Who are Molly Mormon and Peter Priesthood?

If you're Mormon, you've heard of the Molly Mormon and Peter Priesthood stereotypes. You can probably think of a few people who fit those stereotypes. Perhaps you want to be just like them, or perhaps you want to have nothing to do with them. But when you ask Mormons who Molly Mormon and Peter Priesthood are, some can't really put their finger on it, but they know one when they see one.


Who are these people, really?  And should they be shunned or emulated? Let's start  with some descriptions of the stereotypes and see if they sound familiar.

Molly Mormon
- Painfully shy girl. She goes to church dances but is too shy to talk  to anyone. Consequently she is often overlooked and often is neglected to be invited to dance.She is plain, neither gorgeous nor ugly. But she can be quite stunning if she has help with makeup and dress

 - She adores church and everything church related. This is a good thing, but some people are bothered by the fact that Molly ONLY does church stuff: she doesn't have friends outside of church; only goes to church sponsored activities, only reads books sold at Deseret Book, only listens to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other LDS artists (and listens to Disney when she is particularly daring)

- Avoids R rated movies and caffeinated sodas like the plague and feels uncomfortable around people who indulge in such practices

- Believes BYU is reserved for the righteousWhen she starts looking for a husband, she won't talk to you unless you served a mission

 - Has a few weaknesses: when she finally finds romance, she can't find balance. She knows she shouldn't get carried away, but can't help herself making out with her first boyfriend. She goes back and forth between enjoying all the kisssing and feeling remorse for kissing too much (and sometimes she overcompensates by refusing any kind of touch, even a simple hug)

- Some people feel like she's rubbing it in when she brags about how many scriptures she memorized, her perfect seminary attendance, her thorough genealogy research, and her apparently daily attendance at the temple

- But she also has admirable qualities: if you ask her for help, she will get right to it. She keeps you in her prayers and knows when you're down and need a friend. She also goes the extra mile when participating in church activities.

Peter Priesthood
- Is against swearing but loves pretending to swear, using irksome substitute swear words like "fetch" or "oh, my heck"

- Always has a big smile on his face, which bothers some people because they don't think it's genuine

- Likes to brag about his churchy accomplishments, such as being the quorum president, having perfect seminary attendance, memorizing 100 scriptures, etc.

- Can relate EVERYTHING to his mission. He can connect even the most random topics to his mission (which is quite a skill, if you think about it). If you're around him for 15 minutes, you'll know more about his mission than you can remember about yours

- He'll make you feel welcome at church and diligently comes to your house for home teaching, but you don't really hang out with him aside from that.

- Instead of sticking with basic, core doctrine, he loves debating "deep" doctrine. For example, whether Adam had a belly button, sightings of the three Nephites, the location of the 10 lost tribes, etc.

- Doesn't appear to have any original ideas and has a painfully corny sense of humor (he's choc full of Mormon jokes, especially the ones that have been in circulation for decades)

- Loves to show off his mission language, even when no one understands him. If he finds out you speak the same language, he'll never speak to you in English ever again (which can be embarrassing when your acquaintances suddenly get left out of the conversation)

- Further, if you say a word in that language that is different from what he learned on his mission, he'll have a hissy fit, saying that he learned more in two years than you did in two years (it doesn't matter if you're a professor or professional translator; he'll insist that what he heard people say on his mission is the right way)

- But Peter also has many good qualities: he is usually the first to volunteer when someone needs help moving or making friends with new people in the neighborhood. He also notices Molly Mormon standing by herself at the dance and asks her to dance, and talks to her, making her feel special.


Overall, Molly and Peter are good people. They just have some quirks that bug some people (but not everyone) .


So should we emulate Molly and Peter? They're human beings just like every other person. As with any person, their good qualities should be emulated and their bad qualities shunned. In any case, they deserve to be loved and respected. The Savior said to love everyone, whether or not you get along with them. So show them love and kindness. Odds are, they are already trying to show kindness to you.