News-Letter

Media Credit: Britni Crocker Mormons follow both the Bible and the Book of Mormon as two sacred texts.

Although currently only five Hopkins undergraduates practice Mormonism, they are all actively involved in practicing their faith, attending church service together every Sunday and volunteering through the greater Baltimore community.

Mormonism differs from Christianity; The Church of Latter-Day Saints holds that Mormons follow the true version of Jesus Christ's life and teachings and designate both the Bible and the Book of Mormon as the two prominent texts in their faith.

While Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is God's only son, sinless and the savior of mankind. The Church of Latter-Day Saints holds that Jesus both visited and taught in North America and will be resurrected bodily for the Second Coming.

Also, Mormons regard founder Joseph Smith, who moved the religion's center first to Illinois and then to Salt Lake City, Utah, as a prophet.

"We believe that, while almost all religions are based on truth and populated with people earnestly working to know and serve God, He restored the fullness of His Gospel in the early 1800s through a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith," Corban Tilleman-Dick, a practicing Mormon in the Hopkins community and the President of the Latter-Day Saints group on campus, wrote in an e-mail.

Mormon religious services are universally divided into three parts. The order of these sections, however, depends on the individual Church.

Sacrament, the more liturgical, spoken part of the service, is devoid of pastors; Instead, individuals speak on scriptural topics. The two following Sunday school sessions are split into a co-ed and a gender-segregated part. Outside of services, the entire religious community participates in community service in Baltimore.

According to Tilleman-Dick, organized activities range from helping out with cleaning up city streets to going to food banks and participating in disaster relief efforts. Additionally, [church members] are encouraged to constantly engage in small acts of service for anyone and everyone around us."

However, despite positive Mormon involvement in their community, the religion and its followers are often the objects of harsh criticism. Mormons do not drink caffeine or alcohol, do not smoke and believe in eternal marriages, or the belief that marriage and family continue after death. These characteristics are often the subjects of ridicule and scorn by people outside the Latter-Day Saints community especially because it is often portrayed negatively in the media.

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