Rage Against the Mormons

On Sept. 11, 2001, the cover of Newsweek advertised a story about the Mormon faith. As the horror downtown unfolded, I passed a newsstand in downtown Brooklyn and stared at the magazine. A dark gray plume of smoke was passing overhead, and a photo of five Mormons peered out at me in spooky self-righteousness. It was like I was looking at a decade-old edition of the weekly.

The Mormons have long been a roaming presence in New York City. They walk in pairs around every district in town, looking like clean-cut college kids selling magazines. Talk to one and you’ll find they’re very polite, but they do want you to know how they feel about Jesus Christ.

It’s not just missionaries coming to New York. The Mormons and their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are here to stay. They built a sturdy-looking brick church in the mid 1990s, right off the Grand Concourse on Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx. Across the street is Poe Park; Edgar Allan Poe’s cottage is a stone’s throw away. One can only imagine what the ghost of Poe must make of his new neighbors.

I’ve gone up to that church–which is typically neat and clean–a few times and have never seen anyone coming or going. A few locals just shook their heads when asked about the Mormons, saying they mainly see them on Sunday when they hold their services. Otherwise the church is used for Boy Scout meetings and other community activities. No one seems to mind the Mormons. In fact, every Bronxite I asked claims they make fine neighbors.

It wasn’t always that way. In 1823, the founder of the Mormon faith, Joseph E. Smith, claimed that the angel Moroni appeared to him and told him that America was the Promised Land. Smith forged ahead. He published the Book of Mormons and began converting followers to his belief that Jesus Christ was both Jehovah and the New Testament savior, and that the Garden of Eden was near Independence, MO, and that the second coming of Jesus Christ would occur there. The "show me" state wasn’t buying it, however, and ran the Mormons out of town.

They moved on to Illinois–where Smith was killed–and in 1846 their new leader, Brigham Young, led the Mormons west to Utah, where they have been ever since. The faith has been battered and attacked, but has always given as good as it got. For years, U.S. troops battled Mormons, and in 1857 Mormons killed 120 immigrants that came to Salt Lake. By the 1890s, the Mormons had outlawed polygamy, and Utah was made a state. Some kind of peace was reached and the faith took over Utah. There are now 11 million Mormons worldwide.

The faith wants to be known as a Christian religion, and Jesus Christ as opposed to Joseph Smith is now the main star in the Mormon faith. But the mainstreaming of the religion is a recent development. The Mormons didn’t open their priesthood to blacks until 1978, when the Mormons claimed to have a vision on the subject.

I wanted to talk to a Mormon leader–or "president"–and called three of their churches listed in the Bronx phone book. I finally got through to a very amiable man who wouldn’t give his name. I asked why no one ever answers the phone at the Bronx church on Kingsbridge Rd.

"Everyone has day jobs, and no one is there during the week."

He put me in touch with Nelson Boren, the mission president for the Mormon faith in New York City. Boren is originally from Arizona and raised his family in Northern Idaho. He has supported himself as an architect and a painter of cowboy art. Boren has been in New York since July with his wife and three of his seven children. He claims that he and the other Mormons "love New York, and the city treats us with great respect."

I talked with Boren for a bit about the prejudices against Mormons–from polygamy to just plain weirdness. He is a cheery man and agreed that Mormons aren’t always treated fairly by the media.

"We do not get a fair shake, but every religion gets a bad rap, not just us. But when we meet New Yorkers, we are treated well. The reception here has been excellent. New Yorkers are friendly and open. They do rush a lot. Our missionaries are treated with respect wherever they go. And they go two-by-two into some very rough neighborhoods and never have a problem because people realize they are not there to start trouble."

How many Mormon missionaries are there in NYC?

"We have 185 missionaries in New York. Worldwide we have over 60,000 missionaries. The male missionaries are assigned to a city for two years and the females 18 months. They are constantly rotating in and out. We have 50 to 60 apartments spread throughout New York City, and the missionaries live there. We don’t have a paid ministry. Every one pays their own way."

I asked Boren how a young man could afford to pay for two years in New York?

"From a very early age, they know that they will postpone college or work, so they and their families save up to pay their own expenses. They go out on their own. The missionaries are only allowed to call home twice a year and write home once a week."

Are these rules?

"Yes, it’s a rule, because during this time we and they want them to dedicate their heart to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are quite a group of people. Many speak two languages, and some four or five. When the time is up, they go back home and begin school or work, but they are much stronger members of the church. They get a lot out of being missionaries."

I asked Boren if he knew that the Mormon Church on Kingsbridge Rd. was on the site of a bucket-of-blood bar called the Wagon Wheel that burned down in the 1980s. The lot was fallow until the Mormons built it back up.

Boren let out a big laugh. "Really? Oh, that is funny. You know that is our chapel, and we usually only go there on Sundays. It’s quite nice, with room for 500 to 600."

I felt better after talking with Boren. His optimism and good cheer were infectious. But given his faith’s reliance on apparitions and visions, I later wondered if any other revelation were coming. Maybe some cheer for the embattled borough that is the Bronx.