Of course one can always adopt a personal creed and receive some of the benefits, but the full benefits are impossible for most people (maybe even all people?) to have without believing the truth claims as part of a community.It’s possible for a rejectionist community to crop up that exists…
Category: DAMU
Deprogramming
When I read a lot of ex-mormon accounts, some of them turn me off. I know there’s ill will and perhaps downright hostility to an entity you feel has essentially lied to for years of your life, but I’ve always felt that it would be counterintuitive to react so hostilely….
Following or Pioneering
Whenever I talk with my father, I get a rush of feelings. I feel somewhat embarrassed because of his unorthodox beliefs and exploits. At the same time, I feel somewhat grateful that he’s not orthodox (I can’t say I would prefer him to be a standard ho-hum Mormon instead of…
Wishing you well…
I was reading somewhere on the internets (not linked to protect the innocent) where someone wrote that they were surprised to find out recently how happy some former mormon friends of theirs are. They were a little shocked (and embarassed of themselves) for realizing that former mormons’ lives aren’t that…
Where are you going?
Everyone’s talked about this idea of people leaving the church but not leaving it alone. And you can see, depending on which end of faith you stand, different outlooks at the issue. Some might think that it’s petty for people who no longer believe (or who never believed) to put…
Proposition 8 and Learning about the Mormons
If you are into Mormon stories, you might enjoy Jodi Mardesich’s essay in Salon. Growing up in a part member family, Jodi had to overcome the resistance of her father to get baptized. She relates how Mormonism made her feel special as a child, how her boy friend died on…
Hellmut’s Deconversion
I have been miserable at Church ever since my mission. I still couldn’t get out because I had to act on my testimony even though I experienced Church as toxic every Sunday. To me, the mission experience was dehumanizing and sacrilegious reducing converts to trophies and missionaries to tools. Any…
Radio edition!
I was just interviewed by Minnesota Atheists Talk Radio about my novel Exmormon! You can download the interview and listen to it as a podcast here. As I said on my personal blog, my interview was fairly Mormon-friendly — download it and see for yourself. My mom even said I…
Salt Lake City Is Not Mecca.
Maybe I should have said Salt Lake City is not like Mecca. For those who are unfamiliar with Islam’s holy city, one of the ways Islam is able to keep it holy is by only allowing Muslims inside the city. At an ex-Mormon gathering I attended recently I heard more…
Mormon Young Women – leaving in droves?
Did anyone else catch this line in the Salt Lake Tribune write up of conference, “as many as 80 percent of the single Mormon women between 18 and 30 are no longer active in the LDS Church”? I’d like to know where PeggyFletcher Stack got that number. Was anyone else…