Not since the Winter Olympics in 2002 has the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints been so extensively featured in the national press. Thanks to Mitt Romney’s rigorous presidential campaign, the Mormon identity, its religious roots, and attendant culture has become an inescapable sidebar news story this summer. National news networks have aired substantial profiles on church leaders as well as LDS practices and beliefs. For the most part, these story packages have been generally positive and now a decently favorable look at what it takes to become a church missionary is featured in the current issue of GOOD Magazine by Daniel Brook, a Philadelphia-based journalist. This brief excerpt alone underscores Brook’s warm appraisal: “It’s like a proselytizing version of the Peace Corps—except the Mormons have seven times as many volunteers in the field as the Peace Corps, and they’re in 145 countries—as opposed to the Peace Corps’ 75. In many parts of the world, a Mormon missionary is the only American the locals will ever meet; the clean-cut, idealistic young face of our nation. With foreign-language fluency and the perpetually sunny demeanor of the true believer, they’re incredibly successful at winning converts. In 1950, there were just one million Mormons; today, there are nearly 13 million.”

GOOD magazine was started by Ben Goldhirsh in 2004 along with Reason Pictures film studio. Sundance filmgoers last January might remember Son of Rambow, a rather innocuous film about a boy who becomes the all-too-willing sidekick of his bully tormenter. Set in the 1980s, the film is propelled with lots of sight gags. Paramount picture optioned the film for release sometime in 2008. Overall, the GOOD enterprise is as its name indicates.

Meanwhile, Romney’s negatives don’t seem to budge against the backdrop of the church’s relatively favorable public profile. Of the leading candidates for either party, Romney’s negatives are the worst, according to the Rasmussen Poll. The bad news is a double whammy for Romney: “44% of Likely Voters would definitely vote against Romney if he’s on the ballot in 2008.” and “[in] terms of partisan reaction, it’s interesting to note that 25% of Republicans say they would definitely vote against Romney.” Ouch!

Regardless of your religious or political preferences, Brook’s article is worth the read. Living here seven years and having had the experience of teaching a fair number of college students who served as missionaries, I learned a few new bits.