Win or lose on Election Day, Republican Mitt Romney has already
made history as the first Mormon to win a major party
presidential nomination. But has his race for the White House
changed Americans' perceptions and stereotypes of the small,
insular but fast-growing religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints? And, by extension, has Romney affected how
Mormons view their place in the nation? George Frey/Getty Images
The Mormon Salt Lake temple in Salt Lake City. The Mormon Salt
Lake temple in Salt Lake City. George Frey/Getty Images Two
noted Mormon experts we turned to as the 2012 presidential
campaign draws to a close said that they see national
perceptions of the religion emerging largely unchanged by
Romney's run, but that perhaps it has helped Mormonism shed a
bit of its mystery. "I think the general reader has become more
educated about Mormonism, and some of its reputation for
strangeness has worn off, though it retains its deserved
reputation for difference," says Kathleen Flake, author o