ABSTRACT
Jacob is one of the tens of thousands of Mormon teenagers who repeat the ritual every weekday to attend "early morning seminary." Nicole and Denise are her two counselors; Mormon leadership positions are almost always constituted as a triumvirate. Most Mormons would agree that Jacob attending seminary almost matters more than what he remembers from what he was taught there on any given morning. Mormons who are perfect strangers often find upon their first encounter that they have more in common with one another, as members of the same tribe, than they do with many of their non-Mormon coworkers and next-door neighbors. Mormons care about doctrine – or orthodoxy – far more than even most other religious people today. Scholars speak of a "Mormon culture region" that stretches from southeastern Idaho through Utah to patches of Arizona.
