The Christian Century

(RNS) Mitch Mayne is not the first openly gay person to hold a key leadership post within the all-volunteer clergy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he may be the first to announce it from the pulpit.

(RNS) Mormon founder Joseph Smith may have declared all churches to be wrong, even apostate, but he also defined Mormonism as "an inclusivist faith that not only sees and appreciates goodness and truth in other religious traditions but is willing to acknowledge divine action in those other traditions."

For decades, Mormon conservatives have believed that their politics matched the positions of their church—opposing abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment and same-sex marriage, for example.

Now one issue puts conservative politics and church views seemingly at odds: immigration.

(RNS) To many viewers, the "I'm a Mormon" ad blitz from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seemed hip, refreshing and original.

(RNS) A teenager says God and Jesus appeared to him in a grove and told him to start a new Christian church. Another person claims the Almighty talks to him through the radio.

A French girl gets messages from heaven to lead an army against the British, while a Utah woman thinks she is meant to have Jesus' baby and 12 husbands.

(RNS) It takes more than a theological stake to the heart to kill the vampire legend.

From Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books and films to the current HBO saga, "True Blood," fascination with these so-called creatures of the night permeates contemporary life.

So why is this mythic figure so long-lived and potent?