From Deseret News archives:

Reader responses regarding "The Mormons" PBS series

Published: Thursday, May 3, 2007 12:10 a.m. MDT
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Even though there were a few segments that made me a little uneasy, but I realize that there will always be parts of church history that were not "perfect" because the church is full of "imperfect" people who make "irrational" choices at times which will always affect the "whole" church image. But then, it just proved the point that "if the gospel wasn't true, the imperfect people (myself included) in the church would have messed it up a long time ago!" — Grace Chen, Bountiful, Utah

I found the documentary to be somewhat informative, but for the most part, very opinionated. To get "facts" from excommunicated members is ridiculous. I feel it should have stuck with the facts, rather than the opinions of historians and former church members. I was extremely offended when Joseph Smith was called a "schemer". It is not difficult to report on beliefs without the bias and opinions.

If the point of this documentary was to inform the world of what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes, it failed miserably. — no name

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I was able to watch approximately 3 of the 4 hours between the two programs and felt there was a nice balance of interpretations presented. Since it was my understanding that one of the stated purposes of the production was to "help break down the stereotypes of Mormonism," it seemed like there was too much of just the "same old" sensational subject matter, thus reinforcing many of the old stereotypes. While massacres and polygamy probably make more interesting sound bytes, a great opportunity was mostly missed to capture more of the essence of a truly unique modern day religion. — Mike Raymond

We watched both nights. What happened to The Mormon Battalion, longest infantry march that secured California for US, plus was the beginning of settlement of California, and other western states. We missed info on the world's largest and first Women's Organization. Sheri Dew would have been much better than Margaret Toscano and the other apostates. Having no doctrine was serious. At least the Articles of Faith could have been mentioned. C- is our grade. — Alan & Elinor Hyde, Salt Lake

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