Mormonism This article is more than 10 years old

Book of Mormon not a problem for the Latter-Day Saints

This article is more than 10 years oldBritish branch of church launches ad campaign as South Park creators' musical opens, but says it doesn't object to show

Followers of some faiths, when faced by a bestselling musical devoted to the ribald mockery of their most sacred beliefs, would write stern letters to newspapers or even picket the theatre. Britain's Mormons, it seems, are made of sterner stuff.

The UK arm of what is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has responded to the arrival in London of The Book of Mormon, the critically lauded and deliberately offensive work by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, with an advertising campaign of its own seeking to dispel what the church views as commonplace myths about its adherents' beliefs and lifestyles.

The promotional push will result in advertisements using the slogan "I'm a Mormon" emblazoned across 250 buses in London, with poster space also bought at 10 tube stations including Charing Cross mainline station, a short walk fromthe West End theatre where the show, which won multiple awards on Broadway, opened last month.

The church ran similar campaigns in the US to coincide with The Book of Mormon, named after the text sacred to the faith, published in 1830 by its founder, Joseph Smith. It decided on a UK equivalent after seeing web searches connected to Mormonism more than double since September last year, a period during which Mitt Romney, a member of the church, took part in the US presidential election.

Malcolm Adcock, the spokesman for the Mormon faith in Britain, which has 180,000 members, said the intention was to "bust some myths and counter some stereotypes" about the church. He said: "It's not just a response to the play. That's played a major role in the timing but it's an opportunity for people to hear the story direct from individual Mormons."

Among the myths are claims that Mormons are not Christians, he said. In fact Smith's publication goes "hand in hand with the Bible" rather than being a replacement for it. He added: "There are a lot of other stereotypes and myths. Polygamy was abandoned by the church in 1890. That's the old chestnut."

The campaign has been launched along with a new website for the British church, which includes a long FAQ section explaining beliefs on everything from adherents' shunning of alcohol, tea and coffee, to the faith's tradition of missionary work and views on active homosexuality, which Mormons see as immoral.

The Mormons' US website carries an official response to the musical, noting – perhaps unnecessarily – that it is not endorsed by the church and "is full of profanity and extremely vulgar content".

Nonetheless, Adcock said, the church was not actively protesting against it: "One of the key tenets of our faith is that we respect freedom of choice and, in this case I suppose, creative freedom. We're not standing outside the theatre with placards. In some ways it's an opportunity to correct misinformation."

That said, Adcock has no plans to see a performance himself: "From what I've heard I don't think I would. I would assume the press reports about it so far are accurate."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5FpaGxnkaW%2FcHyWaJmop5tiurC%2BzKilZqWlqLakrctmqqitpJ16sa3RpA%3D%3D