Mormon Church

A male model wearing a kilt of black vinyl strips, a red belt with a gold buckle and little else is flexing his muscles amid fake oil derricks and Roman columns in a photo studio. All chiseled pectorals and tanned thighs, he is playing Captain Moroni, a battlefield hero in the Book of Mormon who rallied troops with the Title of Liberty banner. Chad Hardy, who is running the photo shoot, adjusts the model's kilt. Captain Moroni lifts his chin, grips a sword and hoists the banner.

An investigation into whether three Mormon missionaries defaced a Catholic shrine on a butte overlooking San Luis has been dropped after Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur Tafoya urged forgiveness. Costilla County sheriff's investigator Cpl. Scott Powell said that the investigation had just gotten underway. Mormon Church officials earlier issued an apology. "I ask that we as Catholics, who believe in the forgiveness of Christ, will ourselves forgive and pray for the young men who showed such a lack of tolerance and understanding," Tafoya said.

HBO on Tuesday defended its plans to depict a sacred Mormon temple ceremony in an episode of "Big Love." The drama about a Utah polygamous family will show an endowment ceremony Sunday. HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized. The ceremony is an important part of the "Big Love" story line, HBO said. In the scene, actress Jeanne Tripplehorn's character, Barb, goes through the endowment ceremony as she faces losing her membership in the Mormon church.

The Mormon Church has to be among the most outgoing on Earth; in recent years its leaders have reached out to, among others, Latinos, Koreans, Catholics and Jews. One of the most enthusiastic responses, however, has come from what some might consider a surprising source: U.S. Muslims. "We are very aware of the history of Mormons as a group that was chastised in America," says Maher Hathout, a senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.

More than a thousand gay-rights activists gathered Thursday afternoon outside the Mormon temple in Westwood to protest the role Mormons played in passing Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. It was the latest in an escalating campaign directed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its role in marshaling millions of dollars in contributions from its members for the successful campaign to take away same-sex marriage rights.

In June, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a fateful decision. They called on California Mormons to donate their time and money to the campaign for Proposition 8, which would overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that permitted gay marriage. That push helped the initiative win narrow passage on election day. And it has made the Mormon Church, which for years has striven to be seen as part of the American mainstream, a political target.

Like so many of the great female R&B singers, Gladys Knight grew up in gospel music. The woman who famously sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" still lifts her voice up for her faith. But to the surprise of some fans, the forum for that faith these days is Mormonism. "It sometimes has been an issue for some people, fans and friends, even family," Knight said. "There's a thought among people that that church doesn't welcome black people, and that's simply not true.

As "Big Love" enters a second season Monday, the HBO series is inspiring a variety of emotions among real polygamists where the show is set, in a Salt Lake City suburb. "There's a certain truth to it," said Anne Wilde, a 71-year-old widow who was part of a family of plural wives for 33 years. "Here's a family of three wives that lives in the community, and they just blend into the neighborhood, although they don't say too much about it."

Here's the problem with electing a Mormon president, as Jason Thurman sees it: "I don't believe he would be guided by God." Thurman, 26, is tidying the annotated Bibles in the Shepherd's Fold bookstore. Over by the rack of Christian CDs, his co-worker Marty Thomas raises a similar concern. "When it comes right down to it," says Thomas, 40, "a Mormon's strength is human. A Christian person's strength is superhuman. I want [a president] who has that extra on his side."