I’m a Mormon, and I don’t care who knows it

Living our religion out loud

We’re in the news, we Mormons. It seems everyone is talking about Mormons these days, thanks mostly to presidential candidate Mitt Romney whose campaign has caused a journalistic avalanche of articles, editorials, television interviews, and radio talk shows discussing, if not featuring, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and turning “Mormon” into a household word.

Most of us, however, are everyday people—“the Mormons next door,” so to speak—who carpool, work, and volunteer with you. The truth is, as much as we love to share our beliefs, we try to show great restraint in not identifying ourselves by our convictions right off the bat. Instead, we prefer our behavior, our work ethic, and our good citizenship to first shape your opinion of us. In fact, we’re kind of flattered when you ask if we’re Mormon after you’ve known us for a while, especially if you’ve noticed we’re just a little “different” from other people. Yes, we don’t drink or party, but we still manage to be very happy people. Yes, we serve in the community, but we put our best efforts into our families. Yes, we work hard, but we try to be compassionate and kind to others.

We don’t try to hide our religion; we try to live it.

Still, people are curious, and that’s just fine with us. We welcome questions. In fact, we have websites designed specifically for that purpose. We like it when you go to mormon.org to read or watch profiles of Mormons of many colors and stripes. We like it when you discover our values and research doctrinal topics that we’ve spent good resources trying to explain simply and clearly. We even trust our young missionaries to chat online with you about your unanswered questions.

We don’t mind talking about our religion openly; after all, everyone else seems to be doing just that. But some people would rather read reviews of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon than read the Book of Mormon itself. Still, others prefer “reading” the actions of their LDS friends to actually making a serious study of our doctrine. A little like perusing Cliff Notes for Mormonism, watching how we Mormons conduct ourselves and live our day-to-day lives seems to be the shortcut for learning about us. We get this. Unfortunately, our lives don’t always measure up to the high standards we ascribe to. You certainly won’t find Mormons claiming to be perfect, but you might be hard-pressed to find a group trying more earnestly to be so.

I’m a Mormon, and I don’t care who knows it. In fact, I would like everyone how my religion shapes me. So, bring on the questions, and I’ll try to answer them honestly. In the meantime, I’m sure my actions will continue to speak louder than my words.