2007 Hot Issue

HOT CALENDAR: Mormons Exposed

Thanks to Big Love and Mitt Romney, Mormons are already sexy. Now, because of Chad Hardy, they're also half-naked. The Las Vegas resident, a self-described "open-minded" Mormon, has put together a steamy 2008 calendar featuring bare-chested former missionaries. And they're selling quickly to both women and men. "So many people look at Mormons as being very backward or non-accepting of other lifestyles, but here's a group of guys who are saying, 'We're not that way,' " Hardy says of "Men on a Mission," which he sells on his Web site, MormonsExposed.com.

After screening the models to make sure their families approved, Hardy shot them in locations including a Latter Day Saints temple. "I was waiting for lightning bolts to come down," Hardy says.

Though some conservatives have expressed outrage over the shirtlessness, some former church members say they might not have strayed if they'd known other Mormons like Hardy. And he's doing his best to live up to that respect: Hardy is already planning his next calendar, which features Mormon women. "It's not what people expect," he teases. "It's going to be pretty stink- ing funny." --LINDSEY THOMAS

To find out what's so hot about the Mormons in the Hot Calendar, click here.