Returned missionaries bare tops on calendar
- posted: 02 Oct. 2007
- scrollnews@byui.edu
The next time a returned missionary is told to “bare” his testimony, be careful. He might take it seriously.
Twelve returned missionaries are featured posing in the 2008 “Men On a Mission” calendar, sans shirt, tie and tag. Some photos picture the men proselyting and carrying scriptures. Its arrival brings horror and shock to many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the country and at BYU-Idaho.
“I can’t believe RMs would actually do that,” said Kara Lewis, a freshman studying general education.
Co-founder of “Men On A Mission” Chad Hardy, a returned missionary himself, claims the calendar is meant to break down the conservative stereotype attached to Mormonism, according to the promotional Web site mormonsexposed.com (blocked by campus filter).
“We’re blending sexy and spiritual,” Hardy said, according to The Naughty American in Las Vegas. “It’s OK to be a member of the church and take your shirt off.”
Brother Richard L. Openshaw of the Religious Education Department here at BYU-I disagrees with Hardy.
“I feel that those who have made sacred covenants with the Lord would not expose themselves in such a manner,” Openshaw said. “It is not the Lord’s way of ‘breaking down stereotypes.’”
BYU-I’s returned missionary population does not seem to agree with Hardy’s statement either.
Keith Penrod, a junior studying biology who served in Puerto Rico, calls the idea “horrible” and “ridiculous.”
“What’s the difference between that and a Sports Illustrated edition?” Penrod said. “It disrespects the whole goal of being a missionary.”
Men were not the only ones to express disappointment in the idea.
“We’re different from the world, and as missionaries we should have standards that are higher as representatives of Christ,” said Janae Smith, a senior studying recreation leadership who served a mission in Italy.
Despite negative reactions, Hardy points out that a portion of the proceeds from the project will go toward charities picked by the models. Some include the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and Habitat For Humanity.
Hardy also maintains that the calendar’s market doesn’t only include Mormons.
“I think the gay community is going to be big,” Hardy said in an article in The Arizona Republic. “We sell a lot of calendars to men.” 
