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A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Author: chanson

C. L. Hanson is the friendly Swiss-French-American ExMormon atheist mom living in Switzerland! See "letters from a broad" for further adventures!!

How not to invite Mormons to your church, part 2

chanson, October 22, 2007January 15, 2011

Recall we learned in part 1 that discrediting Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham is a dangerous tactic since the Mormons who are swayed by such evidence have an annoying tendency to continue this same line of reasoning and ask hard questions about Jesus. The…

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Could I really love a man who could do something like this?

chanson, October 22, 2007

Today’s installment of Exmormon, Part 3: Saturday’s Warrior is the one that most requires the warning. If you’re okay with it, you may proceed to the story, otherwise skip this chapter and tune in next week!

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Ken Jennings interviewed by “friendly atheist” Hemant Mehta

chanson, October 19, 2007September 3, 2011

Be sure to check out this fabulous interview! My favorite highlights:

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Atheist pride . . .?

chanson, October 18, 2007

Normally I hate it when I see atheism accused of being just another religion (or worse: just another faith) because of, well, the usual “is bald a hair color?” (or “Is ‘not collecting stamps’ a hobby?”) argument that I won’t waste your time repeating here today. Yet I was perversely…

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Should the LDS church “raise the bar” to exclude liberals and NOMs?

chanson, October 16, 2007January 15, 2011

We got an interesting comment from Remeny the other day regarding the ‘Naclers (including us) who have criticized President Beck’s talk: The church has raised the bar for missionaries to serve. Since then the number of missionaries have decreased, but the quality of missionary has increased. So it should be…

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Be careful what you wish for…

chanson, October 16, 2007

Tuesday’s rehearsal passed like the previous Thursday’s, with no particularly special attention from Walter. I was getting desperate and felt like I had to do something. Read the rest of the story »

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Children — not possessions, not position, not prestige — are our greatest status symbols

chanson, October 12, 2007October 20, 2010

OK, I know I probably shouldn’t be posting my own personal complaint about the talk that has already been deconstructed all over the Bloggernacle. But all this debate over career vs. getting your whites whiter than white seems to have missed what (to me) was the most disturbing thing in…

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A question of morality…

chanson, October 8, 2007

As if our usual three-hour services weren’t sufficient, after dinner on Sunday Rex, Joy, and I had a youth fireside to attend at the bishop’s house. Logically Rex shouldn’t have been required to attend since he was eighteen and hence no longer in the youth program, but Mom insisted that…

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You’re my obsession (SW continues…)

chanson, October 1, 2007

(Please review the caution.) During rehearsals over the course of the next few weeks, I had at least some individual attention from Walter essentially every time. I couldn’t really be sure that that meant I was making progress with him, though, since he seemed to take time out to talk…

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How to deconvert ’em just enough…

chanson, September 29, 2007

DMI Dave recently wrote a piece on how to be a good anti-Mormon. His first recommendation? “be a good Christian.” I have to agree with Dave on this one since — although atheists famously can’t speak for one another — I don’t think any self-respecting atheist would choose to be…

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  1. chanson on Thanks Gloria!September 20, 2026

    @Donna -- I wouldn't say you were one of the "dumb girls". You were a young starry-eyed convert who thought…

  2. chanson on New church schedule! Good? Bad? Inspired?September 19, 2026

    @Holly -- yes, I have absolutely felt that parallel in my life. I was fortunate enough to be able to…

  3. Holly on New church schedule! Good? Bad? Inspired?September 16, 2026

    You're no doubt right. Living in Trump's America right now feels to me the way I felt about the church…

  4. Donna Banta on Thanks Gloria!September 15, 2026

    There were years of cognitive dissonance, at least in my case. I told myself that the church was a compassionate,…

  5. chanson on New church schedule! Good? Bad? Inspired?September 14, 2026

    I can't help but feel like in today's church you wouldn't even have had the opportunity to mention Santa's not…

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