I am Ryan McKnight.

I'm Kara Santa Maria.

I am Christopher Smith.

Hi, I'm Andrew Torres.

This is Naked Mormonism.

The Serial Mormon History Podcast. Try explaining the Mormon health code to skeptical non-Mormons.

I dare you.

This last weekend, I had the opportunity to go camping with our quarantine buddies who are fellow atheists, but they didn't grow up in Mormonism.

And as we drank, our mild drinks of barley and consumed some herbs in the season thereof, for a bit of entertainment, we played the Book of Mormon musical soundtrack.

After the first song, they had dozens of questions

about Mormon culture, praxis, theology, and any aspect of Mormonism. And we spent the rest of the

evening just doing this to, you know, everybody's amusement, especially yours truly. And I always get a

kick out of explaining deep Mormon history and theology to people who know almost nothing about it.

Of course, at some point in the night, the conversation shifted to the Mormon health code, known as the Word of Wisdom.

According to the Word of Wisdom, Mormons can't drink hot drinks, which applies to coffee and tea because

they have addictive caffeine, but not to hot cocoa or hot cider. They can't drink cold coffee

or tea because they are brewed and they have caffeine, but cold sugary soda with caffeine

is acceptable because it isn't brewed even though it has caffeine. In the

word of wisdom, mild drinks of barley are permitted, but beer is absolutely forbidden in Mormon culture.

Wine of your own make is also permitted, according to the text, but completely forbidden in

Mormon culture. A largely vegetarian diet is encouraged and meat is only permitted sparingly

when plant foods are out of season, but most Mormons today are overweight with colon's full of red

...