Those of you who know some real live
Mormons may have found out that drinking
Coke is a
sin. Actually, this isn't quite right. The Coke question is one of the few things that isn't clearly defined by the Church. Among the list of things that are definitely banned are
alcohol,
tobacco,
tea and
coffee. See
Word of Wisdom. It's the last one that causes all the confusion. Why is coffee bad? Maybe, it's the
caffeine! Therefore, we should avoid
caffeinated drinks altogether, right? The closest thing to an official statement on this is something like: If you feel that these drinks are bad for your health, or drinking them becomes addictive, you shouldn't do so. This leads to things like caffeine free
Barq's Root Beer in
Utah.
I, personally, don't have any problem with caffeine. My
girlfriend (who isn't Mormon) actually gets a headache unless she drinks a
Coke or something before the afternoon. That's
prolly not good.
One might ask, "What about chocolate?" One of the leaders of the Church was asked this and he responded with something like, "I asked the Prophet about this one day. He responded that when he is in the Temple with the Apostles and there is a box of chocolates the rule is: The senior Apostles and the Prophet get the dark ones, and the other Apostles get the light ones." So it seems that caffeine is definitely not the problem.
Err... the "Mormons own
Coke or
Pepsi" thing is something of an Urban Legend. It might even be mentioned on
Snopes. It probably is true that the Church owns stock (though not a majority) in either company though. Or in companies that possibly make "bad" products. There's no reason for the Church to "come clear" on the "issue". Even though some people may think so, the Church does not dictate every single facet of its member's lives. Issues like this are left for the individual to decide on. (this little blurb was in reaction to a deleted WU that claimed the Church owned Pepsi and how shady that was)