People are discussing how Romney being the Republican nominee for preident will expose Mormonism to the masses, but what about to the uneducated Mormons themselves? Many Mormons epecially younger Mormons under the age of 30 are not that aware of the church's racist past, or much at all about real Mormon history. It will be interesting to see how all of it coming out will shake their faith.

Many Mormons have wanted a Mormon in the spotlight like this for "missionary purposes," but I think it will backfire not just to nonmormons, but to young Mormons as well.

A current member around 30 years old told me yesterday he was concerned about the mormon church's "sacred" information (temples, etc.) being aired and ridiculed as a result of Romney getting the nomination. He also mentioned there is a lot of anti-mormon stuff on the internet but he doesn't read any of it.

If people are worried that the temple rituals will be ridiculed, doesn't that sort of imply they themselves think the rituals are ridiculous.

Catholics used to conduct rituals in Latin and would not allow the bible to be distributed to the masses, not because they feared ridicule.

Keeping the ordinances secret actually allows people's imaginations to run rampant. When I was a teen, a friend of mine said her mother had told her Mormon priests had sex with the bride during a temple marriage. Because my parents were converts and didn't get to the temple till I was 9yo (long story), I had attended their temple wedding, and was in a position to put her straight. Otherwise, I would have had no idea and no way of countering her mothers' misinformation.

Maybe an appropriate response is "Why? Do you think the temple ordinances are ridiculous?"

Might cause a "thinking" moment.

I used to think the same thing but lately, I'm almost as worried about what the 40-something crowd is thinking. Because the Mormon Church leadership is coming out and flat out denying we believe things that my age group were taught growing up. They didn't bother to inform us that we no longer believe these things. They just say to the media that we don't believe them and then trust us to not blow the whistle on their lying. And all the while thinking "HEY, wait a minute. I know what I was taught. When did they change that?"

The under 30 crowd are more likely to blow things off as anti-Mormon lies because they've never been told those things. They are more likely to leave because there is nothing in it for them. At least the older folks had fun times at church. Correlation sucked all that away.

Very true about the changed doctrine, but many older Mormons are already set in their way of being Mormon. From my experience I have not seen as many Mormons leave the church when they are in their 40's and beyond. Maybe you or others on this site have. The majority of people that I see leave the church, leave when they are in their 20's and begin discovering the truth about the world for the first time. They are finally past the indoctrination stage that is "growing up in the church."

Of course the missionary program is a very effective program to keep that indoctrination going. Think about how kids graduate high school and many with no experience even living on their own are now expected to not just fully accept the teachings of the church, but teach them to people sometimes halfway around the world. Also if you are living in Utah, you are treated as second class if you come from a Mormon home and decide not to serve a mission.

I don't know, but I do know Romney's campaign is going to bring things to light for many people in and out of the church.