In the Mormon church, the men are given what is called the "priesthood." The priesthood is believed to be the power/authority of God to administer church ordinances (sacraments), perform miracles, heal the sick, heck even create worlds. Mormons believe that this power was given to the apostles by Jesus, but was lost from the earth when all the original apostles died. They believe that it was then restored to the earth through angelic visitors (first, a reanimated John the Baptist, and later, Peter, James, and John) to Joseph Smith, the church's founder. The "priesthood" is a pretty big deal to the church and they take it very seriously. Needless to say, the actual events of the priesthood "restoration" are highly dubious, as discussed here.
Nevertheless, the priesthood plays a major role in the Mormon church today. Only men receive it. Women are (conveniently) assigned the task of child bearing and rearing, so that is their equivalent function. Mormons believe that the priesthood is required to receive special revelations on behalf of the church or congregations, and thus church leadership is dominated by men only. There is the concept of "honoring" one's priesthood, which essentially means serving in the church, doing what you're told, and following the rules. Mormon men will ascend the ranks of church leadership to the extent they are believed to "magnify" and honor their priesthood responsibilities.
Authorities in the church are highly respected. A bishop, for example, is a man called to oversee a single Mormon congregation (termed a "ward"), much like a pastor. He is generally highly esteemed by his members and other congregation leaders. Above a bishop is a stake president, who oversees a cluster of wards. He, in turn, is even more highly esteemed and respected by the members of these wards. Above the stake president are regional authorities, area authorities, and then the top echelons of church leadership: general authorities. These men are called "seventies" (of the first and second quorums of the seventy) and above them, apostles (the quorum of the twelve apostles). These men are revered and practically worshiped by faithful church members, many of whom believe that these men are in frequent, direct communion with God or Jesus.
Because church leaders are so respected, there is latent competition to aspire to leadership positions. This competition is reinforced by many Mormon women, who are taught from a young age that they should only marry a "worthy priesthood holder" who can take them to the Mormon holy temple for eternal marriage. Thus, Mormon women will often demand, either openly or privately, a mate who "honors his priesthood." (If you browse any Mormon dating websites, you will see language to this effect.)
Now all of this would be well and good if "honoring" the priesthood was the equivalent to being a good person. But that is not the case. Now, to be fair, there will be substantial overlap in the Venn diagram of "Honoring Priesthood" and "Being a Good Person," but the overlap is not complete. The two are not one and the same. To be a good priesthood holder, you must attend countless meetings which take away from time with your family, or time better spent fostering meaningful relationships with friends or the community. You will also be expected to frequently attend the Mormon temples, where "service" is done for dead people. (That's right: service....for dead people.) You will be expected to fulfill church assignments that may or may not be productive, needed, or useful (e.g. visiting people who have no desire to be visited).
One might object at this point and say that all the "negatives" I just mentioned are simply in addition to what it takes to be a basic, good person. A Mormon might say that honoring his priesthood means doing all the good things in the "Being a Good Person" circle in the Venn diagram, and then some. In their minds, perhaps, the "Honoring One's Priesthood" circle fully encompasses the lesser "Being a Good Person" circle. For the reasons stated above, I disagree. There is only so much time in the day, and aside from basic responsibilities such as work and living, a Mormon man will have a relatively small budget of time with which to do other things. Often, he will be forced to choose between tasks required to honor his priesthood responsibilities, or activities that might strengthen his bonds with family and friends. He cannot be in two places at once, so a choice must be made. And, needless to say, church assignments are not categorically more worthy of one's time than family activities. They also are certainly not automatically better than many other activities not related to family at all.
On a separate but related topic, the Mormon priesthood allows Mormon males to develop a certain aspect of their personality that is of limited practical value, but which still enjoys high artificial value in the minds of Mormons. This can be illustrated in the competitive world of mate selection. In the real world, men will compete for the attention of women based on looks, intelligence, personality, and sense of humor. All of these factors play a role in the Mormon world, as well, but there is one "trump" factor in the form of spirituality and the priesthood. A man may neglect to develop other real-world facets of his persona that might make a normal man attractive or competitive in favor of one that is only valuable within the Mormon religious context. So who cares if the Mormon man has let himself go physically and has the personality of a wet towel: at least he's spiritual and attends all his priesthood meetings! If Mormons were completely isolated from the real world, perhaps this warped values system would work out just fine; but they're not. And to the extent these less useful characteristics are reinforced and propagated to the next generation, they serve as a great disservice to Mormons trying to function in the real world. Outside of the church, no one cares that you attend your priesthood meetings or have hundreds of scriptures memorized. Such skills have little practical value.
I have often thought of Mormonism as a big bubble, just waiting to burst. People toe the line and keep reaffirming beliefs because they see everyone else doing it. The value attached to honoring one's priesthood is similarly a bubble. As more and more people come to realize how tenuous and preposterous this priesthood notion is, the bubble will eventually burst. Lord have mercy on the Mormon men at that time who have sunk so much capital into this worthless asset. For them, it may be too late to develop the skills and character necessary to make it outside of the church.
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