About
I was raised in an LDS (Mormon) home. I lived the LDS lifestyle until I was in my mid 30’s. For a number of reasons I decided to search for a better understanding of the history and sacred texts of my religion. I can honestly say I didn’t start with an agenda other than to have more knowledge regarding my religious culture and beliefs. As I started studying and researching I found that the history of the church was quite different from what we had been taught over the pulpit and in Sunday School etc. Sure, while on my mission and as an adult I would hear that there were some things in these books like Journal of Discourses and other publications written by the early church that were on the strange or controversial side. I didn’t think these things were of any consequence besides I could go and read what the apologetics had to say and they seemed to have the answers to my questions. I had not actually read what was said just the apologetics responses. This new search I felt should be more complete and I started to read the actual source material for some of the claims that I had heard about. I gradually grew more and more frustrated as I felt the apologetic response seemed to be more geared towards members that were taking my first approach, “I have heard about this book or information and without reading it, lets see if there is an answer, here it is Nibley says this and that and this person was just disgruntled anyway.” Good enough for me. As I started reading the source material and checking on the apologetics footnotes and cross references I found much of their source material was questionable. Things like using the Quetzalcoatl in support of Christ’s visit to the Americas or Nibley quoting an article about Jewish rituals among Native American tribes etc. These are just a few simple examples the path includes to many details to include here.
Having come to the conclusion that I could no longer believe in these things I had to analyze much in the way I believed and understand more clearly what spiritual witness actually was, what role all of this would play in my life. I think this was just about the scariest and emotional straining exercise that I have ever gone through. I have no regrets I am glad I did it. I truly understand and love myself now in a way that would not have been possible for me within the LDS belief system and culture.
When I first left the LDS Church I still considered myself Christian, my search soon took me past the LDS question. Soon I found myself no longer concerned with LDS thought and I definitely didn’t feel I had an ax to grind. My attitude was more of, if it works for you great. Aren’t we all looking for something that brings us happiness and peace? if you truly have found it fantastic.
What I had not counted on is how divisive it was going to actually be on me and my family. I had hoped that overtime I would be accepted for who I was regardless of being LDS or not. Certainly some in my family have continued in unconditional love and know me for who I am. Unfortunately however the more immediate members don’t seem to be able see past I am no longer a Mormon. I think that is perhaps why I ended up on the LDS blogs to be able to vent some of these feelings in a safe environment. It has truly helped in some ways. I do see that there are many LDS that can view the world in a way that is not in direct conflict with my views or at least willing to recognize that other views or beliefs are just as valid as theirs *more time on the blogs and I am not sure this is true it just seems more like lip service, or just part of the nicey nice*. Of course there are also the ones that seem to be incapable of such thinking. It seems the LDS culture runs the spectrum of different views just as diversified as the many Christians out there, fundamentalist thinking all the way to very liberal or progressive and or moderate.
Bottom line for me is that we as a human race love and respect life and all that is around us make the world a better place. It really is immaterial what your motivation is, belief in God or Nature or even the invisible pink unicorn. Morals and Values stand on their own and can be discussed and argued without bringing into the discussion some mythological figure that is unverifiable, in my opinion social conscience has clearly been the true catalyst for human growth and morals, and religious faith has and is holding us back and may well end up being the demise of our species.
Book of Mormonisms 
MCQ said
Very interesting. I like the fact that you have found some use for the bloggernacle in your thinking about Mormonism, and that it has expanded your view of Mormons.
I had the same experience. For me finding those sites revitalized my faith in ways I had come to not expect because I had found no place to discuss the issues I always wanted to discuss. Now I can vent my frustration at typical views while finding like-minded people who, like me, are faithful and believing. It has been a revelation to me.
There seems to be a strong utilitarian idea in your oulook. Do you agree? I don’t subscribe to the idea that religion is good because it is socially useful. I don’t care about that. I only care if it’s true. You seem to be saying that a personal philosophy, be it religious or not, is only valuable if it instills some kind of useful moral code. Is that what you are saying, or not?
coventryrm said
I would say that it is pretty accurate. If by moral code you are saying respect and acceptance of others and life in general. yes. Morals as defined by religion I don’t alway feel are morals or values but quite the opposite. Homosexuality would be one example.
I also believe truth is very important. I posted the Carl Sagan quote I think after you visited the site.
elder joseph said
Coventryrm
I think its fair to say that in LDS culture in general , they think ‘Satan’ has got you and you’ve failed to keep your second estate having been successful on the first estate.You were a valiant spirit !
About Morals and Values .Sometimes I believe in God and then sometimes I don’t , but my moral values stay the same either way .When I do something for someone , its a natural instict to do what is right and not something I do for any eternal reward or earthly reward.
I think the teaching of do unto others as you would have them do to you is appropriate.
I would like to credit Mormons in General for my two years of Mormonism experience in that I’ve been more conscience to further ‘look’ to help and do things for others .Thats the Christian influence of the members .I felt that I wasn’t going to progress anymore and that by staying any longer I would become a little ‘arrogant’ ,’ a deceiver’ ( hiding the real history ) and anyway I knew it wasn’t what it claimed to be so I couldn’t live a lie and couldn’t even stand the meetings anymore , not even for fun .
I’ve decided to keep my Word Of Wisdom status .Why not I ask myself .I’m just as happy as when I drank alcohol occasionally and lots of coffee . I don’t look at others who drink alcohol and coffee etc as ‘infidels’ or anything . lol
I never did get the Spiritual Blessings of ‘Treasures of Knowledge’ from WOW , unless steering me to the real church history with a clear head was that fulfilled !
theroan said
So now are you a Christian, atheist, agnostic?
coventryrm said
Atheist if I am talking to someone that claims they know there is a God, Agnostic when I am talking to a person who is honest enough to admit that none of us really know. I would call myself a humanist if I had to pick a label.
dalogan said
Just wanted to let you know I read your story here. I quit a few years after my mission. The blog world has helped me see there are a lot of people out there going through similar situations. Like you, I started chipping away the belief at the church. Then all Chrisitianity was at question for me. I find it interesting that so many people that leave the mormon religion give up all religion.
myreligioniskindness said
I left about 5 years ago and went into New Thought, which was a nice transition from one community to another. I also find a lot of peace in Buddhism/Eastern philosophies, not so much in their strict practices of precise meditation, but the idea of mindfulness and non-attachment. I can also look at why I benefit from it from a psychological/egoic perspective. I then progressed into more earth based spirituality, which I liked because it connected me more with myself and took me out of ‘sabbath’ worship. I now find there is no one belief system in and of itself that is big enough for me. I know it might bug some, but I pick and choose, but ultimately choose nothing organized. The longer time goes on, the more content I am with no practice or participation at all. I am content within myself. Sometimes I would even consider myself agnostic. I think it took me so long because it took a long time to let go of the IDEA of having a COMMUNITY, which is a big part of growing up and living the mormon faith.
Michael Glawson said
I’m a Christian (who really wouldn’t want to be a Christian if Christianity were a bunch of lies), and I’ve spent a lot of time on learning about and interacting with Mormons. I’m sorry to hear that you had such a terrible experience with the LDS church; while there are moral goods to Mormonism, so many of its fundamental tenets are obviously false, and that leads to a lot of pain and frustration. One thing that I’ve noticed though, in my interactions with Mormons, is that their understanding of non-Mormon Christianity is about as poor and uninformed as their understanding of their own system, seeing non-Mormon Christianity as a basic system that lacks Joseph Smith and all that he and his descending prophets taught. This is certainly far from the truth since Mormonism and non-Mormon Christianity are contradictory in the vast majority of their beliefs. I wonder, if that were true, do you feel like you’ve given enough consideration to Christianity to know that you don’t think it’s tenable, or do you think you might have just lumped it with Mormonism such that, if Mormonism is false, Christianity must also be, by default?
coventryrm said
Michael
When I first left Mormonism I didn’t even question Christianity, it was only after I started delving into Religion with a more broad and open mind not wanting to lose my spirituality just because I had come to my conclusion regarding Mormonism, slowly however as I researched and studied and pondered I came to the same conclusion regarding religious myth as a whole. They all have their problems in the integrity of the so called “Truths” they teach.
Cactus said
Please put a link to my site. I have incredible information about the Mormon religion and its efforts to “conquer” America in accordance with Mormon prophecy:
http://www.mormonzeitgeist.com/node/158
Cain Doctrine said
I too left the Mormon cult, which I was a member of for only 6-months before learning the incredible truth about the cult. Because of what I found the Mormon religion offered me $100,000, a contract to be a “paid” Young Adult Leader (Nazi youth informer) and the Mormon bishop of my aptly named “ward” changed my grades at the University I was attending twice, once to an “A” and the second time to an “F”. This lay bishop was a full-tenured professor of economics and also threatened me “If you ever want to live a normal life and get married, you better stay in the church”. I got the “F” the semester after being offered the bribes, which included the “A”. Oddly, the next semester when I left anyway, I received the “F” and I began hearing rumors that I was gay and a drug addict. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t true. Anyway, after I reported Philip J. Bryson to the Dean of Students, he suddenly left and became a professor at the prestigious Breedum Young University, where they have an honor code. See his BYU link below:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:65p1Wh_vJN4J:marriottschool.byu.edu/employee/employee.cfm%3Femp%3Dpjb3+phillip+bryson%2Beconomics&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
When I was a junior at the University of Arizona, I became Mormon for 6-months and accidentally discovered that Joseph Smith tried to overthrow the United States Government, which is why he was arrested for Treason against the United States in 1838 and 1844. By 1844, the Mormons had fought two wars with the United States Government, the Missouri War and the Illinois War. By 1843, Joseph Smith had his secret “Council of 50” anoint him as their Mormon “King of Zion”, which Smith claimed held dominion over the entire United States. Then, Smith proceeded to appoint Brigham Young as the new President of the United States and form the “100,000-man” Nauvoo Legion to overthrow the US with military force. All of this led to his arrest for Treason.
After Smith was killed in 1844, Brigham Young led the Mormons out of the United States and into the Mexican Territories specifically to form their own sovereign Mormon nation of Deseret. Young founded the new nation of Deseret in July of 1847 in the Mexican Territories, but with the end of the Mexican/American War in February of 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded all of the lands Young claimed for the new Mormon nation back to the United States. This infuriated Young, who then began killing non-Mormons in Deseret, which led to their third war with America, the Utah War. Incredibly, Joseph Smith had already written a Mormon prophecy about “9/11” in 1831 after the Mormons were forced out of New York for owning slaves. And, on September 11, 1857, the remains of the Nauvoo Legion (now in Utah) dressed up as Indians and massacred 120 innocent men, women and children traveling through Southern Utah on their way to California. Today, this heinous act of domestic terrorism is known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Because of what I found the Mormon religion, and a Mormon Bishop (Phillip J. Bryson, who now works for BYU) who was also a full-tenured professor of economics at the University of Arizona where I was studying, first tried bribing me to keep me in the religion where they could “shut me up”. First they offered me $100,000, a contract to make me a paid member of the religion and manipulated my final grade in an economics class at the UofA to an “A”. When I chose to leave anyway, the same Bishop rebuked me and said, “If you ever want to live a normal life and get married, you’d better stay in the Church. Then, he manipulated my final grade in another economics class the next semester to an “F”. For the next 22-years between 1978 and 2000, I was constantly harassed by Mormons and was fired from a position at Deloitte in Los Angeles where I worked (Dick Gardner, the head of the audit department was Mormon, and he transferred me 3-months earlier to work for his Mormon manager, Randy Thoman). And, these are only the most egregious violations of my Constitutional rights.
Beginning in 2000, I then began re-researching what I found in 1978 as a means of trying to prove what was happening to my life, and to free myself of this constant harassment. And, in conjunction with this new research, I learned that the Mormon religion was behind the white supremacist neo-Nazi so-called “Christian Identity Movement” that was behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and that Mormons were involved in all 3 of the terrorist events (1993 WTC, 1995 OKC and 9/11 terrorist events). Please read a short synopsis below, which can also be found on my website @ http://www.Mormonzeitgeist.com. And, now my life has been threatened a total of 6 times since 1978, most recently in October of last year. I have documented evidence and proof of these threats, as well as police report numbers that I have filed with the Phoenix Police. I have also documented all of this with various 3rd party sources, including attorneys, who say they cannot help me.
1. Ali Mohamed (Osam Bin Ladin’s head of security) gained entrance to the United States and became a US citizen by marrying Linda Lee Sanchez, a Mormon. Mohamed then proceeded to bring Ramzi Yousef and Sheik Khalid Mohammed (Yousef’s Uncle) into the US. Yousef then executed the 1993 WTC bombing by detonated a Ryder Truck Rental, and Sheik Khalid masterminded 9/11 (in accordance with Joseph Smith 9/11prophecy). Keep in mind that the Mormons had already orchestrated the 9/11 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre.
2. Terry Nichols, Chevie Kehoe and Dennis Mahon were all Mormons who helped plan and execute the 1995 OKC bombing, the bombing was planned in Elohim City, Oklahoma, which is named after the Mormon’s true God Elohim who they believe lives on a planet that revolves around the great governing star of Kolob (Mormon theology – no kidding). McVeigh (Catholic) was made the dupe by the Mormons who surrounded him because they hate “Christians” ( again Mormon theology which can be proven). The Mormon prophecy of “Daniel” teaches that Christianity and all “Christians” will be destroyed, and that the Mormon religion is the true religion that God promised to restore in the “Last Days”.
3. Terry Nichols (Mormon) flew to Cebu City, Philippines in November of 1994 (6-months before the April 19, 1995 OKC bombing) and met with Ramzi Yousef who executed the 1993 WTC bombing. Cebu City at the time already had an extremely large population of Mormons, was a hotbed of Islamic Terrorism and today has a Mormon Temple that recently opened up. Mormons will not open a Mormon temple unless there is a Mormon population of at least 60,000 Mormons to support it.
4. Ryder Trucks were used in the 1993 WTC and 1995 OKC bombings, and the president of Ryder at the time of the bombings was a Mormon Stake President in Florida named Anthony Burns.
5. Two of the 4 terrorist pilots who flew commercial airliners into the WTC on 9/11 were trained at Huffman Aviation in Venice Florida (Mohammed Atta and Marwin Al-Shehhi), and Huffman Aviation was secretly owned at the time by a Mormon bishop named Wallace Hilliard.
Incredibly, the terrorist environment created by Mormon white supremacists (erroneously referred to as the Christian Identity Movement), and Al Qaida allowed highly placed Mormons in the Bush Administratoin to draft the Bush Torture Policy (Jay Bybee), The Patriot Act (Jay Bybee, D. Kyle Sampson, Orrin Hatch, David Addington, John Yoo & Bret Tolman and other executive legislation. In fact, Brett Tolman surreptitiously added the clause to the “Patriot Act”, which allowed D. Kyle Samson who worked for Senator Orrin Hatch, to orchestrate the 2006 US Attorney General Scandal. And, I had been communicating with my fraternity brother, Paul Charlton – US Attorney for the District of Arizona, who was then fired by D. Kyle Sampson. This happened after Charlton sent one of my letters to the Phoenix bureau of the FBI, who was Mormon. All of the legislation drafted by the Mormons in the Bush Administration was actually designed to limit the rights of American citizens and help fulfill Mormon prophesies that teach that Mormons will conquer the United States and convert her into their Mormon Kingdom of Zion (“Daniel’s Prophecy of Rise of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days” and “The Doctrine of the Constitution Hanging by a Thread”).
Karl Rove was the “Handler” for the Mormons who were brought into the Bush Administration. Rove attended high school in Salt Lake City and got his start in politics by powerful Utah Mormons. He was also investigated by Nixon for his part in Watergate. Dick Cheney has Mormon ancestry and his wife (Lynne) comes from a 5th generation Mormon family. Cheney was in charge of NORAD on the morning of 9/11 because he coincidentally planned 5 war-games activities on the morning of 9/11 that entailed the hypothetical hijackings of commercial airliners by terrorists who would then fly them into national landmarks. Because of the confusion with Cheney’s “War Games” on 9/11, all planes flying in American airspace were forced to be grounded. Cheney and his legal council (David Addington) also began re-drafting the President’s special “Continuity of Operations” (CO-OP) legislation (otherwise known as the President’s special Emergency War Powers Legislation), which allows a sitting President to circumvent the checks and balances of the Constitution and declare martial law (as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both did). Mormons in the Bush Administration could not have done what they did without the terrorist environment that was created by Mormons white-supremacists (“Christian Identity Movement) working with Al Qaida.
In addition to the secret Mormon prophesies of “Daniel’s Prophecy of the Rise of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days” and “The Doctrine of the Constitution Hanging by a Thread”, which go back to 1844 when Smith attempted to overthrow the United States Government, Mormons owned slaves north of the Mason-Dixon line at a time when slavery was relegated to the southern states that were below the Mason-Dixon Line. And, as late as 1978, Mormons would not allow Blacks or dark-skinned people to hold the Mormon “Melchizedek Priesthood”. This was due to the Mormon “Doctrine of Cain”, which teaches that Jews are the illegitimate offspring of Cain and the Devil, and Blacks and dark-skinned people are the illegitimate offspring of the Jews and “Beasts of the Field”. Further, this is the same “theology” that the Mormon religion was originally based on, and which all of the so-called “Christian Identity” neo-Nazi white supremacist groups are based on today.
Hence, these separatist groups teach that the US Government is evil and non-legitimate because it is based on the Judaic Laws of the ancient Jewish religion. Further, the Judeo-Christian laws of America are based on English Common law, which in-turn are based on the ancient laws of the Greek City States, which were taken directly from Judaic Law. However, just as in Islam, Mormons teach that the Mormon religion is the law of the land, just as Islamic “Sharia law” teaches that Islam is the law of the land. Sharia law and Mormon law is based on Gods laws, not Man’s laws, which is why Joseph Smith taught that God took the “Priesthood” away from the Jews, because they had forsake God’s laws for the laws of Man. And, all of this is repeating itself in Arizona today, which is why Mormons in the Arizona legislature have consolidated their power, vote as a single block, discriminate against non-whites and attempt to limit Constitutional freedom. This type of legislation is continually drafted by Mormons and their brethren who are controlled by them. Think, Russell Pearce, who strong white supremacist neo-Nazi connections and his anti-immigration bill (see link below to my website):
http://www.mormonzeitgeist.com/node/193
Also, see these additional links to my website, which summarizes and cites all of the information presented:
http://www.mormonzeitgeist.com/node/244
http://www.mormonzeitgeist.com/node/158
My name is Lyle Slaughter and I’m a 3rd generation Arizonan. Harold Porter of Porter’s Western Wear was my Grandfather, I had an Uncle who was a member of the “Phoenix-40”, and and my Grandmother, Cleo Slaughter was campaign chairwoman for former Governor Howard Pyle in 1952, who led the 3rd disastrous raid on the polygamous Mormon town of Short Creek, Arizona (now known as Colorado City, Arizona) in 1953. I was born and raised Presbyterian, and joined this insane religion when I was attending the University of Arizona. I accidentally found a book, which revealed the entire truth about the sham Mormon religion, which then offered me $100,000 and a contract to be a paid member of the Church if I would remain in the religion. When I left and re-joined the Presbyterian Church anyway, the Mormon religion then began a campaign that was specifically designed to destroy my character so that nobody would ever listen to this story. I am a graduate of the University of Arizona in 1979 and 1985, I am a CPA and they continue to threaten me and attempt to destroy my life today because of what I know.
Another Mormon Resignation Letter « Social Conscience & Rational Thinking said
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lettertoanapostle said
Great Site, You might want to check out ‘A Letter to an Apostle’ http://www.lettertoanapostle.org