 | | "Men on a Mission" is a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon guys who have just returned from their missions. | |
 | | Hardy tells INSIDE EDITION that he views the calendar as art, but respects the Mormon Church's decision. | |
 | | Hardy has not been discouraged by his excommunication, and is hard at work on another calendar. | |
 | | Cody Bloomfield is a Mormon who plans to pose for the 2009 calendar. | |
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They're handsome, they're hunky, they're...Mormon missionaries?
That's right! The shirtless hunks in the 2008 "Men on a Mission" calendar are all Mormons recently returned from their missionary work.
But the steamy calendar isn't a hit with everyone. It's causing an uproar in the Mormon community, and now the man who created the shirtless calendar has been excommunicated from the Mormon Church.
"We got a lot of hate mail saying 'You should be excommunicated, you're a disgrace to the church,' things like that," says Chad Hardy.
It all started when Chad came up with the idea to create a calendar that defied the Mormon stereotype.
"I personally see the calendar as a piece of art, no different from Michelangelo's David," explains Chad.
But conservative church officials didn't see it that way, and they called Hardy in for a disciplinary meeting where he lives in Las Vegas. After a meeting that lasted nearly three hours, Hardy learned his fate.
"They decided to excommunicate me, so that's their decision and I respect their decision," Hardy told INSIDE EDITION cameras on the way out of the meeting.
But Hardy's not discouraged. He's already planning next year's calendar, and has more hunky missionaries lined up.
Cody Bloomfield is one of the guys taking his shirt off for 2009.
"It might just be more suggestive than they'd like, but you're not seeing anything that you wouldn't see at a church pool party," says Cody.
The Mormon Council that excommunicated Hardy declined to comment. As for Hardy, he says he has no regrets about producing calendars filled with beefcake church-goers.
"They are doing what they believe is right, and I'll continue to do what I believe is right," Chad tells INSIDE EDITION.
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