Item Detail
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27165
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2
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0
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English
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Secrets and the Making of Mormon Moments
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Faith in the New Millennium : The Future of Religion and American Politics
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New York, NY
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Oxford University Press
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217-233
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Americans have historically viewed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) with a mixture of fascination and discomfort. Central to those perceptions has been real and perceived Mormon secrecy. Latter-day Saints, after all, developed elaborate private temple rituals and in the nineteenth century often lived in communities apart from the larger American society. Mormon secrecy thus helped forge identity and maintain community boundaries. And though twentieth-century Mormons engaged mainstream culture more vigorously, perceptions of secrecy and Mormons' potential danger linger still in both media portrayals of the church and its members and in popular culture generally. This chapter traces the religious and political meanings of Latter-day Saints' secrecy to better understand the changing and contested place of Mormonism in American culture.