Sympathy toward unusual Religious Practice

[iemitsu]

18. The recent genesis of the Mormon faith is a valid aspect to consider

when evaluating the religion and its adherents.
Religion/Myth is a cultural universal found in every culture, in every time. Religions (if you believe them) or Myths (if you don't believe them) serve several purposes in society. They explain the unexplained, they provide rules to guide social life, and they oversee (legitimize) rites of passage in the lives of individuals and communities.
While a new faith, like the Mormon Church, can provide rules to live by and legitimize celebrations it was born in an age of enlightenment. We did not need a new faith to explain things.
Science was a known, available, and superior methodology for explaining the unexplained and older, established churches provided faith models for understanding the universe for those who distrusted science.
A new faith model for understanding simply was not and is not needed, especially one that is confusing and weird and doesn't clarify anything about the world.
This alone makes Mormons suspect. What is their real mission? To save or to shun?
Are they a business plan? Why do they insist that they are part of the Judeo-Christian tradition when neither Jews or Christians recognize them as such?
Since Romney's nomination, I have become more familiar with some of the LDS doctrine than I was earlier.
I still have many questions.