Eric.
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:39 am
I've just spent perhaps an hour or more talking to Eric on Skype. I had the opportunity to ask Eric some pretty pointed questions, about his life, his views, and his experiences. I hope he will be back here soon. I'm impressed with his sincerity. First, let me say that Eric didn't deserve the treatment he got, and he doesn't deserve the treatment he continues to get from some quarters. Certain "parties" intervened in what should have remained an anonymous expression of dissent from "the orthodoxy", and with good cause, if anyone understood Eric's motivation for "that post", which was not meant to injure anyone as long as it was anonymous. Some caught wind of who Eric was, and from there the escalation began.
Does he love his family? Of course. Does he want communication and continuing bonds with his family? Of course. Does he see any sense of this family bonding, love, concern and care inside Mormonism. No. Why? Basically, because if you dissent from Mormonism - you become a pariah, an "untouchable". What you believe is more important than who you are. Perhaps we can lay some of the blame on Jesus, who said that he came to "divide people", even families, depending on what they believed. No? I sense that Eric just wants a normal life, and he wants to be part of his family, but cannot do so while they continue to look at every angle from "sheep and goat", "faithful and unfaithful", "black and white", "good and evil".
Eric is a painful and poignant reminder of how Mormonism can divide people. All he's asking for is to be accepted for who he is, and what he never wanted to be, and why he rebelled against efforts to shape him into what others felt he "should be". In other words, he wanted his agency, a term Mormons would grasp. The price he paid for being who he wanted to be is exclusion, and for a couple of years incarceration in a "Mormon correctional centre".
I would hang my head in shame if I sent one of my sons to a "correctional centre" because they were out of line with my religious beliefs (or otherwise; I would deal with that myself). And yes, I'm unashamed to say that my heart does "bleed" for Eric, because he's an intelligent and fine human being, but unfortunately those qualities will never be recognised outside the purview of Mormon absolutism, and some other narrow minds who never took the opportunity to speak to Eric face to face. He totally reminds me of my three sons, a person who just wants to be normal, and accepted for being normal. A person who actually wants to be tolerant, who has found it impossible to do so considering the oppression that has been his lot.
All he asked for, from the beginning, was to be given his freedom of choice without being branded the lowest form of life.
Thank God I brought up my children outside of this MF. I wish I could find more diplomatic words, but I can't.
Does he love his family? Of course. Does he want communication and continuing bonds with his family? Of course. Does he see any sense of this family bonding, love, concern and care inside Mormonism. No. Why? Basically, because if you dissent from Mormonism - you become a pariah, an "untouchable". What you believe is more important than who you are. Perhaps we can lay some of the blame on Jesus, who said that he came to "divide people", even families, depending on what they believed. No? I sense that Eric just wants a normal life, and he wants to be part of his family, but cannot do so while they continue to look at every angle from "sheep and goat", "faithful and unfaithful", "black and white", "good and evil".
Eric is a painful and poignant reminder of how Mormonism can divide people. All he's asking for is to be accepted for who he is, and what he never wanted to be, and why he rebelled against efforts to shape him into what others felt he "should be". In other words, he wanted his agency, a term Mormons would grasp. The price he paid for being who he wanted to be is exclusion, and for a couple of years incarceration in a "Mormon correctional centre".
I would hang my head in shame if I sent one of my sons to a "correctional centre" because they were out of line with my religious beliefs (or otherwise; I would deal with that myself). And yes, I'm unashamed to say that my heart does "bleed" for Eric, because he's an intelligent and fine human being, but unfortunately those qualities will never be recognised outside the purview of Mormon absolutism, and some other narrow minds who never took the opportunity to speak to Eric face to face. He totally reminds me of my three sons, a person who just wants to be normal, and accepted for being normal. A person who actually wants to be tolerant, who has found it impossible to do so considering the oppression that has been his lot.
All he asked for, from the beginning, was to be given his freedom of choice without being branded the lowest form of life.
Thank God I brought up my children outside of this MF. I wish I could find more diplomatic words, but I can't.