I think that is common among many people. Even the solid Catholics I know, and I know quite a number, don't feel they have the corner on truth.
Yes, I would venture to guess it is THE most common religious viewpoint. The idea that there IS "one true church" at all is pretty alien now-a-days.
THere is no question about this. Polygamy will always be tied to Mormonism. This is why the LDS Church is SOOOOOO anti polygamy. They are the most anti polygamy organization out there. But even so they leave it intact through their practice for sealings if a wife is deceased. And the Church leaves it in the canon. So perhaps this is deserved.
Not only is it left on the canon, but apologists engage in vociferous defense of it, so yes, I think it is deserved. But it's not what the church would like. I think the only way the church could open the door to, one day, given enough time (and I'm talking decades, not years), really distancing themselves from polygamy would be to renounce the practice in their own history. I don't think that will ever happen, so they will continue to be linked to polygamy.
I am sure she was just confused.
That's what I thought, but now Cakid says he heard this urban legend, as well. So perhaps it is not an uncommon confusion. The LDS church is fairly unique in this particular requirement.
I disagree. Actually I have been asking a lot of non LDS what their view of the Church is. Some of these persons are my business partners and I have asked them to be candid. In every case they have said that they LDS Church is good organization, does a lot of good, its members a great people, live their faith and make good neighbors and citizens. Two have told me they admire anyone that can be do devoted to a faith that requires so much dedication and had such high standards. One commented he could never do it-he is a liberal Catholic, the other said he could not and would not want to and he is a liberal in name and heritage Jewish person.
So you get mixed results. Some people love Chevy's and other think they suck. Advertising reaches some and not others.
Jason, just telling your friends or associates to be candid does not ensure that they will be. There were times when the topic of Mormonism came up with friends or associates in my past when I was an active LDS, and they were always very careful in their comments. Later, when I left the church, they became more open in their criticism of LDS.
Having said that, I do agree that results are mixed, and that people who live around Mormons often have positive views of them. Mormons (as long as you don't tread on their faith in some way, like be an exmormon) are nice, agreeable, responsible people in general.
But if you're living in an area where it's not uncommon to even HAVE LDS neighbors, you aren't really living in what I'm thinking of as the "mission field". I'm referring to areas that have so few LDS members that people can easily go their entire lives without ever getting to know a "real life" Mormon. These are people whose views of the church comes from social knowledge, for lack of a better term, about Mormonism. I think these are the people the PR is targeted at, because that social knowledge largely consists of, more or less, Mormons are odd and possible polygamists.