Although there is some excess there, I honestly don't see the kind of hatred toward non-Mormons and even many critics over on the board formerly known as FAIR that I see directed against the few believing Latter-day Saints who post here.
Of course you don’t see it. People universally have difficulty recognizing bad behavior of their own tribe, while noticing it immediately in the “other” tribe. I’m telling you it’s there – many of us have experienced it first hand, including myself. The very first time I posted on Z, I was immediately treated by Pahoran as an evil villain – and this was back when I still believed it was possible to bridge the divide between Mormon and exmormon and have genuine communication. Back when what I really wanted was to help Mormons move beyond the prejudicial ideas taught in the church about why people lose faith. Back before I had that naïve idea verbally beaten out of me. And then history repeated itself when, on one of the first threads I participated on at FAIR, Juliann repeatedly called me a liar and a plagiarist, without the slightest justification for either. And how can I forget finally breaking down and complaining about her repetitive behavior and then being banned myself – again without the slightest justification.
I've seen a number of overzealous or uncivil believers suspended or even banned there.
Sure, but their behavior has to be
extreme, and the banning is usually temporary.
Have you happened to notice the periodic “purgings” moderators engage in over there, where large numbers of critics are summarily banned at the same time without explanation? Probably not, because those people just stop posting, and unless you hear from them on another board, like this one, you never know why. You never know they were banned.
I don't hear the supposedly constant drumbeat that those who leave the Church are lazy, prideful, sinful, etc. I know of cases where they are, but I also know of cases where it doesn't appear to be so. I don't teach such a thing, and I wouldn't permit it being taught in any class or unit for which I had responsibility.
That members sometimes, even often, say such things is undoubtedly true. I don't see it as a teaching of the Church, as such, though.
And, frankly, there is the corresponding ex-Mormon claim that believers are mindless sheeple, dupes, fools, insane, programmed robots, dishonest, etc.
I don’t know what you count as a “constant drumbeat”, but your highest leaders are teaching this across the pulpit. Perhaps you are as inattentive to this as you seem to be to believer rude behavior on MAD. I collected just a few samples here:
http://mormondiscussions.com/discuss/vi ... php?t=1426
Yes, of course there is bad behavior on both sides. My point is that the vicious cycle starts in church teachings regarding personal apostasy. These teachings ensure that apostates will feel the need to defend and justify their loss of faith in the first place. And it’s why you usually only see this sort of acrimony between member and exmember in faiths that teach some variation of “one true” religion, because those are the same ones that teach that people who lose faith do so due to personal flaws and weaknesses, if not outright sin.
Here’s something for you to pay attention to at MAD – often the topic of whether or not apostates left due to sin often comes up over there. There are two things to notice in this repeated topic – one is that it comes up so often
for a reason. The second is how inevitably several believers claim to know, first hand, that every single apostate that they know in real life did really leave due to sin.