Weasel words are terms that are used to change the view of a concept. I personally think that the vast majority of believers are completely unaware of what they are doing. Believers tend to think that what they espouse is truly different from what they disparage in others' beliefs. In the realm of politics it is more often intentional (e.g. conducting a police action vs waging war) though not always.

Some examples that come to mind:

1. You are evangelizing and pushing your religion on others vs I am sharing the word of god

2. Your religion is based on myth and superstition vs my religion is based on the true word of god.

This actually takes many forms from literal belief in equally as mythical/allegorical tales as any other faith to realizing the mythical nature but still believing that the person's own myths are somehow different. There is no appreciable difference between the beliefs of very primitive peoples eons ago and the beliefs today. Faith-based belief in the unknown and unknowable will always be the same.

3. Your spiritual experiences are incomplete whereas mine are a representation of the fullness of the gospel in my life

This always bothered me. How does one distinguish between all of those nebulous emotional twinges when reading the innumerable interpretations of the Bible, Book of Mormon, etc? What makes my interpretation divine and the rest diluted or maybe even deluded?

4. You are trying to convert others to (pick any combination of the following) increase your income/wield power/lead people away from the truth but I am interested in sharing the restored gospel with every person alive today plus anyone who ever has and ever will live.

So if everyone on the planet thinks and acts just like the followers of my faith the world will be paradise. On the other hand if they think and act like those of other faiths it will be a living hell (or at least less than optimal).

5. Some other organizations/religions engage in highly manipulative behavior and some even engage in brainwashing. My religion looks closely after its members, works diligently to keep our members in the faith, and we conduct frequent worthiness interviews. We also provide many opportunities for study of our doctrine through seminary, institute, daily scripture study, etc.

6. Your religious attire is an interesting cultural artifact (which we respect of course...*cough*) but our religious attire is sacred, reminds us of our relationship with god, and has (magical) priesthood power.

7. Rain dances and other ancient rituals to influence the weather were quaint attempts by those who did not comprehend the nature of the planet. We fast and pray to the creator of the universe to influence the weather. This, of course, makes much more sense and is VERY different from other religions' rituals.

8. Your belief in having the fullness of god's word is misguided. We, on the other hand, do have the full restored word of god and have been saved for these latter days to share that message with the world.

Again, the inability to see that these positions are exactly the same is puzzling. Somehow a select collection of verses from the Bible and a specific, yet highly complex and disjoint, interpretation of the many things in the Bible is the one right interpretation. All other interpretations will not return you to the presence of god. I think about the decades I spent in that same mind set and I despair. I often wonder what else I carry around in my mind every day that is erroneous to one degree or another.

There are numerous other comparisons and even among the ones listed there are many permutations and degrees of tolerance of other positions. The bottom line, though, is that people tend to view the flaws in other people's logical somewhat clearly but are unable to see the exact same problems in his or her own thinking.

This reminds me of another recent post where someone claimed that mormons don't solicit when they come to strangers' doors with messages or flyers.

That makes no sense because the ONLY reason a mormon shows up at a stranger's house is to solicit something from them.

When I first started using words on RfM like harass, trespass, and stalk, many posters strongly objected. They said mormons don't do those things. Well, yes, mormons DO typically harass, trespass, and stalk. They just like to call it fellowshipping or missionary work.

This point was one of the issues that prompted the Community of Christ to consider whether to begin allowing people to join on their previous baptisms. You still gotta be confirmed a member by laying on of hands when you join though which is fair enough.

When you look at the experiences that people have had at their baptism regardless of their religion, it is hard to accept that theirs is any less valid, or any less authoritative when the Holy Spirit is so powerfully manifest in their lives.

One thing that really opened my eyes was going online and reading the testimonies of many people around the world from all walks of faith. And reading about people who are persecuted for their faiths, made me see that not only do the mormons not hold the market of spirituality.

Excellent thanks

I was only TBMish at my most deluded, and most the time I was a reluctant member just trying to stay out of hell. But I always knew on some level what you were explaining.

One time my 13-year-old son and I were driving past the cathedral of the Madeline in SLC on a Saturday when people were going to church. He said how weird they were because it was Saturday. Even though I was probably at the height of my TBMishness, I told him that it was us who were the most weird, then explained to him how the rest of the world would see us.

Somehow I was able to know how weird it all was, but still think I needed to do it to keep out of hell.

A BIC friend, back in my TBM days, indicated that she and her husband were friendshipping a new non-Mo neighbor couple.

One Sunday she told me excitedly: “Guess what! That couple I told you about will be coming to church with us next Sunday!”

And they do.

The following Sunday, deflated, my friend confided with dismay: “Now they have invited us to THEIR church! I guess we'll have to go since they came to ours.”

Tit for tat: Not easy for a Mormon!

Great list and so true. There is no "one true religion", just different faiths (or none) that fit for different people. I am against proselytizing by any religion. If it has something to offer, people will come to it on their own.

"So if everyone on the planet thinks and acts just like the followers of my faith the world will be paradise."

And, if we expose the psychological motivation behind that sentiment, we have:

"So if everyone on the planet thinks and acts just like the followers of my faith, I will, finally, have certitude that my belief system is real and true."

Translation: "My 'faith' doesn't work for me, unless all of humanity endorses it for me."