And the question is ... unlikely to be posed correctly, even by Jennings himself.

But there doesn't seem to be anyone in America who doesn't know that Jennings is a Mormon — that the 30-year-old software engineer, who lives in Murray and has won $1,321,660 on "Jeopardy!" by defeating all comers for 38 consecutive episodes, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For some people, it's an oddity. For others, it's something bordering on, well, religion.

(After a six-week hiatus, "Jeopardy!" and Ken Jennings return tonight at 7:30 on KJZZ-Ch. 14.)

There are "I Love Ken Jennings" Web sites and "I Hate Ken Jennings" Web sites across the Internet. Most of them seem to make note of his religion, as have hundreds of stories about him in mainstream newspapers and magazines across the country.

A columnist at the Hartford Courant wrote, "Every night at 7, I have a date, and I am not alone in this affair. He's an unlikely object of my affection. He's Ken Jennings, a Mormon software engineer from Salt Lake City who has the facial hair of a newly fallen peach."

Oh my heck. A columnist in ESPN: The Magazine even wrote that, "Watching this Mormon assassin emerge as the MJ of nerds has been the highlight of my summer."

Speaking of odd, one Web site invented a Ken Jennings drinking game. (Two sips if he misses a Daily Double.) The Associated Press noted, "Not bad for a Mormon teetotaler who's oddly proficient in alcohol-related questions."

The Washington Post cleared that up, however, pointing out that Jennings is "a Mormon and former missionary who aces the Potent Potables category thanks to flashcards his wife, Mindy, made to drill him on cocktails."

David Letterman has talked about Jennings' religion. So has Jay Leno. And Conan O'Brien. And Craig Kilborn.

This is the religion of any other single contestant on any other game show in the history of television.

Um . . .

Even when you're clean-cut, upstanding, bright, polite and the most successful man in the history of "Jeopardy!" — a show that debuted in 1964, a decade before Jennings was born — you still can't please all the people all the time. Particularly not when your religion is so front-and-center.

There are plenty of anti-Jennings comments on various Internet chatboards that are either subtly or openly anti-Mormon. On the other hand, there are plenty of sites where, as the Hartford Courant opined, "The Mormons are, of course, cheering him on; he plans to give 10 percent of his winnings to the church."