Yeah, I do too sometimes. It's annoying when people bash the church for the wrong reasons. The typical "they have multiple wives thing".
Most people that I've heard talk bad about Mormons know very little about them, and/or aren't objective people.
Why can't people who leave the LDS church move on?
- Thread starter Beantown
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Yeah, I do too sometimes. It's annoying when people bash the church for the wrong reasons. The typical "they have multiple wives thing".
Most people that I've heard talk bad about Mormons know very little about them, and/or aren't objective people.
LogGrad98
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I had someone once hand me a pamphlet about the Church. They were standing on the street next to the SLC Temple, handing them out. They were being all nice and polite. So I took one and read it. In part it talked about one woman's experience in the SLC Temple, which we were standing next to. Supposedly she had been raped on the alter in the holy of holies by the "priests" of the church, and she managed to escape by jumping out the window into the great salt lake and swimming away. I asked the guy if he had read the pamphlet himself, of course he had, he said. I said, can you point to the window she jumped out to escape into the great salt lake. He glowered at me and refused to point. I said wow she must have one hell of a jump, that is a LONG ****ing way to the great salt lake from there, seriously strong legs that chick had, or maybe wings even. He glowered at me again and moved away. I followed him and handed him back his pamphlet.
Annoying to me as well. I don't see/hear much bashing for polygamy, but I frequently run across things like
- thousands of changes in the Book of Mormon (no... if you discount spelling/punctuation, there are just a handful)
- DNA proves Book of Mormon is wrong (no, not really, it just proves that the Nephites/Lamanites were not the only settlers)
Goodness knows there are plenty of legit criticisms, so it bugs me when people focus on bogus things like those.
Anyway, to respond to the OP - I haven't seen that. Nearly 100% of the people that I know that have gone away from the church pretty much just want to be left alone by it.
LogGrad98
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That said, I have never liked it when people use that as a convenient excuse to dismiss the entire issue or discussion. "Just another stereotype, nothing to see here folks." It's a lazy out to escape from talking about difficult subjects. Vocal minority or not they still represent real people affected by real issues.
♪alt13
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My brother is a return missionary and active member of the church. He went to BYU Idaho after his mission and his experience there was not very good. He complained that the school was academically not challenging at all and that Rexburg is full of mormons that are very judgmental.(remember this is a return missionary whom now lives in Utah county). I think that I would council her to go to a different school and a town that will offer her better experiences. Utah state is in Logan so she would still be fairly close to her boyfriend, just sayin.
LogGrad98
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Oh we have a long and painful history with Rick's college. My wife went there right out of high school, mid-80's, thinking she was getting the mormon experience she had always wanted, and was stunned by the full-on debauchery that went on behind the scenes. I know when I was in High School Rick's was the place to go to party and have your parents still think you are in a good mormon school. I knew more than a few kids who went there to lose their viriginity so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about it, before they went on their missions. I won't get into my wife's experiences. Let's just say she changed from the sweet and innocent molly mormon she was in high school to someone much more wise in the ways, and sorrows, of the world, while at Ricks. It was overwhelming for her and fundamentally changed her, and not in ways she wanted to be changed.
We knew a man who was a bishop in a Rick's branch, maybe 6 or 7 years after we got married, might be different now, but he told us he asked to be released because the kids he was dealing with he had to recommend all of them for expulsion as they were coming in with the worst possible stories of breaking the honor code, almost bragging about it, and then just asking for a slap on the wrist. Drugs, sex, parties off-campus, multiple partners, drunken "pass-the-girl" parties, etc. He said if he did what he was supposed to the school would lose half the students in a week, and he just couldn't take it anymore.
In my mind it will always be a cesspool. I hope they can change that all around, but the more recent stories I hear are no different.
My daughter's boyfriend told her that within the first month of school (this September) 5 of his 6 room mates were expelled for honor code violations. Another kid was kicked out for selling marijuana, apparently it is a pretty strong market for it. We have already tried to steer her elsewhere. Here at UNR she has a scholarship and everything (like a place to live so she doesn't have to pay rent) and it would make a lot more sense, but since when do 18 year olds, especially ones with boy/girlfriends make decisions based on what makes sense, right?
I have numerous friends and family members who were once stalwart mormons, who have since moved on. Their levels of acrimony toward the church vary. Most just don't believe, so they take a different path, and that's the end of it. One of my best friends growing up is like this. He served a mission (an interesting aside: I waffled about serving a mission when I was 19, but finally ended up going, at age 21, largely because of his example...) but is now completely inactive. I have an aunt that I have always been very close to (because she is only a year older than me) who, if the term "Molly Mormon" had a poster child, she would have been. She was married in the temple, too young, and when her married failed a few years later, instead of supporting, her ward (in northern California) was judgmental and made her a pariah in the congregation. Subsequently, she carries a lot of resentment and bitterness, and is eager to express it when the opportunity arises.
There are as many circumstances as there are people who leave.
There are as many circumstances as there are people who leave.
