On Sunday, as I was teaching the Gospel Principles, I shared several
points from a talk Elder Oaks gave at the Harvard Law School in 2010. After the
lesson, a member of the branch asked if she could get a copy of the talk. I told
her that I would email it to her.
Here are several paragraphs I shared from Elder Oaks talk:
We Mormons know that our doctrines and values are not widely
understood by those not of our faith. This was demonstrated by Gary
Lawrence’s nationwide study published in his recent book, How Americans View Mormonism. Three-quarters of
those surveyed associated our Church with high
moral standards, but about half
thought we were secretive and mysterious and had “weird beliefs.” [1] When
asked to select various words they thought described Mormons in general, 87% checked “strong family values,” 78% checked “honest,” and 45% checked
“blind followers.”[2]
When
Lawrence’s interviewers asked, “To the best of your understanding, what is the main claim of Mormonism?”
only 14% could describe anything close
to the idea of restoration or reestablishment of the original Christian faith.
Similarly, when another national survey asked respondents what one word best
described their impression of the Mormon religion, not one person suggested the
words or ideas of original or restoration Christianity.[3]
My disappointment with these findings is only slightly reduced
by Lawrence’s other findings and observation that on the subject of religion, Americans in general are “deeply religious”
but “profoundly ignorant.” For example, 68% said they prayed at least
several times a week, and 44% said they attended religious services almost
every week. At the same time, only
half could name even one of the four Gospels, most could not name the first
book of the Bible, and 10% thought Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.[5]
Here you will find the entire talk:
