A towering complex of granite buildings in downtown Salt Lake City, overlooked by the magnificent Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges, holds the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The streets around Temple Square are so wide they seem deserted even during rush hour; Brigham Young, the city’s founder and president of the church for 30 years until his death in 1877, demanded that the thoroughfares be broad enough for a wagon team to turn round without “resorting to profanity.”

On the second floor of the stately Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the scene is one of meticulously ordered activity. Mormonism has been dubbed “the General Electric of American Religion” and the officials (most are men) who work in its public affairs department exude a quasi-martial discipline. All wear white shirts and neutral ties, have sensible haircuts and are clean-shaven. They have foresworn alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco.