The language of Mormon culture, like that of most other cultures, is fraught with contradictions. All faiths have their intemperate zealots, and even the wisest and best men and women can say uninspired, ridiculous, and even reprehensible things. The religious scholar Krister Stendahl has suggested that in evaluating religions, it is only fair to characterize a faith group in terms of its best, not its worst, manifestations.1
