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How Mormons went mainstream

It’s a moment 200 years in the making.

Everything is coming up Mormon…or at least it feels that way. From reality TV drama to cookies to sodas to how we think about femininity, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is at the forefront of culture in the US. For a religion that only 2 percent of Americans follow, Mormonism is sure punching above its weight.

McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic and also a member of the Mormon church, said mainstream acceptance was kind of the hope all along. “From the very beginning, the kind of fledgling religious movement that became known as the Mormons was subjected to a constant barrage of state sanctioned persecution,” he said. “The early Mormons actually were constantly fleeing from one state to another, trying to find a place where they could set up shop and worship, and they were always driven out of wherever they had landed. Over the course of several years in the early 19th century, they were driven from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois and Missouri. Actually, the governor issued what was called an extermination order that demanded that Mormons be removed from the state or killed.”

So how did Mormonism evolve to have such cultural influence? And how is that influence shaping the faith? We discuss that and more on the latest episode of Explain It to Me, Vox’s weekly call-in podcast.

Below is an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to submit a question, send an email to askvox@vox.com or call 1-800-618-8545.

You write in this piece back in 2020 that Mormonism is kind of the most American religion. What makes Mormonism uniquely tied to the American story compared to other religious traditions?

Well, it’s one of the largest global religions that was founded in America. Also, theologically, the church has always been wrapped up in the American project. From early on, church leaders taught that America was a promised land that had been prepared to be the place where God could restore his church to the earth. Many of the ideas in Mormon theology are also drawn from the sacred American texts. Mormons actually are taught that the founding documents — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution — are divinely inspired, that America is a special place that God has set apart. There are deeper........

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