A year from now, the 2002 Winter Olympics will bring 2 million spectators and 9,000 media representatives to the church's home in this city framed by the Wasatch Mountains. When they aren't watching skiing or skating, many visitors will wander over to the towering granite temple topped with a golden angel and ask about the institution that dominates the city like Catholicism does Rome. What we'd like is for people to see what we're really about. Though the city has a slight non-Mormon majority, it still bears the strong mark of the church. Mormon families cloister at home on Monday nights for Scripture reading and ice cream.
Every hotel room has a Book of Mormon beside the Bible.
And most everyone you meet is friendly - very friendly. Yet the church is sensitive to the fact that as a dominant institution, it is open to criticism from non-Mormons. So when it comes to the community's preparation for the 2002 Olympics, church officials say they've tried to play an important but not domineering role. Mostly, observers say, they've succeeded. Still, conflicts have arisen over the use of the Mormon temple as the backdrop to the Olympic medal stand and over the state's stringent liquor laws, which are supported by the church.