It may be what we would like, but it just doesn't happen.

All we can do is resign, request no further contact, and specify how we will respond if our wishes are not respected.

The "name removal" process as outlined in the Church Handbook of Instruction is a subtle lie like most of what is said and taught in the Morg. Your name will always be on their records, and there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.

When we wait for the Morg to respond, send a confirmation letter, etc. to acknowledge that we are no longer a member it shows that we still feel the organization has some sort of power over us. They only have as much power over us as we give them.

I fully appreciate how difficult it is to have loved ones STILL ENMESHED in the cult, especially your children, spouse, or parents. I have 5 children and hope to have a good relationship with 2, maybe 3 of them as a result of cult mind control and shunning. I've come to a place where I acknowledge the best thing I can do is show my family members through a consistent life of happiness and integrity that the Morg is just wrong. Apostates are joyful, successfull and happy.

Please bear in mind my views reflect my perspective 6-1/2 years after resigning. I fully acknowledge how important receiving that "official letter" from the Morg was for me. It was a victory after battling them over 5 months to get it.

At this point I know that I have no realistic expectation of controlling what the mormons do with my personal information still in their database.

The best news I can share with you all is that as the years go by you will learn to compartmentalize all of it in your past and MOVE ON. That's my message of good news to anyone struggling with Morg control in your life. It can all fade into irrelevance, allowing you to lead a happier, fuller life.

To you, waiting for a letter gives some kind of power to the morg.

Others have differing ways of seeing it.

There's no one true way on the face of the earth to view the resignation process.

I believe this. Big Brother morg is watching you.

Legally it's what a person can do to wash their hands of the whole mess. But I'd bet the morg keeps records anyway--as someone they should try to re-enlist (re-cultify).

the Morg to treat me as a member. End of story. It's not more complicated than that for me.

That does not mean that you are still considered a resident of that county.

LDS Inc keeps a record indicting you were once a member. Once you have resigned, you are not on the membership roll of LDS Inc. Yes, you are on the "former member roll". You ARE a former member. Why should anyone be even remotely surprised LDS Inc makes note of that? The cult is positively anal about record keeping.

Your "former member record" is of no consequence whatsoever unless you decide to rejoin LDS Inc, in which case, the fact that you were a former member is the least of your problems.

I agree that the morg still keeps your name like you were once a resident of that country but the thing about resigning is that at some point along the line, they won't have your children's names or their children's names, etc. At least that is my hope.

I declare that he is right. Not only in the sense of being officially still on a membership list of sorts, but in a more undefinable way, too. You are still enmeshed in Mormonism, as Truth W/O Fear points out, so long as there is an important and close family member tied up in it. Then you're really never free. Yet I take no end of pleasure in letting my many LDS workmates know how much I know about the church. then when they eventually have to ask--and they all have to ask because the curiosity gets too much for them--then I love to say, Well, I was a lifetime member, went on a mission, married in the temple, raised a family and sent a son on a mission. I was a high priest and held numerous leadership roles. But the church is demonstrably false, so I resigned my membership. I love the blank stares that ensue. That, to me, is my way of giving back and distancing myself more and more. If I can ruffle the feathers of good members, I can also punish the cult that keeps records on me.

I've wandered a bit off topic here and rambled, but still... Point is, make the best of the situation.

Business don't delete data from their systems. I would imagine that next to your name and record number there is field in the big box that shows status. Its probably that this field contains values like: baptized, child of record, deceased, excommunicated, missing but under 110 years old, dissfellowshiped, and......resigned.

They may change your status but I'll bet you a peep stone and an angle with a flaming sword that they never delete anyone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 04:33PM by NoToJoe.

Having worked in Data Processing (Information Technology) for 38 years, I know for a fact that standard good practice is to always keep all master records (membership, accounts, citizenship, births and deaths, etc.). A "status flag" character is used, as stated in the above post by NoToJoe, to indicate the current status of each record in the file.

Rather than asking the church to "remove my name", it would be more technically correct to tell the church to change my membership status from "active" to "resigned".

Would there be a case for legal action based on the church's dishonesty? Presumably, their response to a person's request for name removal is that such action has been done. Technically, if all it means is moving it from one list to another, they have not complied and then compounded their failure to do so with a lie.

I think the reason they like to say your "name has been removed" as opposed to simply acknowledging your resignation is that way they feel they are still in control of the situation.

They are "blotting your name from the Book of Life", not just performing an H.R. function. I think they call it "name removal" as opposed to "resignation processing" and require that it be handled locally to reinforce in the minds of the local leadership that they are still - and always - in charge.

I don't care what they do with their internal record keeping. I have no access to it anyhow. Nor do I care how other organizations and churches do it. It's none of my business.

When I wanted to resign my membership, and they received my request, they confirmed that I was "no longer a member". That's fine with me.

They may keep records on everyone baptized, but clearly, this letter says I am "no longer a member."

Can't get any better than that.:-)

I empowered myself to change my membership status. Perfect! I changed my mind about belief in the claims, took the steps to change my membership status, and it worked. Perfectly.



Confirmation letter looks like this:


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Membership and Statistical Records Department
Room 1372
50 East North Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-5310
Phone 801 240 2053


June 27, 2002
(Note date - June 27, 1844 Joseph Smith Jr., was killed in a gun battle - fitting!)


My full legal name and address

Dear Sister ______________, (Why call me sister if I am not a member?)

This letter is to notify you that, in accordance with your request, you are no longer a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Should you desire to become a member of the Church in the future, the local bishop or branch president in your area will be happy to help you.

Sincerely,
(signature is a stamp)
Gregory W. Dodge
Supervisor, Member and Statistical Records


I understand it's a very personal decision to change your membership status in the LDS Church. Some do, some don't.
I needed to make a change for myself and I did, when the time was right.

I have many Mormon friends and loved ones and I want to maintain a decent relationship. I am very grateful I am still married to a Mormon believer -- 48 years, and counting! I live with and love Mormons, and always with.

I am content with my status, and have no regrets, anger, resentments, shame, guilt, etc. My life as a Mormon convert for over three decades was not a waste and it did not ruin me!
It is all part of what made me who I am today.
And that's a Good Thing.

Well said, SusieQ#1.

In my original post I said:

"When we wait for the Morg to respond, send a confirmation letter, etc. to acknowledge that we are no longer a member it shows that we still feel the organization has some sort of power over us. They only have as much power over us as we give them."

That sounds smug and condescending. Sorry. :-(

I was trying to say that writing the letter is a step, a HUGE step, in the process of walking away from an organization that controlled our lives so completely. The fact that many of us felt/feel the process wasn't/isn't complete **until they say it is** shows how much control is at stake.

I've resigned from a number of employers over the years, and I knew that once I made up my mind and wrote the letter, I was in control of the situation. I did NOT feel that way about the Morg. I really didn't feel "out" until they said I was.

list of over 50 thinking scripts on how I got myself: Un-Mormonized! That was a list of automatic thinking scripts that were imprinted little by little on how I lived my life for several decades as a Mormon.

That process was about taking my power back and not allowing anyone else to instruct me in what to think about every little thing in my life from what I age, drank, how I dressed, used my time, what I read, what movies I saw, and on and on and on.
I adapted my life into the cultural traditions little by little.

For myself, it works best if I use my natural ability to see The Big Picture -- Mormonism as an American God Myth constructed like thousands of other ones that is a cultural, traditional, generational religion, again, like thousands of other ones throughout the history of humanity.

God Myths are based, predominately on supernatural claims, and/or have a strong leader-teacher, and construct a societal basis for a group of people that often lasts for hundreds to thousands of years.

Every human being that ever lived has lived in some kind of loose to strict religious/savior/deity/teacher, etc, traditional ritual based society.
Mormonism is no different.

Leaving the LDS Church was about making a personal choice. It was not about good or bad, right or wrong. It was about changing my thinking -- which took some time -- about everything in my life, which included keeping my relationships that were important to me.
It was about incorporating: gratitude tolerance, respect, and honoring other people and treating them the way I wanted to be treated.

My message? Take your power back, govern your own life, choose your beliefs and change your mind if you want to. Be honest, kind, and a decent honorable human being.
Understand where you have power to make changes and where you don't. Mostly, that's just within yourself. We can't change other people.

My goal is to live in happiness, joy, peace, and contentment no matter the circumstances and sometimes that's very difficult.
Life is short, and full of surprises.
It's all good! :-)

I have a different view on this. Even though you may still technically be on the church's records (just like any business) you are no longer considered one of their members (clients). You are put on their OFFICIAL and PERMANENT do not call list. At my company clients who terminate their accounts with us are STILL on our records, but that doesn't mean we still bother them with our business. They are MOVED to the inactive records and we no longer invoice them, send them newsletters, call them etc. They are no longer a part of our business relationship, even if we still have their "record."

Unless you resign, they still consider you one of their own. The local membership still has you on their records as a member (who still needs fellow-shipping). Maybe you'll be on some temporary local no-contact list, but this will constantly change as leadership and members change in the ward (or if you move). I'm not a 100% sure, but I believe if you resign, you are no longer on the records of any wards/stakes (just at membership records at church headquarters, SLC). Even if your name is still on a record somewhere, it shows as "resigned member" (or something like that).

There is still SUBSTANCE to the fact that you are a "resigned" member and it still sends a BIG message that not only do you not want to be contacted for fellow-shipping, you OFFICIALLY rejected & severed ties with the organization.

Sending them a letter of resignation was more about me being able to make a statement to them on just how I feel about them. I don't really care what they do with my name afterwards, but their acknowledgement letter to me is about the fact that they heard me. They may not like that I no longer want to be associated with them, but by processing my letter, they were forced to acknowledge my defection.

Another thing: when you show your family that piece of paper, signed by Brother Greg Dodge, it makes it that much more real to them that you mean you're NOT going back.

After a lifetime in Mormonism, I don't think that we are anything special. I doubt if anyone actually reads our letters of resignation.

In my letter, I TOLD THEM I the children and I were no longer members, that our baptisms no longer counted for anything, and, expecially, my temple marriage was NULL AND VOID. My children had nothing to do with the Mormon temple and its fake sealings. I told the Mormons that they had no authority. We would not honor it as a religion.

We have a right to do this!

I don't care how much they lie, or what they do with our records.

If your name is completely removed from the records of the church, will your geneology records be altered, since you would no longer exist in the records of the church?

The fact is I have two letters from them, on LDS letterhead, saying they have removed my name because of MY request. I'm not big on material possessions but those letters will be coming out the door just after my kids and dogs should the house catch fire.