Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Chapter 4 of the book "The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith," by Matthew Bowman, published this week by Random House. Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Bowman. All rights reserved. If the Mormons saw themselves as a new Israel, the trek west was inevitably their Exodus. For generations of Mormons, including the one that walked across the prairies, what mattered more than the destination was the act of the journey. It was a collective rite of passage that thousands of Mormons endured, as they had learned to endure all suffering: the death of their prophet, their flight from Ohio and Missouri, and their march across the plains all were taken as divinely sent education, clarifying and refining, testing the bonds that the temple ordinances had created, and they saw God's hand in every bush of berries. Many Mormons were rebaptized upon reaching Utah; they had traveled not only from the United States to the Utah territory but also from the secular realm to God's promised land, reborn into a sacred world. The banks and courts still close in Utah on July 24, the day Brigham Young crossed into the Salt Lake Valley, and the Mormons there celebrate it still, though the number of those who have ancestors who walked across the plains is a fading minority. They have become an archetype.

Mainstream Mormonism is no cult, and Mitt Romney is more fit to be president for his work in the church. Growing up in New York, my family and best friend, John, visited the Mormon Pavilion at the World's Fair in 1965. My mother and John filled out a card to learn more, and before long, missionaries - classically attired in white shirt and tie - arrived at our door steps. My mother and I did not have much interest, but John soon began a journey completed by becoming a Mormon at the age of 17.

God works in mysterious ways to perform His wonders. Old Testament prophets complained about the instruments God chose, but God went on being God despite their complaints. 2012 is likely to give Americans two serious candidates for president that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Many conservative Christians, for good and bad, get inspiration and information from Glenn Beck, who is also a member of the Church.

The scene at a Mormon congregation here on a recent Sunday would surprise Americans who think of Mormons as young white missionaries in stiff white shirts, black ties and name tags.

Check out this emotional and moving performance from the American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic. The Lyceum Philharmonic is comprised of nearly 100 high-school musicians who come from many schools across the state of Utah to participate in an after-school music program at American Heritage School. The Philharmonic is one of five orchestras in a community program that boasts over 200 students ages five to eighteen.

America is famously religious, but also famously illiterate of religion. Only about half of Americans know, for example, that the Quran is the holy book of Islam or that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. So why is Modesto School District the only one in the nation requiring students to take a world religions course? Part of the problem is widespread misunderstanding regarding U.S. law. According to a 2010 Pew Forum survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans erroneously believe that the Constitution forbids public schools from offering a course on religion.

The youth wing of the ruling United Russia party's held a protest on Thursday calling for a ban on Mormon missionaries in Russia, charging that they were potential American spies. "This is an American sect," said Ekaterina Stenyakina, co-chair of Young Guard's coordinating committee, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. "They are funded by the United States of America, and it's been proven that many young Mormons return to the U.S. to work for the CIA and FBI."

Religion in America is in a state of flux. The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey shows that the number of those who claim no religious affiliation nearly doubled from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008.

While in Peru during his South American ministry tour, President Russell M. Nelson did something unexpected—he dismissed his interpreter to speak to Latter-day Saints in their own language. Watch their touching reactions and hear President Nelson's powerful witness as he bestows an apostolic blessing in Spanish.

Elder Gerrit W. Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares made history during the April 2010 general conference by being called as the first Asian-American apostle and the first Latin American apostle respectively. Here are 6 fun facts about Elder Gong.