Gary Lawrence thinks so, as related in an SL Trib piece. He's the author of a new book, How Americans View Mormonism: Seven Steps to Improve Our Image. Lawrence, a pollster, sampled a thousand people. Here's the bad news:
Forty-three percent said the church treated women as second-class citizens, 39 percent said it used pressure tactics, 38 percent said it was pushy, 16 percent saw it as racist and 16 percent said it was a "church to be feared."
Here's his prescription for dealing with the public perception problem.
To combat these images, he recommends that Mormons listen before commenting, avoid LDS jargon in their conversations, speak plainly and follow the Golden Rule. They also should eliminate pressure tactics from missionary outreach, he says.
Originally posted with comments at Beliefnet.
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