The Secret About Mormons

I recently ran across an article on how Utah is attacking homelessness in Mother Jones, the radical
magazine, that reminded that educated people like me are often blind to all the good things that conservative churches and people are doing.

Mention the word "Mormon" or "Utah" around most well-educated liberals, and you'll soon be hearing about their sexism, racism, intolerance toward gays, and all manner of other cruelties.

If you happen to be one of those rare liberals who actually has some Mormon friends, you might notice that they tend to be very family oriented and generous.

Now Mother Jones tells us that one of the reasons that Utah has done such a fine job of reducing homelessness is that they have drawn on the Mormon principle of charity.  Rather than insisting that someone first get sober, drug free, and otherwise get their lives in order before getting shelter, it turns out that once homeless people have a home, they have a much easier time fixing the rest of their problems, so much so that it is costs less to give homeless people a home than it does to deal with all of their problems while they are living on the street.

In this world in which radicals, liberals, and conservatives are so often insulting rather than listening to each other, I find it pretty cool that Mother Jones is pointing out some excellent and humane work coming out of Utah and the Church of Latter Day Saints.

So I invite you to seek out some good news about a group whose politics or theology makes you uncomfortable.