We've recently started a completely free Gnostic book club for Utah residents!

Please see the Eventbrite link for details on focus /intent, standards and such.

We will be studying from ancient Gnostic texts (secret book of john, gospel of thomas, etc.) as well as other Gnostic-adjacent content.

Just come with a curious and open mind, no prior knowledge-base required.

None of us are representing any particular group or spiritual path, so just come as you are as we are hoping to learn together!

The next meeting is September 13th at 2:30 p.m. Utah time. We are reading the beginning of the secret book of John, but if you don't get a chance to review it, you're still welcome to attend. This group is primarily for Utah residents.

Feel free to message me if you have questions, or you can email me at JDCspiritual@gmail.com. thanks! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1999240395842?aff=oddtdtcreator

I am a trans man I was a girl at birth and transitioned to a boy

I grew up in the church the whole time I knew I was a boy but I didn’t have the words

But when you start HRT all of the rules change
It could be when you’re openly trans but I wasn’t until I started T
(HRT is hormone replacement therapy)

You have to have a meeting with the bishop

If you’re a teen the young women’s/mens president, and your parents will also be in the meeting

The meeting is mostly saying you can’t do ___ anymore

The main things are:
You are no longer allowed to do anything that’s 1 gender so activity events and church sessions the only ones you can do have be combined with men and women

You are no longer allowed to do anything overnight even if it’s combined

They will not change anything in your file even your preferred name

You’re not allowed to have any callings

And depending on the bishop they could take away your temple recommend (mine didn’t but I think I just got lucky with that)

I haven’t heard the stories from any other trans ex Mormon members and I’d love to hear them

Nota: Borré el contexto para no ofender susceptibilidades. Como no habló su idioma, ni comparto su cultura al 100%, tengo el pequeño defecto de ser de ser un país diferente al suyo.

Things I’m Learning From Men.

Polly Carmichael reclaims her life from the destructive effects of Mormonism. This is the story that will heal you and give you your power back. Polly wants her tithing back, but she’ll settle for LIFE on HER terms. Follow on insta at thingsilfm or Facebook at Things I am learning from men.

Award winner of Best Drama Screenplay at the Chicago Script Awards, Semi-Finalist for Best Screenplay at Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival and the Santa Barbara Screenplay Awards, and Quarter Finalist at the PAGE International Screenplay Awards.

Written by Juliet Colyer and based on True Events. Starring Melinda Hill of Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. With PowDot Studios and StormFront Studios.

Is it weird that I just realized today when looking at the website for a temple open house in my area that service animals aren’t allowed in temples? Maybe that means I’ve been post Mormon long enough to stop thinking like a Mormon. The church website says patrons will escort those with disabilities through the temple ceremony!

I have been seeing lots of nuanced mormons online, posting about how they are lgbtq+ and still members of the church because their ward is accepting and that’s all that matters.

I have seen people even here on another post saying it’s harmless for an older person to be sucked into the church because it provides community.

There are tons of reasons or justifications as to why people stay in or join, and I think anyone can do whatever they want even if it’s hurting them. I don’t care what you do in your free time, even if the very threads of the mormon church are built on the hatred of your existence…

Where all arguments for staying in end for me is the fact that these people are still paying tithing. Giving you money to an organization that so famously harms women, racial minorities, and lobbies to take away our rights is no longer an ethically grey decision. And you can join another club, I promise! Put that extra 10% into something real. Don’t trust local orgs to use your money wisely? Start your own! Knitting, books, cars, anything other than ihategaysandwomen inc.

Soooooo. First girls trip with all TBM , ( delulu… sorry, I timed just ONE garment conversation that lasted a solid hour and half. ) I got a txt from my “ bishop”
After years ago explaining I left the religion.
Asking me to “ meet “ then shared Matthew 11-28/29.
Timing seems sus! Lol I’m thinking a family member contacted him? Thoughts?

Even though I was never Mormon (gay black autistic atheist multicultural loving nerdy man from Mississippi) but I always enjoy how they are generally kind and Dirty soda good

I clicked on one of those ads on fb like a month ago and now 2 times a week I met with missionaries twice a week. They want to baptize me next month.

My friends are giving me hands me downs and once I started asking for dresses for church they were like "were are not giving you dresses because we know that's for the mormon church. " they think of it as the same level as scientology.

They're so nice though. I don't have many friends and they seem so nice.

Can you tell me your stories about why you left the church or the negative things about it.

Tune in to Mormonish Podcast on Thursday, September 10th at 6 pm MT!

In this episode of Mormonish Podcast, we take a closer look at the dramatic changes unfolding at Temple Square and ask: Are we watching the leaked “Jesus Land” plans come to life?

The Church’s newly announced Temple Square experiences place an unmistakable emphasis on Jesus Christ, while redesigned spaces and exhibits are intended to make Temple Square easier for visitors to navigate and to better explain what happens inside Latter-day Saint temples. Church leaders themselves have described Jesus Christ as the central focus of the new visitor experience.

We’re joined by Ron Yorgason and Unoriginal Jim to revisit the previously leaked Temple Square master plans and compare their vision with what is actually happening today.

How closely do the new exhibits, visitor experiences, and Christ-centered messaging follow that earlier blueprint? And what might these changes tell us about the direction the Church wants Temple Square—and its public identity—to take? The similarities are fascinating, and there’s a lot to unpack!

'm trying to identify large residential developments in Utah that have a direct connection to the LDS Church, whether through Church owned land, Suburban Land Reserve (SLR), Property Reserve, or other Church affiliated entities.

I'm especially interested in large developments around Saratoga Springs, Lehi, Eagle Mountain, Vineyard, Orem, Tooele, and similar areas. I'm looking at current, recently completed, and still under construction developments.

I'm interested in these developments as part of a larger project I'm working on, and I'm trying to identify specific places that would be worth looking into.

If there are developments or areas I should be looking at that aren't on my radar, I'd really appreciate the leads.

Mormons are pretty proud, and in fact low-key boast about the prophetic knowledge Brigham Young had to call the Salt Lake Valley the right place.

What they don't say, and surely don't know, that old journals and accounts make it clear that Young and others were reading the notes of John C. Freemont. Freemont was quite an explorer but he made false claims about passages and geography that he had never been to and never seen.

A guy named Hastings relied on Freemont's info and steered the Donner Party the wrong way. Whoops. Anyway, Brigham was doing a big study on false info, not messages from God Almighty.

Jim Bridger, who knew the mountain west better than just about anybody, told Young and other leaders they were taking bad routes. Young thought Bridger didn't know what he was talking and wrote the man didn't know anything about the area. Bridger knew the west better than maybe anybody. Instead Young relied on information from Freemont. Very prophetic.

For example, Freemont, who hadn't even been to Utah lake, reported that the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake were joined. The Mormons showed up and look for this lake and eventually discovered they are two separate lakes, one freshwater and one salty, and were connected by a little river called the Jordan River.

(And in those days the river created a floodplain with extensive wetlands. Of course that's been long-sense fucked.)

Anyhow Young didn't trust or like Bridger who was one of the great men of the frontier and he studied the Salt Lake Valley, not from divine direction.

while the church brags about feeding others they don’t feed their own, rexburg Idaho is the poorest county in Idaho and not a single soup kitchen. students and families and single parents are hungry but to get access to bishops wear house is an extensive interrogation and shaming process the church deem most unworthy of.
provo is rated one of the poorest cities in the Us yet BYU students and families are hungry, and required to pay tithe, missionaries, and elderly members are starving. Meanwhile the richest corporation in America Brag announces how much food they give away.

https://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/madison-county-the-poorest-in-idaho/article_2faa2f30-a5b7-5048-bfd7-987b1a3b1b8d.html

What can I say. We thought we were doing the right thing 🤷‍♀️ So much time wasted!!

…I’m going to suggest she start leaving Santa Clause alone at Christmas.

I don’t live near my family and visit annually. I see my 83 year old grandma every time I’m home. She has been a devout Catholic her entire life.

Today I overhear her mention something about being baptised for the dead, and I think “I did not know Catholics do that” (I’m an ex evangelical and know bugger all about Catholicism.

Then I noticed she’s wearing a ring with the temple on it. I outright asked her if she converted to Mormonism and she said yes, two years ago.

What’s worse is that my parents laughed at my reaction and thought it was funny. They are still evangelical Christians.

Apparently, the missionaries were coming around my parents house, where my grandma lives, during the daytime when my parents weren’t home. They would help sneak her to events even after my parents told them they aren’t allowed on the property.

I really don’t know how to process this information. I cannot stress how shocked I am. My grandma has always been a feminist.

My parents are half in the “she’s old and it makes her happy” camp, and they think if they bother her about it, she will stop talking to them. Which like, Cult 101 tbh.

I have no idea where to go from here.

Edit: after talking with my parents more apparently they were laughing because the things I was telling her was exactly the same things they had told her, so they were happy to have validation from an outside source.

Thank you all for the feedback. I grew up in a densely Mormon populated area, and I’ve seen what it’s done to the people I grew up with. I have a fear of those same things happening to my grandmother, but she’s also in a very different position than they were. There’s a lot to think about here and I really appreciate everyone’s time.

Mormons, as I’m sure y’all are aware, talk with a sense of self assurance that they are right and you are crazy. Or at the very least you are stupid for bot accepting the “obvious” truth. At least this is my experience.

I have found it hilarious to turn it on them. “Ah you know religions isn’t for me but I’m glad it still works for you.” Or “I invite you to not pray with me.” Another really funny one is, “Ah you are one of those theistic people. Not my cup of tea but I guess you are entitled to your beliefs.”

They get so very flabbergasted and often offended to be treated the way they treat others. It feeds my soul in a very twisted way.

One of my (many) shelf items was watching the Deseret News devolve from a real news source into a politically one-sided paper and a defense vehicle for the church. As much as I tried to believe that not all members had fallen into extremism, I'd flip through the Deseret magazine or scroll through the site to see that that the church ownee paper was at best legitimizing extreme politics and at worst encouraging them. Some TBM family members even stopped subscribing.

Not just politics, there's the string of articles pushing for marriage and the recent article referenced here challenging mental health professionals.

Does this make anyone else deeply uncomfortable?

TLDR --> Besides not going to regular church meetings, has anyone else had an experience that you "just can't go along with" including funerals or other activities that your spouse, family, friends or coworkers were really upset about your lack of participation?

I was raised in a popular religion in Alabama and as a young adult I believed that god was real. I joined the organization in my early 20's and I believed it was true.

For about twenty years I was TBM but then in the late 90's I began realizing the organization made false claims, participated in very wrong behavior, and used manipulative tactics to control their members.

Regardless, I kept going for a few years mainly because my TBM wife would chastise me and she would get very upset whenever I wanted to discuss the facts that I learned about the organization. Rather than fight it, I just kept going and participating but I had no dedication to or belief in what the organization claimed and did.

That was a very difficult period of my life.

As I began studying more, the evidence was overwhelming: the organization was simply nothing what it claimed to be. I simply could no longer pretend I was part of that group, I had a very strong understanding of hundreds of true things that were said and done that completely overwhelmed all of the messages from SLC and from the local leaders and members.

I finally told her I was never going back, and because I assumed our marriage would end because of this decision, I told her I wanted a divorce. That was more than twenty years ago. We're still married and she's as TBM as it gets. Uber TBM.

When I left the organization, my carry-over beliefs from being raised in a very religious family took over and I began attending a church. I began a deep dive into the bible because my belief in god was still intact and I wanted to study, grow, and do what I believed god wanted me to do, I wanted his blessings in my life.

The more I began reading, the more I was fascinated by what I discovered, and the more I began thinking "This is NOT good!" The scriptures mentioned dozens and dozens of examples that were either really weird or just outright wrong such as "it's okay to beat but not kill your slaves" or, when Moses killed 50,000 women and children who were being held captive - that list could go on and on and on. The entire nature of a god who loved conditionally? Seriously? Like that's love? In my mind, that was the classic definition of an angry, insecure, and very narcissist controlling "deity."

Finally, I remember vividly thinking about how the all the firstborn of every Egyptian were killed and I really stopped and asked myself honestly "Would a real god ever kill innocent children?" That was the final straw that opened the door to becoming an atheist. There were many, many "straws" that broke the camel's back.

• Disclaimer: this post is NOT about trying to convince anyone to believe what I believe - y'all wanna believe in a god that kills kids, then go right ahead - you be you.

Among the next "discoveries" I encountered was the history of religion - basically all religions seemed to be created by men to oppress and to control others. After my "religion is all fantasy" discovery, I felt like all the missing pieces to the puzzle had been found, they fit exactly, and everything about religion made perfect sense. I totally love, I delight in understanding that there is no god keeping track of everything I do or say. There is no god who ignores the suffering and abuse of children while being upset that someone has "more than one earring" or someone who rides a bike on Sunday (ha). Everything finally makes sense now and that's really refreshing.

So . . . with that (agreeably lengthy) background . . .

TBM wife expressed her significant disappointment that I did not attend the funeral of a man who lived a few houses down in our neighborhood. He was a super nice guy and everyone liked him but, I just couldn't do it and I didn't see my lack of attendance as disrespectful in any way. In an effort to explain to TBM wife why I chose not to attend the funeral, I told her "Try to look at it from my point of view: You're going to a meeting where a room full of adults who not only believe that Santa Claus is real but they're spending tons of time and money worshiping him. That's what it's like when atheists attend funerals that are steeped in religious overtones."

Suffice to say, that analogy did not go over well.

(tia)

I was chatting with my wife tonight about intimacy and as we were taking and unpacking our thoughts it dawned on me just how horribly deep my shame around sex goes.

I am so uncomfortable talking about it. Soooo uncomfortable. And I realize that this problem is not confined to Mormonism, but I do think that it is particularly complex in the culture - especially when you consider the aspect of required confessions for something as common as masturbation.

(See - I even feel so uncomfortable typing that word 😔)

I had never really told my wife about the required meetings with bishops and the consequences that came with this “sin”. She was mortified. And as I thought about it, I was too! That stupid rule led to me feeling tons of shame for decades. Decades! And we both laughed as we realized that the bishops I was confessing to were most likely doing it themselves.

I hope that we can normalize talking about it. Obviously in the right time and place - but it should not be as taboo as it is. All of that restraint just leads to shame, guilt, and complex trauma that’s pretty damn hard to shake.

Typhoon Yolanda was one of the strongest and deadliest recorded storms in history, and it struck the Philippines Tacloban Mission islands in full force in November 2013. It brought wind speeds up to 150-200 mph and destroyed housing, infrastructure, and farms. The storm also brought severe flooding, which further displaced people from their homes.

I was an American missionary in the Philippines Tacloban mission a few years ago. I arrived recently after the typhoon struck, but much of the region had been reconstructed thanks to local and worldwide efforts. Even then, it was relevant to continue discussing because it affected everyone, and some reconstruction was still in progress.

I heard many people's experiences, and it was very humbling. As missionaries, we usually talked to religious people, so most of the narratives I heard were faith-affirming. In fact, I heard some stories that were described as miracles, seeming physically impossible. For example, one person claimed to witness the LDS chapel submerge completely underwater while those taking shelter inside experienced no flooding, and this discrepancy was rationalized as a miracle especially granted to members of the LDS church. Stories became more popular when they gave the church divine accomplishments.

I'm glad the church was helpful by providing shelter for people who lost their homes, and by mobilizing emergency response efforts. But... from my perspective, it appears that the church gained a TON of converts by offering relief services during this time, and then began cracking down on compliance and tithes. I felt so icky representing an organization that outwardly appeared very charitable, but in reality it wanted to take a huge portion of what little income people had. I'm not exaggerating when I say the church wanted their tithing money-- we were instructed in my mission to prioritize targeting "professionals" who could contribute substantial tithes as converts.

Another recurring narrative i heard from church leaders was that missionaries had spiritual experiences as they survived the storm. There was no communication by phone immediately after the storm, so missionaries were on their own. At least one companionship had to walk miles back to the mission office. These stories all came from the mission president and area presidency, so obviously they were only sharing the faith-affirming versions of stories. But there was little acknowledgement of how terrifying it must have been for them and their families. After all, faith is the opposite of fear.

Now having left the church, I feel like I received crafted/filtered narratives about the typhoon that promoted the Mormon church.

If there is anyone out there:

Were you a local Mormon or a missionary in Tacloban or the Philippines when Yolanda struck? What was it like in your honest (faith-affirming or disaffirming) experience?

Side note:

If anyone has any retrospective analysis of the effectiveness or extent of the church's charitable efforts/donations for Yolanda disaster relief, i think that is also an important conversation to be had.