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Membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is expanding rapidly. As the church passes the ten-million member milestone, social science researchers have raised a number of important questions about the rapid growth of Mormonism. Issues include changing Mormon demographics, cultural tensions of church globalization, and the evolution of Mormon identity and assimilation. Another topic of research focuses on mass media use and the role it plays in the ways Mormons accommodate the larger society. What has not been examined, however, are the ways mass media, such as movies, television, newspapers, etc., tend to describe Mormons. 

The August 4, 1997, issue of Time featured on its cover a shot of the Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake City Temple, illuminated against a night sky; the cover’s caption read “Mormons, Inc.: The…

In winter, you get onto the train to Moscow at dusk or at first dark. From the Tallinn train station, you can almost see the lights of the harbor. The train station, though, smells nothing…