Mormania

-- The mormon church at Isengaard... sorry, Chorley



Tonight my broadband is being more temperamental than a maverick cop who's just been busted down to sergeant by an irate police chief, so here's your fact:





The oldest surviving Mormon church in the world can be found in Preston.



Preston, Utah? Preston, Illinois? Nope: Preston, Lancashire. I discovered (via my mobile while my computer whirrs and squeals in an attempt to deceive me into thinking there's any hope) that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (otherwise known as Mormons) has had a foothold in the north-west of England since 1837, and according to a BBC article, the glacial building above is used as a sort of church/boot camp for young Mormon recruits (4,900 since 1998). Now any religion that involves a boot camp is never going to float many boats, but one aspect of Mormon life has always caught the eye of those who go into religion for the ladies: polygamy. In other words, Mormon husbands have a harem of wives to themselves, right? Well, not any more: polygamy was outlawed by the Mormon Church in 1890, as any misty-eyed Mormon who converted in 1891 will bitterly tell you.



There's plenty of other myths about the Mormons that can be laid to rest then, particularly regarding it being an American religion: there are 190,000 Mormons in the UK, putting it between Buddhism and Judaism in terms of UK numbers (if you don't count it as Christianity, which a nearby expert has confirmed should be the case). And as for all that nonsense about Jesus living in America, and Joseph Smith being a prophet rather than a shoddy trickster of the highest honour? Oh wait, that's true.