c. 1999 Religion News Service

SALT LAKE CITY _ No American city is more religiously linked in the popular mind than Salt Lake City and Mormonism.

Despite its increasingly diverse population, the Utah capitol is inextricably connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More than half of the city’s 180,000 population are LDS as are 90 percent of the state’s legislators. Indeed, some call it the”Vatican of Mormonism,”because it is home to the headquarters of the 10-million member church.

It is not surprising, then, that the unfolding bribery scandal of the 2002 Winter Olympics is a source of deep embarrassment to Mormons inside and outside of Utah. “This type of behavior is not according to the standards of this community,”Gov. Mike Leavitt told a national television audience in the wake of the scandal.”We revolt at being even associated with it.” The allegations are especially galling to a state dominated by members of a church which prides itself on values such as honesty, hard work, and integrity. There is a smell of hypocrisy about it.

Beyond that, accusations of influence-peddling by the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee, many of whom were LDS Church members, are painful because hosting the Olympics had become such a symbol of having arrived on the world stage.

In the 19th century, Mormons cared little about what the nation thought of them. The beleaguered band of pioneers led by Brigham Young, a man revered as a”prophet, seer and revelator,”trekked to the valleys of Utah to get away from the United States and to practice their faith without interference. But after years of wrangling with the government, Young’s successors understood Utah had to join the union. In 1890, the church even forsook one of its sacred practices _ polygamy _ in order to belong. Six years later, Utah gained statehood.

From that day to this, Mormons in Utah have nursed both a persecution complex and a hunger for approval. They are forever trying to shed their reputation as provincial outsiders. Proud as they are of their heritage, they are stung by the ubiquitous jokes about polygamy and other stereotypes by the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman.”We want to be liked,”said Paul Richards, former editor of The Provo Herald, published in Utah County, home to LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University.”So much of what we do is based on that.” In that regard, the church and state have made great strides, particularly under the leadership of Gordon B. Hinckley, the church’s media savvy president. Hinckley has used powerful media outlets including”60 Minutes,””Larry King Live,”The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle to spread his message of legitimacy and credibility. He has traveled around the globe, speaking to church members and giving interviews to the press. Last year, more than 25,000 Mormons crowded into Madison Square Garden in New York City to hear Hinckley speak _ another symbol of secular success.

And though there are no Mormons among Utah Jazz players, the success of the basketball team in the last two years gave church members everywhere a feeling of pride.

But nothing has been more important to some Mormons than sponsoring the Olympics.

Though LDS Church leaders kept an arm’s length distance from the Olympic boosterism during the bid process, church-owned businesses did contribute $211,000 to the effort. And just as the scandal was emerging, the Mormon hierarchy urged church members to volunteer for the Games.

Many were privately hoping the Olympics would showcase Mormonism and LDS values, maybe even win a few converts for the fast-growing faith.”Salt Lake City will be on the map for those few days across the world,”Hinckley told historian Jan Shipps in 1997.”This is the headquarters of the church and it is going to be a great thing. And it is a great opportunity for us and we must seize that opportunity.” Officially, LDS leaders have issued only one rather terse statement since the scandal broke:”It goes without saying that the church would hope and expect that high moral and ethical standards would be applied in any aspect of the Salt Lake Olympics.” Now, with new allegations about improper payments surfacing almost every day and the resignations of three key Olympic organizers, two of whom were practicing Mormons, some fear the Salt Lake City-sponsored Olympics may be forever tainted with the scandal.

In his State of the State address on January 18, Leavitt, also an active Mormon, said the last few months have been”a period of relentless soul-searching.”He urged Utahns to see the scandal as”a cleansing moment when we all looked inward and returned the Games to their roots of athleticism and altruism rather than money and materialism.” Leavitt’s comments echoed the hope felt by many Mormons that Salt Lake City will thus be remembered more for cleaning up the Games than for their participation in a long-established pattern of under-the-table payments.

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