Ten Days in Utah - Episode 2: The Mormons

Apparently Utah is the birthplace of the religious movement we call Mormonism. Their church is actually called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints (LDS Church). The word Mormon is a rather pejorative term, originally used to describe those who believed in the Book of Mormon (their sacred text). I've been warned about "The Mormons" by some of my well travelled friends, worried that I might be converted by one of their peculiar but alluring teachings: polygamy (this just proves what my friends think about me!). Now to be honest, I can hardly handle one woman so this "opportunity" didn't seem that appealing to me.
Actually, the polygamy story is just a myth or simple human ignorance, as the LDS Church dropped these ideas more than a hundred years ago. Of course, there are some "fundamentalists" still practising it. Illegally!
They do however have some weird beliefs that make any reasonably rational person at least smile. And in the beginning I couldn't quite understand how 15 million people or so go back to Joseph Smith's writings every day, looking for guidelines, answers and the absolute truth. Mass brainwashing? Childhood indoctrination? Lack of education? Maybe, but I think it's something else!
Mormons are nice people! I met one on my flight to Salt Lake City. An educated man (he had a PhD), with a lovely family. We had a great chat for a couple of hours and he didn't say a word about his life philosophy, but he managed to make me see that there was something special about him. I couldn't help it, so I asked "what was wrong with him"? He gave me The Book of Mormon (which I thought was quite long and boring, so I went to Wikipedia to get some facts). Later on I spoke to some chaps who had often encounters with them, and they all seemed to say the same thing: nice people, bizarre doctrine. So after a while it all came to me. People need something to help them get through the day. Not just saints and a philosophy, but something practical too. And this is exactly what the Mormons provide. They promote a moral (too moral :) ) lifestyle, uphold the family and encourage a charitable attitude of kindness and politeness. They offer the solution. Now, among so many good things, it's dead easy to hide some fairy tales: "Oh yes, and we also believe that the first Native Americans came from Jerusalem, but just don't worry about it for now."
I recently came across this episode from South Park (some strong language!) that summarises everything I've just said.
And one last thing. I guess one could find equally strange things in every religion from Catholicism to Hinduism. But if it "works for you" and you've managed to find a life balance, I say good for you. I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. There is just one thing. If you're relying on someone else to think for you, one day you might be in trouble.