A story came across my news feed the other day that talked about Sigmund Freud, and his escape from Nazi Germany. He was allowed to leave, but was apparently required to sign a letter to the affect that he was not anti-Nazi, and was not leaving because of the actions of the Nazis.

I was struck by how this seems to parallel the "you can leave the church, but you can't leave the church alone" cliche. I know many many people who for all intents and purposes have left the church because they have been hurt, lied to, shunned, etc by the church and it's leaders, or because they have found out it was a lie.

And yet will say "I would heartily recommend Mormonism to anyone" and become offended when they feel I am not "leaving the church alone."

I confess, I was like this for a number of years after I left too. I don't understand why, maybe it was a defense mechanism for me, or maybe it was because though I left the church I still had to kowtow to the party because they could cause me real harm.

Anybody else feel this way?

There are a lot of positive good things in Mormonism and it does take a while for us to sort it all out in our heads.
I have started to be glad I joined, just because of what I have learned about life and myself and God in the coming out of it,lol
I am better because I was Mormon and resigned, even with all of the pain I had, than if I had not joined.

But knowing what I know now, I would never rejoin and the person that I am now heartedly wishes that I had never joined in the first place.

I tell the missionaries when they speak to me that I actively seek to help people transition out and away from the organisation. I ''am not leaving the church alone'' because I wish to be alongside others to help where I may. It is not about me anymore, though sometimes it is kind of nostalgic to remember stuff!

Nice.

Thank you.

This is awesome. There ARE a lot of positive things in Mormonism. I think the trouble for TSCC is that those positive things can be found OUTSIDE of the church as well--despite what members are brainwashed to think. Not only is the positive also found OUTSIDE of TSCC, it also comes without all of TSCC's baggage, control, and guilt trips.

My early struggles with Mormonism and fundamentalist ignorance have informed my writing. I have a focus for my critical pursuits.

Still, I wish I'd had a mainstream life as a kid. I feel like I lost my childhood. It was nasty, and it left scars.

I had that, Don, with a blandly protestant upbringing. both experiences best put behind us.