Many know that stake presidents are all-powerful in the church when it comes to disciplinary councils, and that church courts are held at his whim. But I haven't heard of anybody being dis'd/ex'd for posting on RFM or other anonymous sites - has anybody here experienced that?

Since I have read many inspiring exit stories on RFM, I would like to do my part and post my story. However, to any in my community in Southern California, my identity will be obvious. I'm not quite sure I'm ready for name removal/excommunication at this point, out of concern for others. If posting my story would alter my preferred timeline on this, I'd like to know the possibility.

Thanks for the help!

I would think you COULD be ex'd for apostasy, and I know that there are plenty of TBM lurkers and trolls here. That said, plenty of posters here share the same concerns. Mormonism is apparently small enough that, if one is not extremely judicious with one's personal information, the TBM lurkers will figure out the identity of the poster. It sounds like that is definitely so in your case (should I read anything into your username?).

Edited because poster can't form a comprehendible sentence today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2013 11:46AM by stillburned.

I've had several people in real life, tell me they love the stuff I post on here, and I have never shared that I post with anyone in real life that I post here. A lot of fellow ex-Mos, and lurkers have been able to figure out it was me. Of course, I am a gas bag, and I love talking about how great I am, so I tend to share way too many personal details.

This site gets many lurkers. If you aren't ready to take the risk of being "outed," don't post your story. It may be therapeutic to write it and not submit it until you are ready. In the mean time, hang around on RfM for a bit. Judging by your name, you might have some great stories :)

Well, don't be from Southern California. On our board you can be from anywhere. I'm now from the Deep South. Make like you're from here.

The site does get a lot of lurker tattlers who report back to home wards and stakes, family members, and Mormon HQ in SLC. Fair warning. but we are all very anxious to hear your story.

yeah - I think the idea of your story can be conveyed with names dates and places altered to protect the innocent - oh and - use another name since you have now outed yourself as a So Calie.

I'm amazed at how many people essentially share my stories too - just a different time, place and small details. There have been times when others'posts mirrored by experiences so closely, I thought I actually made the post/reply and then thought I forgot I had done it - lol! I know we'd all like to think our stories are unique - some are and some aren't. Can you change non-essential details?

Kinda sorta

If it counts, I frequented a web site and had contact with a fundi-Mormon, had my email intercepted and used by the SP and Bish as the basis for an official inquiry. Violation of federal wiretapping law. To this day I hate the men who did that. I saw them for who they really are.

The Church is pretty small. Just post under a different name and don't share your location. Even though they know who you are they can't use it agains you if it does not match your personal information on location etc.

No.

Not for posting here, but for posting on my blog.

I had posted my "exit/de-conversion" story on my blog and not too long after the bishop and a member of the SP came for a visit.

My husband and I had were given a choice to resign of be exed- luckily the bishop was decent enough to give us a choice. We had our resignation letters in hand. Easy peasy.

Did your story have details that are embarrassing to the church? Or did it just reflect your loss of faith?

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?3,193779

But what I left out on this board but had on my blog were bullet points as to what I had issues with. Things like several first vision versions, polygamy, polyandry, kinderhook plates, DNA vs BOM, Adam/God, etc... you know all of those lovely tidbits that aren't taught about in Sunday school.

So I guess I wasn't writing pro LDS stuff. But whatever. =)

I've never regretted writing it on my blog. I had to purge.

~in response to Bishop Atheist~



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2013 02:57PM by Pil-Latté.

I dodged a bullet a few years back. I was posting on a similar site to RFM and befriended a person in my stake. (I don't live in Utah so it was a big deal). We sent a few emails back and forth and then one day new friend forgot to log off and spouse of friend read my posts on the forum website. Spouse put two and two together and the next thing I know, I'm called into the bishops office. After some questioning, the bishop let it go. He was suppose to report back to the SP and then disciplinary action was going to be determined. But bishop called him back and said, forget about it, I'll handle it and that was that. Whew. I had to drop the account and create a new one. I am double careful now to not give out personal info on the boards.

Now I'm chomping at the bit to read your story, especially if you're a sitting bishop.

Can you give us a teaser?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2013 03:15PM by Hold Your Tapirs.

If you have this site in your browsing history, stay away from church wifi.

At least in the meeting houses, they don't have anything running on their network to sniff out someone's browsing history.

They don't even block exmormon.org or mormonthink.com in their firewall. They do block youtube though.

Without divulging too much (including my exact location, except for the fact that I live in Salt Lake County), I will say that I live in close enough proximity to a meetinghouse to connect to their wireless network, and if you know what tools to run, you can immediately detect and identify exactly what their network is set up to do. It's certainly debatable how much attention they pay to the information they gather, but the capabilities are there.
They're certainly not going to set up connections to their network in neighborhoods all over the #1 state for porn consumption and not have the ability to monitor and dissect the traffic being passed through it.

I also know what tools to run and I'm familiar with the network setup in my meeting house so I can only speak from that experience.

They do log all traffic on the network but I would be surprised if they do a deep dive into it to.

Also, if your laptop is properly secured, they can't get at your browsing history to view sites you've visited off of their network. You can't do this on an iPhone or Android device either.

Now if you're dumb enough to install some trojan or something like that, which TSCC wouldn't ever put on their network, then they could see whatever they wanted.

My earth name is Tommy Monson and I received a special calling 50 years ago . . .

I have been called in for FB. Let be clear, I was called in For one comment I made when my Bish broke the law in regards to clearing land that was protected and involved my children. Naturally i was ticked off. I was told I was on the road to apostasy and how dare I criticize the leadership and what a horrible example of a mother I was to my children. The second tome was Fb and it wasn't my comment. it was a comment someone else posted on my wall. Apparently some busy body in the ward who has wayyyy too much time on her hands decided to copy and past (out of context) this persons comment and email it around the ward as if I had made the comment. I went off on the bish. I don't get asked about my FB anymore. I cleaned up my friends list of any lingering ward members. BS BS BS it's all BS!

Most people (that haven't resigned) keep their identity anonymous here, so it's unlikely that the church would find out who they are.

But I do think you can get disciplined for this sort of thing. I wonder if members who post "anti" things on Facebook (where their identity is known) get this happening to them.

I was using me real name for some time before I resigned, so I take that to mean nobody in a position of power in the Lethbridge area (or anywhere else) thought my inflammatory postings were worthy of censure...and now of course, they can't touch me...but then again they had no power over me before either. There would have been zero downside to getting ex'd )other than having to get a new doctor, dentist and pharmacist.

Ron Burr

"but then again they had no power over me before either"

Ron Burr


What is truly sad are the posts here filled with genuine angst, penned by people who are still caught in the trap of granting these frauds/TSCC power over them.

I used to worry about it, but at this point I'd simply use the fact that they snooped into my communications against them. I really don't care if they do anything anyway, I'd just resign.

I figured my screen name would give me away, but haven't ever heard anything regarding my posts here.

I grew up in Portland. I highly doubt you were ever my bish, because all of my old bish's have probably bit the dust. It's still nice to see someone from my old hometown has seen the light.

I asked you about you once, but you never said anything. My sister is a TBM who lives off Milwaukie expressway (near Bob's Red Mill). So I have quite a bit of experience driving around there and Portland in general. Just wondering how long ago you did your bishop thing there.

If anyone from Cult headquarters is listening in, I am in the Corona Ward, Rincon Stake. My lds.org account name is luciferbrotherofheyzeus. Last name is the most common anglo-saxon surname. If there are any questions, may I suggest the first one? Ask me if I give a fuck.

Like

Pigsinzen..ok, that was by far the best comment I've seen all day! :)

I lived in soCal for 10 years. I am so curious to hear your story. As far as risking being outed before you are ready, I wouldn't risk it. Leave on your own timetable, then post your story.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2013 01:49AM by Queen of Denial.

I've put a lot of IRL info in my posts, because I'm not a member and there isn't anything "they" can do to me.

But my DH is still a member and I'm in much the same situation that SusieQ was in before her husband's death. My DH and I are still very much in love, but have "agreed to disagree" on matters of religion.

He is a Mormon to the marrow of his bones, but is inactive. He urged me to start attending SOME kind of Christian church, because I think that he was worried about the extent of my apostasy. Just to cause him less worry, I joined the local branch of the same Protestant church I grew up in. The people are nice, the hymns are familiar, the pastor is a nice young guy. it's mellow, not anti-gay or anti much of anything.

In my heart of hearts, I am about as pagan as they come - but going to a nice little church once a week so that my DH won't worry about my soul doesn't seem overly hypocritical. This church does a lot of active, helpful work within the community and local schools, and I can support that kind of thing whole-heartedly.

Because my DH is still a member, I don't come right out and relate things like "Bishop Falling-Hair and the mishies visited out house and. . ." A certain degree of discretion never hurt anybody.