First off, though, let's give faithfully-fervent Mormons the chance to defend themselves against the public charge that they're "weird" out the wazoo.

Let's lead off with Mormon Church president, Gordon B. Hinckley--who the official website of the LDS Church admits had as one of his "recurrent themes" the notion that Mormons are merely "peculiar."

Quoting Hinckley on that:

“We are a peculiar people. There is a wholesomeness about you that is beautiful and wonderful. We don’t smoke, we don’t drink, we don’t even take tea or coffee. That is strange for a lot of people. We do vicarious work for the dead. We teach that marriage in the house of the Lord is for time and for all eternity, that families can actually be forever. We are a peculiar people, and thank heavens we are.

"If the world continues to go in the direction it is going, families breaking up, pornography everywhere, drugs and things of that kind, we will become an even more peculiar people. God has blessed us generously and kindly and greatly. How thankful we ought to be”

(Gordon B. Hinckley, LDS Church fireside, Sydney, Australia, 14 May 1997, quoted in "Recurring Themes of President Hinckley," under "Peculiar People," at; https://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/06/recurring-themes-of-president-hinckley?lang=eng)


Don't get Hinckley wrong. Just because Mormons are "peculiar" doesn't translate into Mormons being "weird."

On CBS's "60 Minutes," Hinckley announced to anyone one on Planet Earth who might be interested:

"We have a different way of life. There is a difference. It is a way of life and it doesn't fit the mold that a lot of people have.

"So, we are different and THEY use the word 'weird.' . . .

"We live in the world, we are part of the world, but we don't need to take on all the ways of the world. That makes us appear different and I suppose 'weird.'

"But we are not 'weird.'"

(Gordon B. Hinckley, interview with Bob Anderson, CBS TV "60 Minutes," 6 December 1995, quoted by Charles Didier, "Religion, the Church and the World," devotional address, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Rexburg, Idaho, 28 January 2003, emphasis added, at: http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/transcripts/devotionals/2003_01_28_didier.htm)


OK, before moving on to the defensive claims of other non-"weird" Mormons, let's consider some commentary on the above "we-aren't-'weird'" declartion offered up by Hinckley:

"Not 'weird'? They [Mormons] deliberately go against the standards of the world. Isn't that the definition of 'weird'?

"Their scriptures say they are 'a peculiar people'--doesn't 'peculiar' mean 'weird'?

"They wear protective underwear that they know will be mocked if people saw it, so they keep it well-hidden. And the things they do in the temple--especially before they changed it in 1990--are similarly easy to mock. Doesn't that prove that they know it looks 'weird'?

"They call Joseph Smith a prophet. Joseph, the guy who slept with other men's wives. And Brigham Young, the polygamous ruler of a mountain empire. Isn't that just a little bit 'weird'?

"They believe the Book of Mormon, which says (in the book of Ether) that the first Americans arrived in submarines. The first ancient Americans arrived in submarines?? Doesn't that sound 'weird' to you?

"And don't get me started on Kolob!

"Not 'weird'? You decide."

("Gordon B. Hinckley: Does He Always Tell the Truth?: 10 More Teachings from Gordon B. Hinckley," under "And Finally . . . 'We Are Not 'Weird,'" at; http://www.exmormon.org.uk/tol_arch/atozelph/gbh_part2.htm)


Now, where were we? Oh, yes, more from those non-"weird" Mormons who aren't done yet in denying their "weirdo" status.

Again, on "60 Minutes" (this time being interviewed by Mike Wallace), Mormon president Hinckley goes on goofily about the Mormon "weirdness" factor. In fact, he's obviously so sensitive and guilt-ridden about Mormons actually being "weird" that he brings up the subject all by himself:

Gordon B. Hinckley: "We're reaching out across the world. We're not a 'weird' people."

Mike Wallace: "A 'weird' people?"

Gordon B. Hinckley: "Yes."

Mike Wallace [standing in front of SLC temple]: "Mormons know that some outside people think they are 'weird.' Why? Well, for one thing, devout Mormons wear sacred undergarments for protection from harm--cotton undershirts with undershorts that reach to their knees."

[Mike Wallace interview with Willard Marriott]

Mike Wallace: "Do you wear the sacred undergarments?"

Willard Marriott: "Yes, I do. And I can tell you they do protect you from harm."

Mike Wallace: "Really?"

Willard Marriott: "Uh-huh. I was in a very serious boat accident. Fire--boat was on fire, I was on fire. I was burned. My pants were burned right off of me. I was not burned above my knee. Where the garment was, I was not burned."

Mike Wallace: "And you believe it was the sacred undergarments."

Willard Marriott: "I do. Particularly on my legs, because my pants were gone but my undergarments were not singed."

[Mike Wallace interview with Steve Young]

Mike Wallace: "And do you think that the sacred undergarments have kept you from harm on the football field?"

Steve Young: "I actually take them off to play football. The sacred nature of them, I find that the nature of football, and the sweating and so forth, I actually take them off and I think that's probably prevalent with athletics in the Church."

Mike Wallace: "Really?"

Steve Young: "But my teammates have enjoyed when, you know, you're getting dressed and you're putting your garments on. They, they think they're pretty cool, a lot of them. And they're, uh, 'Hey, where'd you get those?' And I always tell them, 'They're way too expensive.'" [Both laugh.]

[Aerial footage of farmland, then of Mike Wallace and Gordon B. Hinckley walking around Temple Square]

Mike Wallace: "Another curiosity. The Church owns more than 3,000 acres in northwest Missouri where Mormons believe that Jesus will return for his Second Coming. Gordon Hinckley prefers not to talk about Jesus returning to Missouri, or about sacred undergarments. He says that those points miss the point. He wants to portray Mormons as mainstream, not extreme.

"And for that, Hinckley has hired a Jewish-owned public relations firm. Mormons hiring Jews to help spread the word? Makes sense to Senator Orrin Hatch. But then, he wears a mezuzah on a chain around his neck. A mezuzah is often put at the entrance to a Jewish home as a reminder of their faith."

[Mike Wallace interview with Orrin Hatch]

Orrin Hatch: "It's typical of Mormon people to love all people, but especially Jewish people. I wear a mezuzah just to remind me, just to make sure that there is never another Holocaust anywhere. You see, the Mormon Church is the only church in the history of this country that had an extermination order out against it, by Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri. We went through untold persecutions."

(Gordon B. Hinckley, interview with Mike Wallace, CBS TV "60 Minutes, " 7 April 1996, at: http://lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml)


So, to recap the Mormon madcaps:

--According to Mormon Church president Gordon B. Hinckley, Mormons are peculiar, but not "weird."

--According to former BYU quarterback Steve Young, when he slips into his secret Mormon underwear in the San Francisco 49er team locker room, his teammates don't think he's "weird;" rather, they think he looks "cool."

--According to Utah Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch, Mormon undergarments aren't "weird" because, after all, Hatch says he also wears a Jewish mezuzah.

*********


Geezus Garmies, Mother oF Mormon.

Now's your chance, folks, to help Mormons understand the obvious. List your own reasons why Mormons are undeniably, demonstrably, clearly and unequivocably "weird."

(Note to Admin: Please consider keeping this thread open for a while. Mormons secretly lurking here might be able to learn something from it--although if that happens, it might be "weird," too).

:)



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2013 04:03AM by steve benson.

MORmONS hate the God Makers cartoon which accurately portrays actual MORmON doctUrine to a large extent. Decades before the God Makers cartoon presented MORmON doctUrine, LDS Inc was very busy enthusiastically presenting much of the very same MORmON doctUrine in a myriad of media forms, including cartoons. The official LDS INC head of the MORmON PR dept and the LDS INC modern style marketing push was Gordon Hinckley. When the public was surveyed and feedback was collected after the public was presented with LDS doctUrine at some public venue like the world fair, guess what was one of the foremost terms used by the public to describe MORmON beliefs.

When Mike Wallace's CBS 60 Minutes interview of Gordon Hinckley took a a more critical turn, it was no accident that "weird" was the foremost term in Gordon Hinckley's mind when MORmONISM was viewed critically by outsiders, and the one that Hinckley chose to bring up and directly object to most strenuously.
Hinckley knew what the public's foremost objection to MORmONISM really was. He had spent much of his PR career trying to combat and overcome that perception. Hinckley's "Dont pay attention to those little flecks of history", "I don't know that we teach that" and "It's not doctrinal" comments are all outgrowths/manifestations of the very same impetus -that of denying that MORmONISM is weird in spite of reality.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8YYLtUeRvI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YEMX0VooD4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDhAIjF0wQI



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2013 10:46PM by lucky.

I have heard similar garment stories regarding burns. I would like to talk to a burn unit doctor and find out if any old undershirt generally decreases burns under the extra layer.

They believe that they are the only people on earth with the "true religion". So EVERYONE else on earth is wrong. Weird may be too soft of a word. How about arrogant, conceded, holier than though, psychotic, and on and on. Plus it was founded by a pedafile aka Warren Jeff's lookalike.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2013 11:04PM by whattookmesolong.

My contribution: God has a body of flesh and bones and resides on his own planet called Kolob. Yet, he is omnipresent. How is this possible?

I`m a retired nurse. I have also seen the damn things melted into their skin. How is that so cool? Yet the failure of the protection is summed up to be a doubt in faith. But still alive to repent and be weird another day.

Have you seen an added layer in the form of normal undershirts and underwear prevent burns? I'd assume you have.

As long as not polyester. Depends on the cause of the burns too.

"Weird" is too mild a word. How about "cultists."

Several times, I have heard the Mormons equate their persecution to the Jews and their persecution. That makes me just want to SCREAM!

Then they baptize the Jews, who were killed because of who they were, and proclaim them to be Mormons. To me, that is like eradicating them all over again.

How about "evil."

When I was in the Navy we were required to wear long sleeve cotton shirts in the engine room. Idea was to prevent scorched flesh from adhering to hot metal should it be accidently contacted. We did not worship these shirts; just wore 'em, got 'em dirty then washed 'em. Polyester in the engine room would have been a bad idea.