Mormons and Moguls.(Salt Lake City, Utah)(Brief Article)

Brigham Young, the pioneer 19th-century Mormon leader, predicted that "kings and emperors and the noble and wise of the earth" would one day visit the city he founded in 1847 in the valley of Utah's Great Salt Lake. Young, an avowed polygamist who married upwards of 55 women during his life, was obviously a big thinker. So are the industrious, clean-living Mormons who have come to dominate Utah's culture--and who have spent the past 30 years trying to bring the Winter Olympics to their scenic city. Next week that dream will be realized. No kings or emperors will likely be on hand, but there will be plenty of Olympic and corporate dignitaries on hand, as well as the world's best skiers and skaters--not to mention 230,000 winter-sports fans.

What can they expect to find in this quiet little corner of America's West? For one thing, snow, and plenty of it; nestled beneath the Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake City has long been a favorite winter playground for lovers of the outdoors. The region is popular with artists and celebrities, too: nearby Park City, where many of the alpine events will be held, just finished hosting Robert Redford's 20th annual Sundance Film Festival. And with its family-oriented population, vibrant economy and first-class restaurants and entertainment, Salt Lake City is routinely rated one of America's most "livable" cities.

It's impossible to separate Salt Lake City from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church. Not only is the city the headquarters of the fast-growing, socially conservative faith (which assumes that everybody has the potential to become "divine"), Salt Lake City literally grew up around the grand Temple Square, built in the center of town. The Mormon Church is still fighting the perception that it condones polygamy; though the church banned polygamy in 1890, some offshoots of the church still advocate it. The recent prosecution of Tom Green, who married five women, made international headlines. Political power in Salt Lake City--and statewide, where 70 percent of the population belongs to the church-- rests firmly with the Mormon voting bloc. Indeed, most elected officials in the state are church members. "We are a quasi theocracy, there's no question about that," says Jay Shelledy, the editor of The Salt Lake Tribune. "The church does not call lawmakers up and dictate to them. They already know what to do."

How the Mormon Church should behave during the Olympics has been debated since before Salt Lake City won its bid to host the Games. Publicly, the church says it won't be proselytizing before and after competitions, though it is certainly renowned for spreading its word with missionary zeal. "We want to be good hosts, first and foremost," says church spokesman Michael Otterson. In any case, the Mormon presence will be hard to ignore, from the voices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir wafting out from the opening ceremony to the spires of the Mormon Temple serving as a backdrop for the medal presentations. "We knew we'd be criticized, whether we did too much or too little," says ...