Casey Clinger became the first male athlete in Utah to ever receive a Gatorade athlete award, an honor won by famous athletes like Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Jabari Parker. And he received it in one of the most surprising of ways.

In the mid-1800s, newly converted families from across the United States and Europe gathered in the growing Mormon town of Nauvoo, Ill., to help their prophet, Joseph Smith, build a New Jerusalem. Soon driven out by anti-Mormon neighbors who killed Mr. Smith and his brother Hyrum, they trekked westward by foot and on horseback, chased by Indians, cholera and even United States troops before settling together safely in Utah.

You may think you've heard the story of Joseph Smith and his martyrdom, but you've never heard it like this.

Learn how Elder Takashi Wada, who was raised Buddhist, and his wife, Naomi Ueno Wada, who was raised Shinto, discovered The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and sacrificed much to follow their new faith.

Do you want to hone your writing talents and passions? The American Night Writers Association is hosting its 21st Annual Writers Conference in Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona!

When Alex Boyé first joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2006, he was one of only three African American choir members. Over the last 12 years he has had many solos in the choir and performed many other places on his own. Though he has performed in many different venues, released several albums and even starred in a documentary about his conversion, he initially attracted the most attention when his collaborative spin off of Coldplay-Paradise with The Piano Guys hit YouTube.

Outside of Utah, the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – the Mormons – is in the minority. Inside of the state that trend is reversed. Newcomers to Utah suddenly find themselves in the minority if they are not a part of the dominant religion and its accompanying culture. To members of the LDS church, religious and cultural intolerance is nothing new. A quick run-through of the church’s early history in the American East and Midwest is full of tales of persecution and forced expulsion.

Hundreds of Mormon missionaries assigned to serve in Brazil increasingly find themselves preaching not in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo or Fortaleza, but instead in Philadelphia, Pocatello, Idaho, or even Provo. The LDS Church’s São Paulo Missionary Training Center, which can accommodate up to 700 trainees, currently houses only about 60, none of them U.S. citizens. And the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has lowered the missionary age from 19 to 18 for male Brazilians to make up for the loss of full-time American missionaries.

In The Book of Mormon Broadway musical, the central character Elder Price sings, “I Believe…” followed by a mixed series of benign and ridiculous claims. The genius of the song is that it so perfectly performs widespread American perceptions about Mormonism in the early 21st century. Elder Price, and Mormons in general, are presented as harboring some naive and strange ideas, but in the end being good people with good intentions who might actually be able to help people. Mitt Romney’s upcoming nomination as the Republican candidate for President seems to confirm how Mormons generally have come to be understood. Even Evangelical Republican voters have largely overcome some hesitancy about Mormonism, perhaps accepting it the way viewers of The Book of Mormon musical come to accept Mormons. Romney may hold some wacky religious ideas, but he is a good person who may actually help some people.

WITH MITT Romney’s candidacy for president, the Mormon church approaches an epochal moment in its deep engagement with American politics. The nation, too, is at a threshold - entering, perhaps, a more spacious public understanding of many once-marginal groups. In the Mormon case, it’s been a long time coming. Romney may be a front-runner for the Republican nomination, and his father George may once have been a serious candidate for president, but the first Mormon to run for president was the first Mormon himself.