The Atlantic

The Death of a Prophet

Thomas Monson, the late Mormon church president, stressed the importance of community in an increasingly atomized nation.
Source: Jim Urquhart / Reuters

To his church, he was a “prophet, seer, and revelator.”

To his detractors, he was a barrier to progress.

But when thousands of Mormons line up next Friday on Salt Lake City’s Temple Square to pay their final respects to Thomas S. Monson, the late president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who exactly will they be saying goodbye to?

In the days since Monson’s death, much of the press coverage has couched the LDS leader’s

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