As the world tunes in to Salt Lake City for the start of the Winter Olympics, it will be serenaded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while the spires of the Salt Lake Temple will dominate the backdrop.
But there are a few things it won't see: volunteers distributing copies of the Book of Mormon, missionaries in white shirts and dark ties proselytizing visitors, slickly produced television ads promoting Mormon values.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is doing its best to ensure the spectacle isn't the Mormon Olympics.
Following a directive of president Gordon B. Hinckley, leader of the world's 11 million Latter-day Saints, the church is trying to keep a low profile - as much as that is possible in a state that is dominated by church members and organizations.
"You won't see Mormon missionaries out on the streets or at Olympic venues actively promoting the church," said Dale Bills, a church spokesman. "We won't be on the streets. We won't be pushing leaflets in people's hands. We won't be at the airport.
"This was a directive from President Hinckley, that we would not use the games for proselytizing or aggressive missionary activity," Bills said. "If people come to our sites and insist on knowing more about the church, we'll answer their questions."
Not every religious group is showing such restraint. As they have in previous Olympics, evangelicals view the global gathering as a perfect opportunity to spread the Gospel.
Global Outreach 2002, an outreach ministry of Southern Baptists clad in blue parkas emblazoned with the slogan, "More Than Gold," has an army of more than 1,000 volunteers who will be distributing an "Interactive Pocket Guide" with athletes' faith testimonies, blank pages for autographs and "a clear presentation of the Gospel." They also will pass out that ubiquitous Olympic souvenir, a trading pin, with the ministry's multicolored star logo.
Youth With a Mission, an international evangelical outreach, will have a smaller presence of 128 volunteers who will be handing out souvenir copies of the New Testament and CDs of Christian music.
"It's one of the few events where you get so many international people together in one place at one time," said Eric Boshoff, Olympics outreach coordinator for Youth With a Mission.
The party atmosphere of the Olympics, where strangers stop one another to trade pins and friendships are quickly formed, makes the job of proselytizing, or evangelizing, as many Christians prefer to call it, that much easier.
