They Will Always Hate You. Always.
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2025 6:51 am
My LDS Friends:
For over half my life, I was deeply concerned about others accepting my faith as “Christian.” I was a proud apologist. I jumped into debates with my anti-Mormon evangelical peers. I put my scripture mastery to use and could do battle in the most fierce Bible bash. And to be honest, one of my proudest moments is standing up to and going face-to-face with a idiot youth pastor who had laid a trap for us using the whole “request a Book of Mormon” thing. A bunch of his evangelical anti-Mormon youth followers were present when we knocked on the door. As a 19yr old kid I really did fare well against this anti-Mormon evangelical who, as I recall, received his degree from an unaccredited anti-Mormon evangelical Bible college.
In the many years from the time I formally left the LDS Church, I have come to realize the great folly of this concern. This came about as I came to understand the following two things:
First, why would Mormons want to be like anti-Mormon evangelical christians? Walking into my home this evening I had to navigate my way around a puddle with more depth than their worship services. They are trending down in terms of income and education. Their children are taught from books that teach the Earth is 6,000 years old. Rather than do any kind of outreach to the LGB community after prop 8 and as the culture changed after the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide, they have doubled down. Whatever your feelings are about the LDS Church’s outreach, at least they are trying. They are trying to navigate a very challenging theological position. To fully embrace same-sex marriage, LDS doctrine would have to go through fundamental change that would require re-writing the theological foundations on which the modern LDS Church is built. This wouldn’t be easy task and, even if the Church undertook such a project, it would be done very incrementally. The LDS Church moves slowly; and it grinds to a halt when there is even the appearance of backing down.
But be grateful that the Mormons actually have an interesting theological position to begin with. Anti-Mormon evangelicals say same-sex marriage is bad because Leviticus or something. There is no rationale. There is no explanation about why God thinks this is bad. At least Mormons can explain to you how changing this doctrine would be like unwinding all of the established Star Wars lore to tell the story about how Anakin and Obi-wan were entangled in a passionate and complex homoerotic relationship. And, unable to hide their love from the evil Queen Leia, both turned to the Dark Side with the Sith rule of two or something.
Mormons value education. They excel in business and politics. They are well-represented in Academia. Despite the efforts of John Gee to eliminate any credibility Mormon scholars may have established, that representation persists. Mormons are thoughtful and critical thinkers. At the very least, any sister in Relief Society can explain the Plan of Salvation from beginning to end. She’ll tell you about our First Estate. And how we were in on this whole scheme from the very beginning. Ask an anti-Mormon evangelical what their favorite Bible verse is, they will say “I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.” This right after they explained that the Bible says you are going to Hell for accepting the Book of Mormon.
Mormons are good people. And unless they are trying to impress Dan Peterson, don’t spend any time thinking about how anti-Mormon evangelicals are evil, false teachers, minions of Satan, cultists, anti-Christ, or fans of Taylor Swift. Anti-Mormon evangelicals just aren’t that interesting.
Mormons are too busy doing their home/visiting teaching, volunteering at the storehouse, doing genealogy, visiting the Temple, and printing out the weekly sacrament program to be concerned about the anti-Mormon evangelicals.
Again, why would anyone want to emulate anti-Mormon evangelical christians?
Although no longer a Christian, I would much rather hang out with a dear Sister from Parowan, than any anti-Mormon evangelical “leader.”
Second, they will always hate you. Not just hate, they will always loathe you. To them you are the manifestation of Satan’s rebellion in the Last Days. They hate you. They teach their children to hate you. They will lie and deceive in service of their bigoted and dogmatic views. Nothing you do or say will ever change this. No amount of interfaith-dialogues or “I’m a Mormon!” campaigns will make a bit of difference.
The only time the anti-Mormon evangelicals pretend to engage Mormons in good faith is when they want to ride Mormon political coattails. Even now – in this very moment – anti-Mormon evangelical christians are debating whether the victims in Michigan deserve compassion because they are in so much theological error. These people are deranged.
Let the Mormons proclaim: “Get you behind me, William Lane Craig. No longer will I be tempted by your flattering words.” “Beware!, Matt Slick, as the Elders of Israel will dust their feet at the entry to your website.”
Mormons need to put the past behind them. Cut their losses and drop any fantasy of being accepted by these bigoted and hateful cretins.
Mormons should stand on their own. Be proud of the weird doctrines. Be ready to debate the exact requirements to enter the 3rd level of the Celestial Kingdom with any who ask you.
For over half my life, I was deeply concerned about others accepting my faith as “Christian.” I was a proud apologist. I jumped into debates with my anti-Mormon evangelical peers. I put my scripture mastery to use and could do battle in the most fierce Bible bash. And to be honest, one of my proudest moments is standing up to and going face-to-face with a idiot youth pastor who had laid a trap for us using the whole “request a Book of Mormon” thing. A bunch of his evangelical anti-Mormon youth followers were present when we knocked on the door. As a 19yr old kid I really did fare well against this anti-Mormon evangelical who, as I recall, received his degree from an unaccredited anti-Mormon evangelical Bible college.
In the many years from the time I formally left the LDS Church, I have come to realize the great folly of this concern. This came about as I came to understand the following two things:
First, why would Mormons want to be like anti-Mormon evangelical christians? Walking into my home this evening I had to navigate my way around a puddle with more depth than their worship services. They are trending down in terms of income and education. Their children are taught from books that teach the Earth is 6,000 years old. Rather than do any kind of outreach to the LGB community after prop 8 and as the culture changed after the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide, they have doubled down. Whatever your feelings are about the LDS Church’s outreach, at least they are trying. They are trying to navigate a very challenging theological position. To fully embrace same-sex marriage, LDS doctrine would have to go through fundamental change that would require re-writing the theological foundations on which the modern LDS Church is built. This wouldn’t be easy task and, even if the Church undertook such a project, it would be done very incrementally. The LDS Church moves slowly; and it grinds to a halt when there is even the appearance of backing down.
But be grateful that the Mormons actually have an interesting theological position to begin with. Anti-Mormon evangelicals say same-sex marriage is bad because Leviticus or something. There is no rationale. There is no explanation about why God thinks this is bad. At least Mormons can explain to you how changing this doctrine would be like unwinding all of the established Star Wars lore to tell the story about how Anakin and Obi-wan were entangled in a passionate and complex homoerotic relationship. And, unable to hide their love from the evil Queen Leia, both turned to the Dark Side with the Sith rule of two or something.
Mormons value education. They excel in business and politics. They are well-represented in Academia. Despite the efforts of John Gee to eliminate any credibility Mormon scholars may have established, that representation persists. Mormons are thoughtful and critical thinkers. At the very least, any sister in Relief Society can explain the Plan of Salvation from beginning to end. She’ll tell you about our First Estate. And how we were in on this whole scheme from the very beginning. Ask an anti-Mormon evangelical what their favorite Bible verse is, they will say “I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.” This right after they explained that the Bible says you are going to Hell for accepting the Book of Mormon.
Mormons are good people. And unless they are trying to impress Dan Peterson, don’t spend any time thinking about how anti-Mormon evangelicals are evil, false teachers, minions of Satan, cultists, anti-Christ, or fans of Taylor Swift. Anti-Mormon evangelicals just aren’t that interesting.
Mormons are too busy doing their home/visiting teaching, volunteering at the storehouse, doing genealogy, visiting the Temple, and printing out the weekly sacrament program to be concerned about the anti-Mormon evangelicals.
Again, why would anyone want to emulate anti-Mormon evangelical christians?
Although no longer a Christian, I would much rather hang out with a dear Sister from Parowan, than any anti-Mormon evangelical “leader.”
Second, they will always hate you. Not just hate, they will always loathe you. To them you are the manifestation of Satan’s rebellion in the Last Days. They hate you. They teach their children to hate you. They will lie and deceive in service of their bigoted and dogmatic views. Nothing you do or say will ever change this. No amount of interfaith-dialogues or “I’m a Mormon!” campaigns will make a bit of difference.
The only time the anti-Mormon evangelicals pretend to engage Mormons in good faith is when they want to ride Mormon political coattails. Even now – in this very moment – anti-Mormon evangelical christians are debating whether the victims in Michigan deserve compassion because they are in so much theological error. These people are deranged.
Let the Mormons proclaim: “Get you behind me, William Lane Craig. No longer will I be tempted by your flattering words.” “Beware!, Matt Slick, as the Elders of Israel will dust their feet at the entry to your website.”
Mormons need to put the past behind them. Cut their losses and drop any fantasy of being accepted by these bigoted and hateful cretins.
Mormons should stand on their own. Be proud of the weird doctrines. Be ready to debate the exact requirements to enter the 3rd level of the Celestial Kingdom with any who ask you.