←back to thread

Mormons Make Great FBI Recruits

(www.atlasobscura.com)
80 points churchill | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.218s | source
Show context
churchill ◴[] No.35772608[source]
TLDR: 1. Strong foreign language skills from overseas missions. 2. It's easier getting them security clearances since they don't use drugs or alcohol.
replies(6): >>35773289 #>>35773356 #>>35773359 #>>35773366 #>>35773395 #>>35773490 #
sidewndr46 ◴[] No.35773356[source]
Lots of people think this means "don't smoke" or something like that.

From the members I have conversed with, they are forbidden from using caffeine.

replies(5): >>35773463 #>>35773478 #>>35773510 #>>35773768 #>>35773777 #
lolinder ◴[] No.35773463[source]
Coffee and black/green tea are typically considered to be prohibited (I know active members who drink green tea and still participate fully), but caffeine in general isn't banned. One of the apostles even acknowledged drinking a whole lot of diet coke to help while learning to use a computer[0]:

> It took a great deal of time, repetition, patience; no small amount of hope and faith; lots of reassurance from my wife; and many liters of a diet soda that shall remain nameless.

[0] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference...

replies(1): >>35773488 #
sidewndr46 ◴[] No.35773488[source]
I'm not a member, just going off what they told me. From what I understand the actual edicts (maybe it's called something) else aren't really supposed to be published or talked about. So I've only talked to ex-mormons about this.
replies(4): >>35773574 #>>35773742 #>>35774437 #>>35775100 #
1. bart_spoon ◴[] No.35775100[source]
It's not that they aren't supposed to be published or talked about, its that the caffeine thing was never an "edict" in the first place. The edict was no coffee or tea, and culturally that became "no caffeine" because that was a common link between the two. It became a common enough belief among lay-members over the case of many decades that the church in recent years put out a statement clarifying that caffeine is not in fact prohibited or addressed in any way by church doctrine.