This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Despite the sweep of last month's Tony Awards, I have noticed that many fellow Mormons, including a few of my open-minded New York City neighbors, have said they do not intend to see "The Book of Mormon: The Musical."

In conversation and on Facebook, they cite Michael Otterson's Washington Post column as a reason that they are opting out. Otterson, head of public affairs for the LDS Church, points out that people may leave the theater "believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion." Thus, he has decided not to spend $200 on it.

I have long admired Otterson for his intelligence and refreshing outspokenness in defending the church. And yet, I disagree with him on this one, or those who read his article as a call to boycott the hit show. I think it would be a mistake for church members to reject the musical en masse; doing so would cut us out of an important part of the national conversation about our faith.

My reasoning is along the lines of Richard Bushman, Mormon historian and emeritus professor at Columbia University, who was recently interviewed on CNN. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if through this funny and outrageous show we got to know one another better?" Bushman said.

Bushman implies that the attention opens up a dialogue that could allow us to give a more accurate representation of ourselves, but it can be hard to join a dialogue when you don't know what others are saying.

I understand the impulse to reject something that might misrepresent your beliefs. When Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven came out, I decided not to spend my money on it. Yet, when I got to graduate school in New York City the first thing people mentioned when they learned that I was Mormon was Krakauer's book. Then, my classmates became enamored with HBO's "Big Love." Again, I chose not to watch it and was not part of the dialogue.

This "ignore it and it will go away" tactic in some ways comes from the church itself. For a long time the church's public affairs office seemed to assume a "head in the sand" policy, and looked the other way and ignored its critics, though this does appear to be slowly changing under Otterson's leadership. Many of the church members have assumed the same "head in the sand" attitude as well; we like it when the church flies under the media radar.

The problem is, between "The Musical," Romney and Huntsman, it looks like we are in for a long stay on the radar. If we refuse to engage with how we are being portrayed, we may in fact become the people who "live in their own reality" as the musical suggests.

For these reasons and others, I did see the musical. I thought that it was funny and well written, but I don't intend to defend or promote the show. It's also offensive and profane in places, and the number of F-swears alone would make my mother's toes curl.

I'm not arguing that the show is for everyone, but I would hate to see members across the board decide not see it for what will likely be a long, successful run.

I teach writing at a university in New York City, and some of my Jewish students asked me, "What's worse, having HBO represent your religion, or South Park?" I told them that I would prefer that people from my own religion represent us in popular culture. In terms I thought they would understand, I told them that we need our own Chaim Potok. I think that's at the crux of the habit of turning away from material that outsiders produce about us; we want to define ourselves, not be defined by others.

Until we are able to define ourselves, others will continue to try to capture our culture and beliefs, or use and distort them to their own ends. But our own Chaim Potoks won't be produced in a vacuum. Those Mormon artists and thinkers will have to be fluent in art, literature, and culture; even, and especially, the material that makes us uncomfortable.

Lane Anderson grew up in Salt Lake City and now lives in Manhattan, New York City, where she teaches writing at Yeshiva University. She graduated from Brigham Young University and has a master's in creative writing from Columbia University. Blog: lanewrites.blogspot.com