hey, I enjoyed your post...some interesting stuff there from someone who is actually a mormon, and I thank you for putting your informed two cents in.
I must say all the Mormon guys that rode thier bikes around our little town in NH were HOTTIES!!!! and even though I was only about 12 or so, I was very glad when the young man that my mother was trying to witness too, (and he try to convert her of course) kept coming by...he was such a sweetie...sigh....he ended up going to Australlia or something
for me...I could never join the mormon church because I do think they are too controlling for ME...I can see from your posts that there are a lot of differences than JWs that would make mormons a little more free in some ways than the JWs...as in politics etc....and I think that is why so many people think they are as controlling as JWs..because BOTH religions usually have many more rules or principles than exJWs care to live by.
On another note, one of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card is a very active Mormon...he writes a lot of interesting stuff that is based on his faith..he started his writing career with Mormon pagents, plays etc...it is all very interesting...