The Associated Press talked with Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as he prepared to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Joseph Smith, founding prophet of the LDS Church.

Associated Press: What does it mean to be a Latter-day Saint?

President Hinckley: It means to be a member of this church in the first place and, in the second place, to conduct one's life according to the doctrine and tenets of the church.

Associated Press: The church through its Doctrine and Covenants lays out a pretty clear and some would say rigid path for living. Is Mormonism a culture as much as it is a religion?

President Hinckley: Out of religion grows a culture. Culture is an expression of behavior, and behavior comes of belief.

Associated Press: How do you hang onto that culture, those ideals in a world that is so rapidly changing and where social standards are changing?

President Hinckley: That's the big challenge. That's also our great opportunity . . . to teach people, to provide for them something of stability and strength and solidarity in a world of shifting values.

Associated Press: From the time the church was founded, it's been maligned, misunderstood and its members persecuted. On some level will the work of getting the rest of the world to understand you always continue?

President Hinckley: To a measure, I suppose. Understanding and appreciation come of knowledge. The more people come to know us, the better they will understand us.

Associated Press: So will they find you a little less peculiar?

President Hinckley: Oh, I don't mind being called peculiar. We are a little peculiar. We're a little different. We don't smoke. We don't drink. We do things in a little different way. That's not dishonorable. I believe that's to our credit.

Associated Press: Why do you think the Mormon Church is not perceived as a Christian church?

President Hinckley: Of course we're Christian. The very name of the church declares that. No one believes more strongly in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more strongly in the power of his redeeming sacrifice. The Book of Mormon is another witness for the divinity and reality of Jesus Christ. The more people see us and come to know us, the more I believe they will come to realize that we are trying to exemplify in our lives and in our living the great ideals which he taught.