Mormon men become hotter-day saints for calendar

It was just a little sexy this week when Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney stood up in his power suit in San Francisco and blasted Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York.Oh, how forceful! And from such a pillar of a peace-loving religion.

Romney’s not all the Mormons have cooking these days.

Twelve new calendar boys are baring their bods and declaring their love for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Meet the poster boys for missionary style in their steamy new calendar, “Mormons Exposed.”

Members of the religion are forbidden to drink alcohol, coffee or tea, smoke cigarettes or have premarital sex. Each year, 50,000 young Mormons go on two-year missions to Third World countries around the globe to help feed the poor and teach people about Mormonism.

Each of the 12 men featured in the sexy calendar has recently returned from a mission, and calendar creator Chad Hardy, a sixth-generation member of the Mormon Church, hopes that by baring their beefy physiques the young gents will help dispel the uptight image that many have of the Mormon faith.

“What a great way to show the world that Mormons aren’t these stuffy, puritanical people,” Hardy said.

“It’s a way to showcase the different side of the Mormon male, and a lot of people think it is a great way to create a dialogue between different religions.”

If only more buff young men of faith would take their tops off in the name of religious understanding - the world would be a better place!

Mr. April, 24-year-old student Jonathan Martin, says he thinks the calendar is funny, but says he was kind of nervous at first.

“I had a little bit of apprehension, but then it was actually fun and lighthearted,” Martin said. He agrees with Hardy that the calendar will help take the stuffy edge off Mormonism.

“We are individuals, and we make our own decisions, and we take our religion seriously as well as our individuality.”

Plus, for Martin, who is hoping to break into the entertainment industry and has already written a screenplay, it wasn’t a bad way to get his name out there.

Of course, there’s been some backlash from conservative church members.

“Yeah, some people have told us we deserve to be excommunicated and that we are going to hell and aren’t properly representing Mormons, but a lot of people have been really supportive, too,” Hardy maintains.

The calendar went on sale three weeks ago exclusively at www.mormonsexposed.com and has already sold 1,000 copies. Hardy expects sales to increase as the holiday season approaches.

Each of the young missionaries who “bare testimony” in the calendar will have the opportunity to donate proceeds from sales to the area of the world where he served his mission.

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