2012 Pew Report:Mormons in America
On January 11, 2012, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life released a groundbreaking new survey, the first ever published by a non-LDS research organization to focus exclusively on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their beliefs, values, perceptions and political preferences. [1] The Pew Forum titled the survey, "Mormons in America: Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society." During the 2011 campaign for a Republican candidate for president, members of the Church of Jesus Christ, who are often referred to as Mormons, came under the spotlight for better or for worse. Journalists began to call this the "Mormon moment."
The "Mormon Moment" has included the presidential candidacies of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, Jr. with the ensuing press coverage; unflattering presentations of Mormons in various television shows; an obscene award-winning Broadway musical about Mormons; and a sophisticated ad campaign launched by the LDS Church to show what Mormons are really like. One journalist called the mostly anti-Mormon commentary "the last acceptable bigotry." No one seemed to mind (except for Mormons, of course) that prestigious publications unleashed unsubstantiated diatribes against the Church of Jesus Christ, consistently twisting the doctrines of the LDS Church.
