Is it your impression that the Mormon church leadership is de-emphasizing some of the weirder aspects of Mormon theology? I mean, its hard to take the stuff about jesus being Adam, etc. Plus, as the religion expands into asia, can it still be run from Salt lake City? And why are the leaders such ancient old men?
what’s up with the Mormons marrying dead people? That would annoy the crap out of me if one of my relatives turned LDS and married me off after I was dead.
I have never heard of marriage to the dead, but I have heard of baptizing your dead ancestors.
No need to be surly. I understand it’s not cumpolsory – you can refuse the honor, if you want.
Absolutely, to the point of changing some of them. Pretty much every change in Mormon belief and practice over the past 175 years has had the effect of lessening Mormonism’s weirdness and making closer to mainstream Christianity. Just a few examples:
- eliminating plural marriage
- shortening the holy garment from wrist-and-ankle length to knee and shoulder length
- removing some of the more graphic imagery from the temple endowment ceremony
- allowing males of all races to hold the priesthood, including blacks
In addition, the Church seems to downplay doctrines (like plurality of gods and humans becoming gods) that once were proudly preached by a proudly non-mainstream church.
Sure it can. The Catholics still run shit from Rome even though their demographic base is in Latin America, right? In the age of instant global communication, I don’t think the physical location of the seat of power matters as much anymore.
Because there’s a bottleneck at the top, jammed with other ancient old men. 
As a man advances in leadership in the Church, it’s done mostly on basis of merit. Because of this, local authorities (e.g. bishops) can be as young as thirty or so, and even the lower general authorities (e.g. the Seventy) are often in their forties or fifties. However, once a man becomes an Apostle, advancement takes place strictly based on seniority within the Twelve. There’s no written rule mandating this, but there has been no deviation from it since the Mormon Church was founded. With the death of each President of the Church, the replacement has been whoever was the most senior apostle (by tenure, not age) at the time. If you look at the Mormon apostles, the junior ones are in their fifties, while the senior ones, i.e. the ones next in line to be prophet, are in their eighties and nineties and have been apostles for forty years.
It’s my nature. Can’t help it!
Erm, how exactly? “I, Surly Chick, being of sound mind and body, hereby declare if any of my heirs try to marry me off in the Mormon Temple after my death, all my worldly good will then go directly to Fido.”
In the practice to which you refer, nobody would “marry you off” to anyone you weren’t already married to in life. The Mormon position is that normal civil and non-Mormon marriages are for this world only, literally “'til death do you part.” A marriage performed by the proper authority in a Mormon temple, on the other hand, is for eternity and carries the promise of being able to live forever with your spouse after the resurrection.
Say, for example, you were married, died before your husband. After your death, he joined the Mormon Church. He might decide to have you posthumously “sealed” to him to ensure your future together in the afterlife.
I’m not saying I agree with it (considering I don’t believe in an afterlife, I obviously don’t). I’m just fighting ignorance here. And surliness. 
Well, then, consider ingnorance fought. I thought you could be married off to random Mormans after death. FYI, I don’t want to be baptized after death either!
Now get the hell off of my lawn!
Don’t worry about the baptism for the dead thing. Ask yourself this: do you believe in a personal afterlife? If not, then it doesn’t really matter what they do in your name after you die, since you won’t know about it. If so, then according to the Mormons, your departed spirit has the right to refuse the ordinance. 
And believe me, the dudes on your lawn ain’t me. :D:D:D
How do Mormons view other Christians? Do they view them as Christians (I have heard that the reverse is not necessarily true.)
If you are a Christian, are you further along or closer to becoming a Mormon than if you aren’t? And does this hold for the other Religions of the Book (Judaism, Islam)?
Mormons view other Christians as generally righteous, well-meaning people who don’t have the whole truth. Mormons believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly, and they believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God as well. Mormons believe that many truths have been lost from the Bible due to human error or intentional alteration, and religions (i.e. every other Christian sect) trying to reconstruct the entire gospel with just the Bible as a tool will end up frustrated. Mormons that I’ve known (and I’ve known thousands) have been very tolerant of other religions, and often genuinely interested in what they believe.
The reverse is not necessarily true. A lot of more fundie Protestant religions think Mormons are heretics and blasphemers due to a couple of oddball Mormon beliefs. I think those Christians are in the minority, though; I grew up in decidedly non-Mormon Maryland and most of my Christian friends tolerated me and my beliefs just fine.
From my entirely limited perspective, it’s my understanding that temple recommends aren’t very common. How common are they amongst the general congregation? What’s the process of getting one?
How do Mormons view past historical issues like The Mountain Meadow’s Massacre? Or is it generally not talked about?
They’re either fairly common or very uncommon, depending on your POV. If you think of all Mormons everywhere, they’re not too common, since fewer than half of baptized Mormons attend church on any given Sunday, and those who don’t attend are extremely unlikely to have a recommend. However, if you narrow it down to those who attend church fairly regularly, recommends aren’t too uncommon. You need (IIRC from my temple recommend interviews):
- to believe in God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
- to believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
- to regularly attend your church meetings. (There’s no hard-and-fast numberical standard to meet; it’s in your estimation and the bishop’s.)
- to pay a full and honest tithe.
- to abstain from coffee, tea, tobacco and alcohol.
- to be honest in all your dealings with your fellow men (and, I presume, women).
- to live the Law of Chastity (i.e. no adultery for the married, no sex or sex-type-stuff for the single, no homosexuality).
I think that’s basically it. If I were to venture a WAG, I think about half of the regularly attending adults in the average Mormon congregation have temple recommends.
The Mormon view on those things is really varied. Most Mormons I know of acknowledge that the Mountain Meadows Massacre happened, and that it was a shameful, tragic episode in early Mormon history, but stop just short of believing that Brigham Young himself ordered the attack. There are others (I hate the term apologists) who deny that any Mormon leaders, or even any Mormons at all, were involved and that it was just an Indian massacre. Those people are very much in the minority IME.
And, excuse me for my ignorance, but what is a temple recommend? What does it do for you?
What about sodas? Or fast food? I’ve heard a lot of varying things about the dietary requirements of your average member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My public high school was pinned between the LDS Church to the south and a Lutheran church on the north (and a street to the west and a bunch of cows to the east…), and the LDS church was very nice to the students, let them park there as long as they didn’t vandalize anything or take up space during services, and let the high school use the Church as a home base during Every 15 Minutes for free. While I’ve gotta say that some of the stuff Mormons believe in sends my Weird-O-Meter into the red range (I’m really sorry to any Mormons out there, but it just sounds to me like the kind of stuff people worship in the Final Fantasy series of video games) they tend to be, on the whole, a lot nicer than your average religious person. As far as I’m concerned, they can lock up their temples and believe in whatever the hell they want, so long as they continue to bring nice people into the world.
~Tasha
It’s a little slip of paper that tells the people at the doors of the temple that you’re a member in good standing and it’s OK for them to let you in the temple. They’re typically valid for one year, after which you speak to your bishop again to get it renewed, but you’re expected to turn it in yourself if at any point you know you aren’t worthy anymore.
Many Mormons take the prohibition against coffee and tea and extrapolate it to be a prohibition on any and all beverages with caffeine (i.e. most sodas). The Church has no official stand on this, but it’s worth noting that BYU, the Church’s university, has no caffeine-containing sodas available on campus.
You’re thinking of the French, not the Mormons .
OneCentStamp, Is it true that Mormon missionaries are never allowed to be alone except when bathing or using the toilet (including sleeping in the same room, but seperate beds)? If so why? Why are boys and girls given religious education seperatly? And is it true that a widower can remarry while still sealed to his first wife but a widow must have her sealing cancelled before she can remarry? If so how does the church reconcile it with the ban on polygyny? For that matter if sealing if for “for time and all eternity” how can sealings be cancelled?