Hatred for Mormons

[Atlanticmike]

Hello, I'm new here. I found this forum after listening to a podcast yesterday and thought I would check you guys out. I've been reading a lot of the threads on here and have really liked what I've been reading so far. I'm an active Mormon but really don't mind different points of view, most of my friends are non Mormons and a large portion of my family isn't Mormon. But, I gotta ask, what's up with the hatred for Mormons? Is this forum for people to vent and talk about what's wrong with Mormonism for the most part? If it is that's fine, people need to be able to talk about their struggles, that's healthy, just asking so I know what I'm getting myself into.

[Morley]

No one here hates Mormons.

[Jersey Girl]

Hello, I'm new here. I found this forum after listening to a podcast yesterday and thought I would check you guys out. I've been reading a lot of the threads on here and have really liked what I've been reading so far. I'm an active Mormon but really don't mind different points of view, most of my friends are non Mormons and a large portion of my family isn't Mormon. But, I gotta ask, what's up with the hatred for Mormons? Is this forum for people to vent and talk about what's wrong with Mormonism for the most part? If it is that's fine, people need to be able to talk about their struggles, that's healthy, just asking so I know what I'm getting myself into.

Welcome!

I don't think it's hatred. Try to understand that many of the posters in Terrestrial devoted decades of their lives from childhood through adulthood to their church. They trusted and believed what they were taught. They invested years going to 3 hour services on Sunday, Wednesday activities, they were baptized in early childhood, studied their scriptures, attended seminary early before school, they did temple work as expected, they served their 2 year mission, did visit teaching and acts of service. Many or most were sealed in the temple, some with and some without parents as witness. They raised their children in the same religious traditions and cultures that they were raised up in.

They invested their time and talents in holding church callings and their hard earned money for tithing. They did everything that you are probably doing as an active member.

And then something happened. Something didn't make sense to them. Something they were doing or being taught felt "off" to them. Most of them studied long and hard to find answers to the questions that were on their minds. Many of them hid their thoughts, feelings, and discoveries from their own spouses and their parents, their brothers and sisters, and their children. They felt betrayed, felt they'd been lied to. They decided that the church wasn't true, what they'd been taught wasn't true, what they invested their whole lives in wasn't true. Perhaps most of them lost belief in God or at least came to doubt that God exists.

Their discoveries in many or most cases, didn't give them a sense of freedom from religion or a desire to run out and wildly sin. Their discoveries caused them psychological and spiritual PAIN and FEAR. They went through a series of stages you might better recognize as the grief process. Some of them were scared to death of losing their spouses, their children, their parents, brothers and sisters, their church friends and professional ties.

Atlanticmike, some of them are venting, some are releasing frustrations, some of them follow church events and developments because it is part of their personal history and their culture. Some are hoping to see the church destroyed. Some of them are hoping their families would be open to the discoveries that they themselves learned because they are so concerned that their families are wasting their lives to something that is false.

I would say that ALL of them deeply love Mormons. Their spouses, children, parents, extended families, and friends are still Mormon.

I have known many of them online for decades. I have watched them go through sheer misery as they struggled with their doubts and discoveries. I walked alongside some of those posters up there in Terrestrial who corresponded with me during their challenges. I watched them go from belief to un-belief. From active LDS to atheist. A few rare folks found that they felt Christianity and other churches to be a good fit. I have even seen at least one poster go from atheism (previously active LDS) and back to the church again and he is happy where he is today.

If you want, you can start a thread to ask them about their departure from the LDS Church or ask them if they are angry and why. I am pretty sure they will disclose that for you.

I am a Never Mo. There's a couple or three or more of us floating around here. They seem to accept the occasions where I express my Christian perspectives. They are my friends.

[Jersey Girl]

Oh and hey! If you like other topics beyond religion, feel free to post in this Paradise forum. There's a lot of political content here and other things such as the pandemic. Personally, I like crime related topics and following court cases, psych related topics, or just discussing everyday type things.

[DrW]

No one here hates Mormons.

Welcome Atlanticmike.

Morley is right. No one I know of on this board hates Mormons. Most of us here appear to have grown up in the Church. The never-mos here and there help to reflect the real world and help keep us honest. However, I would not be surprised if most members of the board remain members of record of the LDS Church.

As children there was little harm in believing what Church leaders and good LDS parents taught us. However, like Elder Pingree, whose story is told in a film discussed on another thread, many have also grown up, studied and observed the world, and outgrown Mormon fantasies and fairy tales. I would guess that most of the members here truly love their Mormon family members and friends, and would even support their own children on missions should they decide to go. I know I did. I respect their decision to be active and they respect mine to leave the Church behind and move on.

We have had the courage to think for ourselves and to live in the larger (many would say real) world outside the Mormon bubble. We recognize and acknowledge that the foundational truth claims of the LDS Church are demonstrably false. We have decided to live more authentic lives than are possible when pretending to believe in, and live by, the collection of largely irrelevant teachings, traditions, and nonsensical truth claims that underpin Mormonism.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Hello, I'm new here. I found this forum after listening to a podcast yesterday and thought I would check you guys out. I've been reading a lot of the threads on here and have really liked what I've been reading so far. I'm an active Mormon but really don't mind different points of view, most of my friends are non Mormons and a large portion of my family isn't Mormon. But, I gotta ask, what's up with the hatred for Mormons? Is this forum for people to vent and talk about what's wrong with Mormonism for the most part? If it is that's fine, people need to be able to talk about their struggles, that's healthy, just asking so I know what I'm getting myself into.

Welcome, and I appreciate your perspective.

- Doc

[Some Schmo]

I am as anti-religion as anyone who posts here, but I can tell you honestly and easily, I don't hate Mormons. What I hate is people believing nonsense.

I understand they believe stuff to help themselves deal with the world, and I'm somewhat sympathetic. I can tell you that when I attack religion, I'm attacking ideas, not the people who hold them (because that would just be silly).

[Gunnar]

I am as anti-religion as anyone who posts here, but I can tell you honestly and easily, I don't hate Mormons. What I hate is people believing nonsense.

I understand they believe stuff to help themselves deal with the world, and I'm somewhat sympathetic. I can tell you that when I attack religion, I'm attacking ideas, not the people who hold them (because that would just be silly).

As you often do, SS, you have exactly expressed my own feelings on the subject. Though I no longer accept accept LDS foundational truth claims or most of what passes for LDS theology, there is no one on this earth I love more than my still active Mormon family members. The one thing the church teaches that I wholeheartedly endorse is dealing honestly and compassionately with your fellow beings.

[MeDotOrg]

I think the Mormon Church has been the touchstone, for different reasons, for many of the people on this board. I would think you would find similar comments on a discussion board for Catholics and lapsed or renounced Catholics, for example.

Belief and faith are necessary components in a religious conviction. If you grow up in a faith, trusting the Cosmology you are shown is natural. If your life experiences take you to a place where you no longer believe that Cosmology, there is a sense of misplaced trust or betrayal. Again, I don't think this experience is unique to Mormons, but what you are seeing, historically speaking, is a very young religion. Its growing pains have been documented by the people who lived them. There have been heretics, schisms, false prophets, martyrs and massacres, all of it well documented history of the 19th and 20th Centuries, not the distant timelines of the axial age religions.

This may sound weird, but your belief system is like your Cosmological life partner. When your life partner turns out to not be the person you thought they were, you feel angry, hurt and betrayed. I would imagine that has not been your own experience. That's certainly ok.

Welcome to the board.

[Moksha]

Hey Mike, welcome to Mormon Discussion. This forum of Spirit Paradise seems mostly for politics and assorted odd thoughts.

The Celestial Forum involves a lot of Mormon thought, philosophy, and history but with a very polite demeanor. Much nicer than the Terrestrial Forum or the Mormon D&D Board. Somewhat equivalent to one of the NOM forums. Shulem regularly posts there with some pretty interesting stuff.

The Terrestrial forum is where the intellectuals on this site converse. Regular posters are also allowed there.

The Telestial is a rougher place that allows crudity. On a medieval map, it would be marked, "Thar be dragons!"

I think most people here would affirm that Mormons are a wonderful people, at least that would be my testimony. There are some disagreements with the particulars of Mormonism.