The Mormon temple endowment is sacred to faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its members are forbidden by church leaders to reveal them or to discuss them, even within the sacred precincts of the temples themselves. Over the decades, this silence has resulted in misunderstandings regarding the ceremony, which is often now regarded as a reward for righteousness or as an elite status conferred on the church's most loyal members. This book reclaims the Mormon temple endowment as a Messianic sacrament. Its author is Paul Toscano, one of the September Six who were...

In this small book, Paul Toscano sets forth both his criticism and defense of Mormonism and concludes: "Is it possible that God prefers angry disappointed atheists and agnostics over self-assured, self-satisfied, smug, pain-in-the-ass true-believers? Is he provoking us to see that he prefers protests to theme parks? and righteous indignation to supplicating servility? And though a morally indignant, self-indulgent, self-righteous, arrogant atheist is no prize bag, is it possible that God prefers such a person to a mindless, armed religious fundamentalist? Is it possible God does not favor a...