proud to be mormon, and openly revealing this in front of those who weren't (perhaps trying to sway them since 'every member a missionary'), or was it something you kept quiet (from embarassment or other reasons) when meeting non mormons?

Growing up in Salt Lake County it was pretty easy to just go with the flow and be a Mormon. However, I was never, ever comfortable with the whole "every member a missionary" thing. Pass along cards? No way was that happening with me. Remember the program from the early '80s when everyone was supposed to write their testimony in a Book of Mormon then donate it to the missionaries? That just made my skin crawl.

I lived most of my adult life outside of Utah, even though I live here now.

As a TBM I was always comfortable in my mormon skin. I didn't go out and preach to anybody, but I didn't shy away from my mormonism. So I had the chance to have quite a few conversations about beliefs, faith, crazy questions with many of my neighbors and co-workers.

But I was definitely not worried about "saving" the world. That's probably why we could have good and real conversations versus the manufactured conversations that many uber mormons have.

When I was a kid in Virginia, I had mixed feelings. I fell for the church's self-aggrandizing hype, stories of my family's pioneer heritage, singing "I Am a Mormon Boy" and all that. But since I was surrounded by gentiles, I also felt weird. I didn't Dare to Be Different, as they said back then.

I also noticed that my gentile friends seemed more carefree, less neurotic, than me and the kids I knew at church. I envied them for that.

Where in Virginia did you live?

I was confident in my Mormonism, knowing it was true and that we were doing soo much good in the world. I didn't feel comfortable doing missionary service to people. When I did talk to people I noticed that it kind of drove them away. So I would talk about it, if it was brought up,I was proud of it, but I didn't want to pressure others.

I didn't serve a mission. I went 9 rounds with a kid in High School over faith vs faith & works. I also told people I received answers to my prayers, which I think surprised some people, I also was just generally thought of as a good Mormon boy.

I was big on missionary work by example.

I Never wanted people outside the church to know I was Mormon. I think it had more to do with knowing that there was no explanation for the bigotry of the church, except well that the leaders were bigots.

I didn't really care about the WOW, I never really wanted to do those things anyway. Although now I do drink coffee.

I didn't want others to know I bought into the weirdness. It just didn't make sense. We supposedly followed the teachings of the original gospel but I never heard anything about Jesus wearing garments. I also hated my history. Great granddaughter of polygamist families, ewe.

Just not right. I also felt like the church sort of judged people, this never ending script of daughters of zion bullsh&t. I wanted a lot more than to be thought of as a uterus and a 'servant'. I think part of me felt like if anyone knew I was Mormon they might think I actually bought into that mindframe.
No I was never proud of my religion when I was LDS.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 02:37PM by minnie.

I grew up far, far away from Utah, and I never would have brought it up to my non-member friends. 6 or 7 of the 4500 kids at my highschool were members. I don't think most people knew anything about the church, and I didn't want to discuss it with them.

After my mission, I still didn't try to bring it up to anyone, but I did discuss it with several people on planes, etc... that brought it up.

It's come up with my coworkers because I don't drink. None of them know that I'm no longer "mormon". I don't like bringing up that I went to BYU because I sometimes get strange stares and I don't want to say "...but I'm not mormon anymore."

I wouldn't say I was "proud", but if someone asked me what religion I was I wouldn't be scared to say, and I was fine talking about it if people asked me. But I wasn't so proud about it that I'd WANT to tell people.

So somewhere in-between for me.

Also, I find it very easy to talk about my mormon past now. It's something I can joke about with my friends. I like to tell people that I'm close to about my mormon history, since it helps them understand me more as a person, and helps them understand some of my weird personality quirks.

Wow. I wish I was like you guys , I would walk around saying " the church is true! You can try to disprove it but it won't work! You can go around saying rain doesn't fall but it still does!" All because my YW leader told me that mantra I KNEW it had to be true.

.......I shudder to think I believed that.....

I did not have a problem being mormon but I think I was naive about how mormons were viewed. I remember when I was entering junior high my big sis sat me down and told me that if someone asks what religion I was I could make the joke she makes: "I tell them I am satanic. Then when they look freaked out I say, 'just kidding, I am mormon.'"

I did not understand why it would matter. I was not embarrassed about being mormon then and I am not embarrassed now about being an apostate. I am the only kid in my fam who has resigned. My big sis is too afraid what mom will think.

Life is too short to worry about people judging you. They are going to do it anyways.

I didn't like introducing myself as a mormon because it's such a strong label. It felt like: Hi, this is my friend nailamindi, the MORMON. I didn't have problems with being known as a mormon, I just didn't want the label to be the only way people though of me.

I didn't hide it. If the subject was religion, I was happy to claim to be a Mormon. But, I just couldn't get into going around and shoving it down people's throats. I've never lived in Utah.

I converted in the early 1960's. I was never embarrassed or concerned about voicing my church membership or identifying as LDS or Mormon. I have never had any concern over anyone knowing I was a member.
It's an integral part of a major part of my past,family,associations, etc.

The fact that I changed my mind about my choice in a belief system (discarded the need for god-myths or a savior), does not dismiss the value of that part of my life.

I moved to Orange County, CA in 2000 and would get asked, "Are you a Mormon?" whenever I told people I was from Utah. I was pretty proud to announce that I was. I even met a few other LDS folks this way. I had a few questions about TSCC from co-workers but tried to keep from preaching. I do remember one of my Christian co-workers asking me why I thought her Pastor hates Mormons so much. I told her it was probably because Mormons believe they're the only true church. I moved back to Utah 5 months later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2013 07:27PM by StoneInHat.

Everyone knew I was Mormon. I was quite proud of it. Except in my area, I often had to explain what a Mormon was, because many hadn't even heard of it before.

I didn't go around trying to convert anyone though.

keep quiet...I was never proud even though I tried to be.

Kept it quiet. Several coworkers were shocked when my Mormonism slipped out.

Actually I always felt a little embarrassed and LOVED to hear about others and what they believed and thought. We had some neighbors move next door to us in BOise that were baptist. They moved from California to come preach in good ol mormon boise. Although I did not want to join their church I would always ask how their proselyting was going and things about their church. She was very confused! They eventually moved back to Cali because they were having a hard time adjusting to their new environment.

Then we had some other awesome neighbors who were catholic. They started showing some interest in our religion and I told them theirs sounded better! And basically said "we" weren't so great.

This was the time when I was almost sure I was leaving the church so I didn't care too much. PLus I was angry about all the stuff I was learning.

I was not a good missionary, even as a missionary!!

I grew up outside of Utah. I took the church über-seriously and in high school took every chance I could to bear witness of the church, yearning with all my heart to be an instrument in the lord's hands in saving the poor gentile souls. Needless to say, I didn't have that many friends. Now I wish I could turn back the clock and have a normal childhood/youth.

As a kid, I didn't even realize what the difference was between Mormons and any other religion. It wasn't until I went to a Christian private school for middle school that I learned I was way different. In Bible class, I asked "aren't we going to study the book of Mormon too?" LOL. I learned from the teachers there that I was in a cult and I was made fun of a lot from the kids, so from then until high school I did NOT want anyone to know I was Mormon.

When I was about a senior in high school, and I became all uber-Mormon, I was obnoxious. I wanted people to know I was Mormon. In one of my classes in community college, we had an assignment to give an oral presentation about a part of our culture. Of course I decided to talk about the church. I am still so utterly embarrassed when I think back to this time. I spent a lot of time planning the presentation and it was almost sort of like a missionary discussion LOL. I passed around Books of Mormon and gave them out at the end. It was supposed to be a ten minute presentation but ended up taking the whole class period because everyone had so many questions for me.

I thought it went well then, but looking back, I know everyone just thought I was completely nuts.

Thank you all for your answers and the insight, the collective experience on this board is amazing and has answered so much for me.

I asked this question as my mo ex had hid it from me even though the topic was broached. it was 'my church this and my church that' but never specifying what it was. his mother, who is TBM, also never outright said it (this happened again recently as I run into her on occasion), almost like it was all some hush hush secret.

in hindsight I was the naïve nevermo who never thought to ask. guess I had some blind faith of my own going on (lesson learned). and in some ways had hoped the reluctance to mention it meant the shelf was at least bending, if not fully breaking as I do hope solely for his sake he wakes up one day.

I never introduced myself as a mormon (in fact, I never got along with people that do that), but in most circumstances, I would not shy away from stating I was so if I was asked.

Always figured the scripture said "I am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ" not "I am a mormon and I need to rub that in your face."

I was never proud. I was always embarrassed. I hated being told that I was going to hell, when I personally didn't think non-Mormons were. I hated being told that I believed things that I never even heard of until I was older (people becoming gods etc.).

From about the time I was 15 I was always a little bit embarrassed to be a Mo...even though I grew up in Utah and very much believed in it until my early 30s. On my mission I hated talking to any non Mormons in my own age group...male or female. I "knew" that the chooch was twue but I also knew that most people thought it was ridiculous.