One of the areas where people who are not raised in the Latter-Day-Saints culture have questions and concerns is in the area of Latter Day Saints and dating for their young people.  From the outside, there are parts that sound very good.  The importance of forming good solid family relationships, the emphasis placed upon marriage and children and the vital role of the home as the center of religious life.

 

Each LDS family is expected to have one night per week which is known as "Family Home Night" during which the family has activities together and provides wonderful bonding activities.  Children are welcomed and encouraged to participate in church services from a very young age.  With an awareness that the teenage and college age years are extremely difficult for young people because of the social pressures to be around other young people, many of the LDS communities make every effort to provide activities at their local churches or temples where the young people can participate in group functions while still being in a controlled environment where it is mostly if not all LDS young people attending the functions. Much of Latter Day Saints dating occurs in such venues.

 

This program works in two ways.  First, the LDS young person has a place to go and activities to enjoy which are church sanctioned and chaperoned and where other LDS young people of the opposite sex are present.  The hope is that there will be interaction between two young people both of whom hold LDS beliefs and tenets as important.  If these adolescents are in this type of environment that is similar to dating but not so specific, the choices are easier, since most of the young people attending such Latter Day Saints dating functions are of the same belief system. 

 

If a young person of the LDS church is in a situation where they want to date someone who is a non-believer, the social gatherings can and often are used as a place to introduce the non-believer into LDS culture and beliefs gently.  The non-believer sees other young people having fun, enjoying Latter Day Saints dating activities and is gradually introduced through the witness of the LDS member to some or all of the rest of the church's beliefs. 

 

This is where things can become stressful depending on which direction the non-believer decides to go.  If they are willing to accept more of the LDS beliefs and lifestyle, and are baptized into the LDS church as a convert, then they are accepted into full membership in most cases.  If the non-believer is not willing to accept LDS beliefs, yet chooses to continue to date the believer, the LDS member must make a choice essentially between his or her church membership and the person in the Latter Day Saints dating relationship. 

 

An LDS person tied to a non-LDS person generally is in a situation where they are shunned.  That usually is enough to discourage dating of a non-believer, although shunning or ostracism takes different forms in different locales.  Often though, a Saint married to a non-believer comes under a great deal of cultural and social pressure to remedy the situation in one way or another.