I Believe! The Origin of “Strange” Mormon Beliefs by Samuel
Brown The charismatic Elder Price of Broadway’s Book of Mormon
musical famously and energetically sings “I Believe!” in a
boisterous catechism of odd Mormon beliefs. But Elder Price is
only one voice in a chorus broadcasting Mormonism’s strangest
doctrines. While the Mormons portrayed in the musical are
presented as basically good if generally deluded, many
discussions of the Mormon tradition emphasize the utter
absurdity of their beliefs. The average reader is left wondering
how on earth Mormons could be so credulous. In context, though,
these caricatured beliefs make a certain kind of sense. There
are two general points that need to be made before discussing
any relevant context for specific beliefs, though. First, Mormon
belief is as diverse as that of any other religious tradition.
Mormons include dogmatic fundamentalists and believers not
unlike mainline Protestants, while large numbers of practicing
Mormons hold few-to-none of the beliefs circu