Mormon group quits LDS Church en masse

[rug]

Scores hike to Ensign Peak on Saturday after signing “letters of resignation.”

By Heather May
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 7 hours ago • Updated 1 minute ago

Carrying U.S. flags and signs boasting "Finally ExMormon," "Research the church," and "Transcend Mormonism," a crowd hiked Ensign Peak on Saturday and chanted "freedom" to the valley below.

Minutes earlier, many of them had signed a "Declaration of Independence from Mormonism" and addressed formal "letters of resignation" to the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to remove their names from LDS records.

"Life is so much better. There is peace and so much happiness" after leaving, co-organizer of the mass resignation event John Larsen promised the crowd of about 120 before the hike.

The group chose Ensign Peak to mirror what LDS Church leader Brigham Young did in 1847 when, days after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, he hiked the hill to plot out the city.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54409028-78/church-lds-mormon-larsen.html.csp

[TrogL]

1. The LDS church won't take them off

My wife has been trying to do this for five years. The Bishop won't even talk to her

[cbayer]

4. What does it mean to be taken off?

What are the consequences of not being taken off?

[ButterflyBlood]

5. I'm assuming he's referring to the LDS' private membership rolls

The only consequence of not being taken off as far as I can tell is still having to get annoying mail from them. Of course if you move and don't let them know of your new address that too solves the problem.

LDS still have an excommunication procedure but I understand they're using it less frequently (much like how the Catholic church still has one on the books but only uses it to against rogue priests or bishops, and basically just considers anyone raised Catholic who goes against church teachings to have de facto left.) Remember that it's supposed to be a punishment, someone seeking to be excommunicated in their view should not happen, I understand they even have trials over this.

Some churches still take it seriously though, I know a man at my church who received a notice of excommunication from his Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod church after he came out, signed by the same pastor who baptized him. After that though his parents, despite being conservative Christians also resigned the church.

[TlalocW]

2. They should have burned their magic underwear

THAT would have showed 'em!

TlalocW

[dimbear]

3. Great catch, Rug, and read on thru to the comments.

Maybe not all 1200 comments, but get the flavor. Some of them are hilarious.

"What does God need with a peep stone?"

That's crossed my mind too.

[cleanhippie]

6. I hope Catholics are paying attention.

I would hope that liberal/progressive Catholics are able to see the parallels here. These people have not abandoned their faith, they have abandoned the patriarchal hierarchy that is holding them (and the rest of us) back. THIS is the change we need.

[rug]

7. I am but I do see the differences.

One is what I consider the purely political activities of the Catholic Church. On the other hand, one part of the group in the OP is entirely disillusioned with the Book of Mormon as a scripture. There are others differences.

[cleanhippie]

8. So what does one do to change the church from within?

From my POV, it seems that the only pressure on the RCC is coming from the outside (aside from a small segment of nuns. More power to them!)

More specifically, what can individual Catholics such as yourself, do to effect positive change in the church and do away with the destructive and oppressive hierarchy, et al?

[rug]

9. Frankly, I often feel the same way about the Democratic Party.

I oppose the drones, the wars, the erosion of civil liberties, etc., etc. etc.

Regarding the Church, I reject any of its political attempts while continuing to adhere to the religious practices and beliefs.

In either situation, what does anyone do? Resist on an individual level, speak up when it crosses your path, and organize. Overall, I'm not pessimistic. Resistance to overreaching, I believe, does and will have its effect. Unless you think its an inherently corrupt institution, which I don't.

[cleanhippie]

10. That is a good analogy.

Looking at the Democratic Party as a whole, I share your sentiments.

The question that arises for me though, regarding how you deal with your church, is how you reconcile the support the church receives from you (and others that feel the same way as you do, and there are many) with the truly destructive policies that that same support both directly and indirectly perpetuates?

I can see how one would adhere to the practices while rejecting the politics, but how can one do that if one continues to support the bureaucracy that champions those politics? For me, I just cannot grasp that concept.

[rug]

11. It boils down to this: the connection is not nearly as direct as it is often described.

The Catholic Church is an enormous organization and does a tremendous amount of good as well as a tremendous amount of harm, whether intentional or inadvertent. The pittance I put in the basket is neglible compared to the amount of miltarism my tax dollars support. Beyond that, the Church at its core is apolitical. There is nothing about attending Mass that per se gives solace or support to right wing or left wing agendas. That I have no compunction about doing. But when it moves into this "fortnight of Freedom" or the myriad other quasi-political projects of the USCCB, then it's clear and easy to resist and speak out against. It would be one thing it the RCC required its members to tithe and demonstrate at the White House, but that truly is not the reality.

[ButterflyBlood]

12. There's a difference as I see it

The Democratic Party for all its flaws is the best viable political option in the US, voting Green isn't going to do anything in 99.9% of elections. Similarly there are many awesome individual Democrats who stand against that stuff and much progress from within the party.

For the Roman Catholic Church the latter bit might apply, but with less progress made because the reactionary hierarchy has far more influence and any grassroots activism is stomped out. More importantly though, even if not turning away from organized religion entirely, you do have other options. That's something my mom kept emphasizing to me in my teens when I made it clear that there was no way I could ever possibly be even remotely involved in the Catholic Church, and actually started to take our family to the more liberal Lutheran church nearby as a bit of a reaction to it. One does not need to remain in the RCC to remain a Christian, as I most certainly have not. I actually go to a charismatic evangelical church now of all things, and even it is far more progressive than the RCC (the fact that one of the pastors who was involved in my baptism was a woman alone is enough to make this the case.)

I honestly don't see how I could be a Catholic no matter how I was brought up, I just don't. Really I have too much of a conscience. Any association with an organization engaged in all that pedophilia and reactionary politics would make me feel nauseous every time I heard about it, which would be quite often. It's like the conscience of whistleblowers. I just couldn't handle any affiliation with that, even on the lowest level.

Quite frankly you can jump to the Episcopal Church and get almost the same thing with most of the misogyny and reactionary bullshit taken out.