It’s an extreme makeover, image-style. Fearing that they have been mistakenly stereotyped by the public, Mormons have launched an aggressive advertising campaign to prove that they are just like everybody else.
“We want to help people understand that we are not who they think we are,” said Ron Wilson, the church official overseeing the campaign. “We’re no different than you. In fact, we might be your next-door neighbor.”
To a certain extend that may be true, but there’s a lot the Mormon Church doesn’t tell you in the ads — just like the LDS missionaries on your doorstep are not upfront about Mormon theology either.
Theologically, Mormonism is a cult of Christianity. Simply slapping the name of Jesus onto a church doesn’t make it Christian in the same way the name Rolex on a $25 watch on sale in Tijuana doesn’t mean you get the genuine article.
In the end, no amount of advertising takes away from the fact that the Mormon Church has plagiarized and repackaged the Christian faith.