One man's journey out of Mormonism.

[funflower]

I check out this personal blog a couple of times a year, and I've always thought John (the blogger) seemed an odd fit for Mormonism.

Now I see he's posted a couple of articles about his decision to renounce Mormonism and the challenges (mostly social) associated with that decision.

I thought it might be of interest to anyone in the process of moving away from the traditional belief system of their childhood.

http://www.unconventionalideas.com/religion.html

http://www.unconventionalideas.com/reasons.html

[sam sarrha]

1. religion is such a Tribal thing... when your consciousness goes Global you

can never look back into the tribal

[knowbody0]

2. what beautiful and powerful words!

[funflower]

5. Wow. That was extremely well-stated. sam sarrha. Thanks!

[depakid]

3. This is a very interesting piece

I look at it less like a Phillipic than as well defined values clash resolved through scientific observation and legal reasoning.

Well done.

Now, how to apply the process to people immersed in other cults (such as protestant fundamentalism) that make equally as little sense as Mormonism.

[knowbody0]

4. thank you for this

it would be very interesting to see the church's response to his letter.

[neebob]

10. They'd call him an apostate and say he's under the influence of Satan

and what have you. That's what really slick about it: They also teach you that Satan is working overtime to keep people from believing it, so you get the idea that the less sense it makes and the more people are speaking out and working against it, the truer it must be. And you apply that principle, subconsciously, to all kinds of things that seem sort of right somehow and yet glaringly wrong at the same time ... or I did.

[Why Syzygy]

6. I have a friend who

used to be mormon. A recent visit to his family has made him reconsider joining again. It saddens me. I'll pass this along to him. Thanks.

[hunter]

7. lot's of demand in government for those who can live this "double life"

If you are working for, um, let us say the DEA or the FBI, it may help if you have been trained from birth to accept all sorts of insane injustices and irrationalities.

But I don't think it's fair to single out the Mormons for this because they have a lot in common with the fundamentalist Protestants, right wing Catholics and other religious groups where "questioning authority" and intellectual curiousity about other faiths is actively discouraged from an early age.

My own family has coexisted with the Mormons since they moved out west, but our family's fondness for alcohol, cowboy theology, and intellectual brawling has always kept us apart from the greater Mormon community.

BTW, do you want to see something amusing? Replace the word "Mormon" with the word "Republican" in John's writing:

While I learned much growing up Mormon, as I matured, I increasingly recognized my conscience was strongly at odds with the church's homophobic, racist, sexist, and anti-environmental positions among other things.  I found my ideas had no place in the Mormon culture.  Mostly, the way for me to get along was to keep my mouth shut and just go along with the program.  I found that in order to be a Mormon, and the real person I was inside, I had to live a double life. 

While I learned much growing up Republican, as I matured, I increasingly recognized my conscience was strongly at odds with the party's homophobic, racist, sexist, and anti-environmental positions among other things.  I found my ideas had no place in the Republican culture.  Mostly, the way for me to get along was to keep my mouth shut and just go along with the program.  I found that in order to be a Republican, and the real person I was inside, I had to live a double life.

[unschooler]

8. Ha! Excellent point! It could be "republican." A lot of us could

have written exactly that paragraph!

I don't think there's any effort here to single out Mormons. There are a lot of ideologies that would fit just as well. I've even run across some Mormons on DU, although I'd guess they have a tough time with some aspects of the culture as well.

[Why Syzygy]

9. I joined a yahoo group

for recovery from Mormonism to better understand my friend. It is not pretty. I can hardly read the posts. We all have our own demons to overcome. I would not want this one. Blessings to all.