I am sorry to hear that. I got some hate on my mission, but not much to be honest, at least not much that was serious enough to be memorable 12 years later. I know that a lot of missionaries do, especially in certain parts of the country/world. I think California is pretty tame as far as that goes. Take heart!…

I can't seem to find the context of your comment, but I appreciate your kind words even if I don't know the specifics. Sounding "defensive" was something I really wanted to avoid with this article, which is why the editor's title rubbed me (and a lot of others) the wrong way initially. However, I felt better about…

Wow, that would have been a memorable mission experience if I had been in their shoes. The closest thing I probably had (in the totally caught off-guard sort of way) was when this Mexican guy invited us into his back yard to show us a new chicken he had bought which he was very proud of. He was telling us what a…

Very kind words. Thank you very much for your comment (and for not hating us). :) I'm glad you liked the article.

Thanks for the tip. I will definitely check out those sites. I appreciate you taking the time to comment so thoughtfully, and I'm very glad you liked the article.

You may be right and there's a reason I didn't mention South Park among my examples: When you actually look at the theme of those episodes that feature Mormonism and filter out the profanity and irreverence, they actually paint us in a pretty favorable light. I don't think The Book of Mormon musical is anti-Mormon…

Stephen, thank you very much for taking the time to give this thoughtful and thorough explanation. I hope people read it and give the article a second look if they misunderstood it the first time.

Author Here: I'm glad you liked the article. Fallout and Demon's/Dark Souls are the only games I've been engrossed enough by to get up that early to play. Otherwise I am not much of a morning person. But having a wife and family and job and other priorities, I have to find time to game that doesn't interfere with…

Author here: Thank you for your comment. I know the Fallout games, gameplay-wise at least, are not for everybody, but as someone who was raised on Final Fantasy, they stories and level of influence and choice you have in the world just put that series to shame. Perhaps that's why I was so blown away when I first…

Author here: Thank you very much for your kind words and your comment. I know some LDS people too who I want nothing to do with, but I know a lot more who I'm proud to count myself along side. In any case, I'm glad you liked the article and were able to take it how it was intended. Thanks!

Author here: Thank you for your comment. I've been trying to get authorization to promote some different comments (though I am very grateful that, by whatever powers, my comment about the alternative, and less provocative, title I had originally offered has managed to stay at the top and clarify my perspective to…

Author here: Thank you, I really enjoyed this comment and am gratified that you liked the article. I'd be careful siding against these natives though - not too friendly. :)

Author here: Yes, the Fallout games really are that good. They aren't FPS even though they kind of look like it, so you might be thrown by the combat. However, there are some fantastic mods (Fallout Wanderers Edition for FO3 and Project Nevada for New Vegas) which make the combat mechanics a lot smoother and more…

Author here: I loved this comment. Thank you!

A fair question and a courteous comment, thank you. I used the term Mormon here just because it's so much shorter and because it's what more people are familiar with. We have been asked by Church leadership to use the proper name of the Church as often as possible, but in some cases (like this article) it's just not…

You're welcome. Thanks for reading!

I did see a lot of what they were planning to do which I mentioned in the article and hope those interested take the time to look up. Thanks for the comment, though I don't think the comments section is hurting for any more Mormon jokes. :)

Thank you very much for your kind words. I was expecting a significant amount of trolling and flaming in the comments, but fear the substituted title seriously magnified that reaction and made a lot of people miss the point. I was hoping to offer a different point of view, one that the great majority of people who…

Thank you for taking the time to read it. I hoped that it would make people think a little more deeply about the amazing world that Obsidian and Bethesda have created. I'm just sad so many people decided to turn it into a flame war and missed the point.

Thank you very much for your comment. I'm very glad you liked the article and it sounds like you got the point that so many others seem to have missed.