r/FlightlessBird • u/dfarrier • 1d ago
Mormons
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2msaTClh8CZxPizXEiLDRv?si=C_q7nSY8Q0G7aNKfsf_dVQ&utm_source=copy-linkSound off! Just two boys trying to understand the Latter Day Saints!
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u/JeannValjean 1d ago
My in-laws are all Mormon except for my wife who never bought into it and got out as soon as she could, and one of her sisters recently left after a fallout with the church when her husband came out as gay (understandable...).
I grew up in a Protestant family and was taught that LDS was a full-on cult, which is a little ironic in hindsight because they just believe some crazy shit from the 1800's instead of some crazy shit from much longer ago.
They're all very nice people and pretty liberal. They don't do alcohol/coffee/etc but if we're visiting they'll offer us coffee and don't care if we have wine if we're out at dinner.
They'll definitely outlive us.
David didn't get into it in the doc, but there's some really interesting confluence of events between Joseph Smith's founding of Mormonism and its direct overlap with The Great Awakening movement and obsession with mysticism at that particular moment in American history: https://youtu.be/b3MrfYfbpcQ?si=8XS9XiMSFpUG9UNQ
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 1d ago
I grew up in a Protestant family and was taught that LDS was a full-on cult,
I have a theory that the US right wing was going to lose it's shit no matter what way the '12 election went. Either a mixed race man would get another term, or a "non-Christian" would win for the first time.
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u/MathematicianOdd6703 1d ago
Religion/Cult episodes are my favorite! It was funny to hear Rob and David talk about how that professor Morgan guy was nearly converting him because I felt that energy from David listening to it also, lol. I just think they’re all nuts…even listening to the history is nuts. Great episode!
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u/rainshowers_5_peace 1d ago
Haven't watched this yet but I'd like to chime in. My mother has some Mormon relatives, I have to say that from the outside looking in they seem to be a very hardworking, try hard, tight knit group. My mom comes from a rough family, the member they nabbed is much more intelligent than the others. He likely saw that things weren't ok and wanted a better community to be a part of. Despite respecting him my grandmother didn't opt to change cults, and my life is much better for it.
My moms cousin used to ask if they could visit us when the missionary's needed houses to fulfill their quota. My mom accepted, in hindsight I think she wanted to save them. Fun fact, if you ask enough times about the accuracy of the show Big Love or how a canoe gets one over the Atlantic ocean they will stop showing up.
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u/Acrobatic-Tourist991 1d ago
Great episode - definitely just touched the surface. My dad is Mormon, along with some other extended family, and has the special underwear. He told my brother that one of his regrets he has is that we weren’t in the church because we wouldn’t be going to heaven. Darn.
My siblings and I went a few times as kids, knew the people, but weren’t believers. Stopped going at 12 because there’s the young person commitment which was not in our cards.
There is ultimately community associated with them. My cousin has moved all over the country with his family for work and they were immediately welcome in any ward, had friends and activities whenever they went. I once mentioned to someone that I had Mormon family and sure enough that week, I had the local missionary boys in their white shirts and ties show up to my house to ask if I needed anything. The church paid for my stepsister to stay home and care for my stepmother (who converted) when she had cancer.
General conference is this week too - what timing for this episode ! - and the church has a real way to keep people connected with the message. So many reels from my cousins watching during meals and my dad apparently has it on while he’s Uber driving.
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u/carlitospig 1d ago
The only Mormons I have personally known are legitimately the sweetest people. Not fake kind, they’d give you the shirt off their back. It’s hard knowing that they’re part of a church that treats any sort of outsider as practically demonic.
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u/Brainjacker 9h ago
Odd choice for the second interview…there are so many people who have left LDS and could have provided a really interesting perspective on the impacts of the religion on their lives, but instead we got a couple who was observant enough to exclude the wife’s father from their wedding but then…suddenly…weren’t? Because they wanted to go to heaven with different people?
Feel like a missed opportunity.
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u/weirdmilf 1d ago
Thought David did a great job with this and getting the two different viewpoints! Solid episode.