Thursday, September 16, 2010

Why do so many people hate/fear/distrust Mormons?

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. "Mormon." The question is one I've had for a long time. We've seen this kind of persecution in the past, with the Jews, the Protestant movement (Martin Luther), the Civil Rights movement, and others.

I've heard jokes about avoiding Jehovah's witnesses and scoffs about other religions, but seldom have I seen such a wide perspective on Mormons. People either hate us, or they respect us.

I worked for a market research company and on the rare occasion where I got into a personal conversation with the people, the question "Where are you from?" inevitably led to "are you Mormon?" I'm not ashamed of my faith so I answered yes. And one particular man said, "bless your heart!" Which made my day. He also went on to say that they have the missionaries over for dinner sometimes. What a sweetheart!

But what is it about us that people take a scunner to? I know that many Mormons don't live the principle of charity and service, and maybe those few people are why the rest don't like Mormons. But, I think it's more than that.

If people have made up their minds to dislike Mormons, there's really nothing to change that. It's an interesting question. WHY?

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