Olympics is providing a platform for the church to explain itself to the world at large. "It is an opportunity to dispel some myths," says Otterson. "Especially about who we are, what our beliefs are, are we Christian, those kinds of things."


Other Resources

• Learn more about Joseph Smith and the Mormons.

• This isn't the first time the French have taken shots at the Mormons. Just check out this chapter of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

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