The Secret Life of a Mormon Teenager

Religion is not something I’m cavalier about, especially my religion. The formal name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but most people just know us as Mormons.

On TV there are references to Mormons. Jokes about polygamy, strange underwear, and being generally squeaky clean. One thing that everybody seems to agree on is that Mormons are a bit odd, yet generally upstanding law-abiding members of the community.

Religion, in general, is kind of seen as stifling, especially in this age of anti-conformity. This is especially true with teenagers. I read books about kids who have a best friend with super religious parents that won’t let them do anything or go anywhere. These kids can’t have cell phones or wear cute clothes or makeup. They can’t talk on the phone or go to parties.

And while I’m sure this occasionally happens, it’s not the status quo. My own experience as a religious teenager in particular, was quite different.

My parents are not strict people. They might have been a little more strict if I had been a bit more rebellious, but I was a pretty easy teenager. In fact, my dad would tell me, my twin sister, and my older brother that we needed to be more social.

So we would promptly invite all of our friends over for a night of fun games and delicious food. Everyone was polite to my family, respectful of my house, and home by midnight.

Not everyone at these parties were Mormon. Many were friends from school who loved how Mormons would have fun without alcohol, sex, or drugs. In fact, my drama friends thought the fact that we had “Mormon Prom” was adorable.

One of the wonderful things about being Mormon is being part of the Mormon community. You know pretty much every Mormon in not only your town, but the surrounding towns as well. We are very social creatures, especially the teenagers.

There are dances every month, or every week if you’re willing to drive a little. Besides church every Sunday, there weekly activities and frequent seminars. About every year the teenagers will spend a weekend together going to seminars, dances, and activities. The whole weekend will be focused on a specific theme chosen to help whatever people seem to be struggling with, whether that is self-worth, faith, honesty, or trust, or any number of lessons learned from the scriptures.

In high school, my drama teacher asked me if my parents forced me to attend seminary, a scripture study class, every morning before school. He’d met a previous student in that situation, but I loved seminary. Yeah, 5:50 am was a tough wake up call every day. But seminary is not a boring class where you read scriptures for an hour. It’s a class specifically for teenagers, engaging and interactive and usually involving breakfast.

Not a bad deal, even in the early hours of the morning.

In the _Book of Mormon _musical,_ _Mormons are portrayed as naive people who handle life with kid gloves. And you can accept that description. Or you could look at the leaders of the Mormon church, an accumulation of doctors, scientists, lawyers, and politicians who travel the world doing charity work.

You could look at what Mormon teenagers are learning. Growing up, I learned to be confident. To love and appreciate my body, and never take life for granted. I learned the value of being honest and kind. I worked hard alongside my fellow church goers doing charity work, and trying to make the community safer and more beautiful.

Most of all, I learned how to commit to a lifetime of standing up for myself and my beliefs.

Religion is not an excuse. It does not justify personal choices. Religion does not spawn hatred and violence and intolerance. People do that. Religion can teach people to be better, but ultimately that is their choice. It can be difficult to understand any religion at a glance and so we can only do what everyone seems to be asking for, which is not to judge.

As a teenager, I was surrounded by kids my age who believed the same things I did. We all learned to make friends, take responsibility, and try to look at the bigger picture of life.

The truth is, I enjoyed church as a teenager and still do 10 years later. It’s brought love to my family, clarity to my life, and purpose to me.