A View From Outside

Having been born and raised in the Mormon Church, I can confirm that such a background influences one's entire world view. I call it the Mormon-Colored Glasses Effect. It becomes intrinsic to who you are, looking at everything around you from a Church-approved, Church-favoring, Church-centric perspective.

Which makes for some interesting disconnects when such a person encounters a view of the Church from outside, not filtered by those glasses. Many conservative Mormons tend to reject such outside perspectives as inherently biased or pejorative, and that's unfortunate. One would think that a church whose avowed aim is to try to convert the whole world might want to understand how those outside really see that church.

With that background, I'm going to link you to one of the best bits of commentary I've seen in a while along these lines. It's insightful, accurate and fun to read, and it's from a Church member whose honest assessments are likely to make some culturally conservative strictly orthodox Mormons squirm more than a little bit. This should be a wake up call for the LDS Church that much work remains to be done. Click here.