A Post in Which I Do NOT “Leave the Church Alone”
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
I received a nice comment from Brandyn, an active Mormon, and so I thought I’d reply to it, and then found myself really expounding, and then decided I’d share it all with you. Aren’t you lucky? Please note, I was not snarky with Brandyn, because she was not really snarky with me. I appreciate her opinion. Hopefully, she will continue to appreciate mine.
Brandyn’s comment is at the bottom of the post.
Hey Brandyn,
I must say, do NOT be afraid of the period. In grammar, periods are your friend! I ran out of breath reading your comment.
That said, I will note that I have mentioned time and time again that I DO like Mormons, and I do appreciate they have the right to their belief system. But I also have the right to be left COMPLETELY alone, as I have requested. Since that is REPEATEDLY and SYSTEMATICALLY ignored and my rights denied, I reserve MY RIGHT to talk about the Mormons. As SOON AS THEY LEAVE ME ALONE, I will do the same.
Please, let me go into detail a little further about what this will require:
*This, of course, would require they not come to my door, leave fliers on my porch, invite my children to church, send the missionaries/visiting teachers/home teachers to visit me or my children.
*It would require they not attempt to collect fast offerings from me, or donations for the Scout troop, or invite me to all the Relief Society functions. (They can still come by to collect for Pennies by the Inch for Primary Children’s Medical Center, an extremely worthwhile project and one I will always donate to.)
*It would require they not try to influence politics and make decisions about who gets to marry whom and why, especially when their OWN past escapades as far as marriage are MORE than a little sketchy.
*It would require they actually be HONEST about the fact they are FAR from impartial on political issues, and will never hesitate to try to influence an election, or throw money at causes which they support, and money to defeat those they do not, i.e. gay marriage. (FYI, this one will never happen, because if the LDS Church admits their meddling in local affairs, the IRS will slap some fairly hefty fines on them.)
*It would require they not demand the right to declare they have THE ONLY TRUE THING, but deny me my right to say it is not true.
*It would require they stop telling everyone the only reason Mormons leave the church is: someone offended them; they sinned; or they could not live the gospel. Please. The easiest thing to DO IN THE WORLD is let someone tell you every move to make. Most of us LEAVE because we don’t believe it’s true. Those who sin, or get offended, or just want to have fun for a while usually end up COMING BACK, and usually defend the Church more vociferously than actual true believing Mormons (TBMs). If we are saying it isn’t true, it’s because WE BELIEVE IT ISN’T TRUE, as strongly as YOU believe it IS true.
*It would require that they not seek me out in droves, on the Internet, telling me the error of my ways (many of them young teens who can barely write and spell, but are so arrogant about their “truth” that they never hesitate to bash everyone over the head with it).
*It would require that they let everyone into their temples, in order to make sure that EVERYONE can partake of God’s blessings, instead of just those who spill their guts to a bishop and wear Jesus Jammies. Oh, and have enough money to take away from their families and give to a HUGE, MAJOR CORPORATION that is busy BUYING UP SALT LAKE CITY. I have a theory about that. See, SLC is predominantly NON-Mormon. I think if they buy it all up, they figure they’ll just oust on the nons and take over.
*It would require they be OPEN and HONEST about their past, and stop trying to make it look pretty! Nobody shows the pictures of Joseph Smith, Jr., with his head stuck in a hat, translating the Book of Mormon. They show illustrations of him with the plates. IF YOU READ THE HISTORY, you are pretty well AWARE it did not GO DOWN THIS WAY. He stuck his head in the hat. He translated. Someone else wrote. They would NOT print official biographies of Brigham Young that only mention ONE WIFE. HOW STUPID do they think people are? Pretty damn stupid. I could go on and on, but I won’t, because then I would be like one of those boring, endless, conference talks….
I could cite more instances, but the ones I’ve listed above are MORE than enough. It will never happen. I can always write about it, because they will ALWAYS do what I have listed above. And the truth is, Mormonism is my culture, too. I was raised in it, my family (most of them) still ascribe to it, and I see it each and every day. It is a part of my past, and my future, and I write books set in this culture that show the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So, thanks for writing. But I think I’ll reserve my right to continue on in the way I have gone before. Nothing much is changing at the LDS Church headquarters, so it won’t change here, either.
First off I am not going to condem you for anything you have posted mostly the reason I am writing this is because I am a very active LDS member and I just want to commend you on standing up for what you believe in. I believe that everybody has the right to believe how they want to believe it is in the Constitution, this Country was founded by people that wanted freedom of Religion and to be able to make choices for themselves. I have been a Moron…ooops I mean Mormon all my life and I know it is true. But that is my right to believe that way. You or anyone else doesn’t have to believe what I or any other Mormon believe because that is their God given right. We in the Mormon Church are taught to respect others views and what they believe it is even written in the articles of Faith either 11 or 12 that states “Let other believe how they may.” All I can say is yes there are some very “Snooty” Mormons in Utah but if youdive down deep enough you will find that many of the very faithful Mormons are just average people like myself that believe that others have their right to believe what they want to believe. and what I say is I can love you for who you are but I don’t have to love you for what you do! What really frustrates me is people ridiculing me for what I believe to be true they just don’t seem to get the fact they don’t have to believe what I believe but it is ok for me to believe how I believe because it is my right to do so and just leave it at that! We will all find out in the end who is right and who is wrong If what the Mormons teach is true then it is true, but if it isn’t then it isn’t but until that time comes please remeber to respect what I believe and not try to tell me I am wrong to believe what I believe because it is my right to believe what I want as it is your same right and I will respect what you believe though I don’t have to beileve it myself and really I can’t tell you that you are wrong because that is your right. Anyway Enough rambling here Just thought I would voice an Opinion!
Have a great day!
I received a nice comment from Brandyn, an active Mormon, and so I thought I’d reply to it, and then found myself really expounding, and then decided I’d share it all with you. Aren’t you lucky? Please note, I was not snarky with Brandyn, because she was not really snarky with me. I appreciate her opinion. Hopefully, she will continue to appreciate mine.
Brandyn’s comment is at the bottom of the post.
Hey Brandyn,
I must say, do NOT be afraid of the period. In grammar, periods are your friend! I ran out of breath reading your comment.
That said, I will note that I have mentioned time and time again that I DO like Mormons, and I do appreciate they have the right to their belief system. But I also have the right to be left COMPLETELY alone, as I have requested. Since that is REPEATEDLY and SYSTEMATICALLY ignored and my rights denied, I reserve MY RIGHT to talk about the Mormons. As SOON AS THEY LEAVE ME ALONE, I will do the same.
Please, let me go into detail a little further about what this will require:
*This, of course, would require they not come to my door, leave fliers on my porch, invite my children to church, send the missionaries/visiting teachers/home teachers to visit me or my children.
*It would require they not attempt to collect fast offerings from me, or donations for the Scout troop, or invite me to all the Relief Society functions. (They can still come by to collect for Pennies by the Inch for Primary Children’s Medical Center, an extremely worthwhile project and one I will always donate to.)
*It would require they not try to influence politics and make decisions about who gets to marry whom and why, especially when their OWN past escapades as far as marriage are MORE than a little sketchy.
*It would require they actually be HONEST about the fact they are FAR from impartial on political issues, and will never hesitate to try to influence an election, or throw money at causes which they support, and money to defeat those they do not, i.e. gay marriage. (FYI, this one will never happen, because if the LDS Church admits their meddling in local affairs, the IRS will slap some fairly hefty fines on them.)
*It would require they not demand the right to declare they have THE ONLY TRUE THING, but deny me my right to say it is not true.
*It would require they stop telling everyone the only reason Mormons leave the church is: someone offended them; they sinned; or they could not live the gospel. Please. The easiest thing to DO IN THE WORLD is let someone tell you every move to make. Most of us LEAVE because we don’t believe it’s true. Those who sin, or get offended, or just want to have fun for a while usually end up COMING BACK, and usually defend the Church more vociferously than actual true believing Mormons (TBMs). If we are saying it isn’t true, it’s because WE BELIEVE IT ISN’T TRUE, as strongly as YOU believe it IS true.
*It would require that they not seek me out in droves, on the Internet, telling me the error of my ways (many of them young teens who can barely write and spell, but are so arrogant about their “truth” that they never hesitate to bash everyone over the head with it).
*It would require that they let everyone into their temples, in order to make sure that EVERYONE can partake of God’s blessings, instead of just those who spill their guts to a bishop and wear Jesus Jammies. Oh, and have enough money to take away from their families and give to a HUGE, MAJOR CORPORATION that is busy BUYING UP SALT LAKE CITY. I have a theory about that. See, SLC is predominantly NON-Mormon. I think if they buy it all up, they figure they’ll just oust on the nons and take over.
*It would require they be OPEN and HONEST about their past, and stop trying to make it look pretty! Nobody shows the pictures of Joseph Smith, Jr., with his head stuck in a hat, translating the Book of Mormon. They show illustrations of him with the plates. IF YOU READ THE HISTORY, you are pretty well AWARE it did not GO DOWN THIS WAY. He stuck his head in the hat. He translated. Someone else wrote. They would NOT print official biographies of Brigham Young that only mention ONE WIFE. HOW STUPID do they think people are? Pretty damn stupid. I could go on and on, but I won’t, because then I would be like one of those boring, endless, conference talks….
I could cite more instances, but the ones I’ve listed above are MORE than enough. It will never happen. I can always write about it, because they will ALWAYS do what I have listed above. And the truth is, Mormonism is my culture, too. I was raised in it, my family (most of them) still ascribe to it, and I see it each and every day. It is a part of my past, and my future, and I write books set in this culture that show the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So, thanks for writing. But I think I’ll reserve my right to continue on in the way I have gone before. Nothing much is changing at the LDS Church headquarters, so it won’t change here, either.
First off I am not going to condem you for anything you have posted mostly the reason I am writing this is because I am a very active LDS member and I just want to commend you on standing up for what you believe in. I believe that everybody has the right to believe how they want to believe it is in the Constitution, this Country was founded by people that wanted freedom of Religion and to be able to make choices for themselves. I have been a Moron…ooops I mean Mormon all my life and I know it is true. But that is my right to believe that way. You or anyone else doesn’t have to believe what I or any other Mormon believe because that is their God given right. We in the Mormon Church are taught to respect others views and what they believe it is even written in the articles of Faith either 11 or 12 that states “Let other believe how they may.” All I can say is yes there are some very “Snooty” Mormons in Utah but if youdive down deep enough you will find that many of the very faithful Mormons are just average people like myself that believe that others have their right to believe what they want to believe. and what I say is I can love you for who you are but I don’t have to love you for what you do! What really frustrates me is people ridiculing me for what I believe to be true they just don’t seem to get the fact they don’t have to believe what I believe but it is ok for me to believe how I believe because it is my right to do so and just leave it at that! We will all find out in the end who is right and who is wrong If what the Mormons teach is true then it is true, but if it isn’t then it isn’t but until that time comes please remeber to respect what I believe and not try to tell me I am wrong to believe what I believe because it is my right to believe what I want as it is your same right and I will respect what you believe though I don’t have to beileve it myself and really I can’t tell you that you are wrong because that is your right. Anyway Enough rambling here Just thought I would voice an Opinion!
Have a great day!
