Has there been any legal pressure put on TSCC to relax their demanding and demeaning process of resigning from the church? Could the US Constitution combined with the 11th Article of Faith do anything? This is a reform that would make a big difference in many lives. And it would thin the herd down to the TBMs to the ones who pay the freight. My logical mind tends to think this way. But when does logic ever come into play with the Big 15?

It has been made much easier by using email which is a legal document.

But why does it still have to go through local leader channels. This needs to be a simple process like quiting a job.

Tom Padley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But why does it still have to go through local
> leader channels. This needs to be a simple
> process like quiting a job.


This is their process. They have records in two places. They need to start from the local area and work up stream. That's just how they do it. It's not like quitting a job. This is an organization that has their own set of Confidential Records Dept.
I never contacted the locals. They can do that and they do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 12:24PM by SusieQ#1.

I was a membership clerk a few years ago and the records are updated online. The COB keeps the records. Verification at the local level can be immediate without all the personal interaction. Does the email process work differently? Does that eliminate the notifications to family members?

It does not.

Period.

Once they receive your letter, whomever "they are" be they local leaders or SLC, you are no longer a member.

Period.

I think you are confusing their meaningless procedure, which has no effect on you since you are not longer a mormon, with resigning.

doh

what this post below already said.

Your resignation letter is your resignation.
You send it; they receive it.

Anything else they want to do ("go through channels")
is entirely irrelevant and their problem.

It's that simple. And the time it takes is merely
the time for you to get confirmation of receipt.

Once they receive your letter, you are resigned. You do not have to do anything they ask after than in order to be resigned. I don't really see sending a letter of resignation as all that demanding or demeaning.

Resignation is much easier than it was a generation ago, and seems (at least anecdotally) to be getting easier with time. Fewer people are getting obstacles thrown in their path these days. I don’t see this as an altruistic move on TSCC’s part—they probably just see it as wasting their resources to try to stop people from resigning .

There was a time that they wouldn't let you resign. It really wasn't that long ago.

You send a letter/email, and unless they lose the paperwork, you're done. Can't make it much easier than that.

The fact that they are not done yet is literally not your problem. It is theirs. Don't make it your problem.

What I don't get is the restore blessings thing?

Consider this:

You resign from the church, so all of the data they hold on you should be destroyed. It should conclude with every record about you wiped. They have no legal right to retain any of your personal data such as name, age, DOB, address etc.

If that is the case, and you rejoin, how do they restore blessings - can you provide them a list and if so how would they validate that is I said I'd had the second anointing how could they check - which makes me think they retain the files on you. Sure, since the courts ruled a right to be forgotten exists, they must be forced to comply with this?

What makes you think they have no legal right to keep data on you? Care to cite a specific law?

You were once a member. They can and do keep that record as long as they want, which I assume is as long as they exist.

The only exception to this that I know of is the UK and who knows if they honor that as it is their internal file. The problem is that the local idjits do their own thing. They MAY follow the rules/requests and they may NOT.

In my experience the best way to go is to have it notarized, send it to COB registered signature required. Put NO CONTACT in your letter, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. If they show up at your door shut it and email or call COB. But some people have a smooth exit with no contact and some no problem with email. So it really just depends on the flavor of your own local idjits.

I think I hit a nerve when I included in my letter that they have no binding contract with an eight year old.
It's different with any convert over 18, and probably with anyone endowed since that is done as an adult too.
I really think everyone should include the invalidity of any agreement reached with eight year olds.

There was no "local matter" letter sent to me, and some kind of bizarre snoopiness done regarding my name and actual address, which they got wrong but was clearly a message that they could keep an eye on me...

Data Protection Laws in the UK are very specific and powerful. You have the right to see any data an organisation holds about you. By law, upon your written request they have to submit copies of anything they hold to you.

Further, the recent ECHR ruling confirmed the right to be forgotten, which means ever the internet firms are required by law to forget you and stop your data coming up on their search engines.

The law doesn't care about their handbook procedures.

I'm going to remind the newbies here that I did not write a letter or request resignation but the church officially says that my name has been removed. They can do this for any reason whatsoever if they so choose.

The local bish wrote me a letter and lied, saying that I had requested to have my name removed. I'd never heard of such a thing at that time. This bishop was just sick and tired of having me reject all contact for about 30 years and he wanted me out of his hair.

The little tithing slips and envelopes in a container on the wall should just be modified. There should be a check box at the bottom of the tithing slip that says "Please remove my name from all church records". So you fill out the tithing slip appropriately, put it in the envelope, and hand it to the Bishop. Then you're done, you've resigned. That's how they ought to do it. That would make the resignation process go quicker than the time it'll take to do a number two in the bathroom on the way out the door.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 04:07PM by azsteve.

...you could use the tithing slip. Just write your name on the front, and in big letters "I quit.".......wouldn't that constitute a resignation as well?

Ask them to put an "remove name" button on LDS.org.

You click it, it pops up a dialog box that asks are you sure? Click yes and it pops up another dialog box saying you will burn in hell. Are you still sure?

Click yes, and they "blue screen of death" your computer.

:)

About 20 years ago, the Church would not let anyone resign. To be removed, they had to excommunicate you. They would only do that for the usual reasons (adultery, apostasy, felonies, etc.) but not for the simple reason of wanting out.

However, TSCC got their ass handed to them in court so now anyone can resign for any reason.

It is like facebook. They keep records on "members" and those 'not yet' [or former] (non)members. Easy to get in, hard to get out... unless you want to. Walk away, or run. There is only one direction to go: forward. Onward. They can follow you but will never be able to lead you.

M@t

Resigning was so much fun we all should do it again. It is easier to never join in the first place. Of course, if Joe and all the followers and leaders since would tell the truth, there wouldn't be the rhetoric in leaving anyway. If the church was true, there wouldn't even be this question. The "next life" will be easier without the burden of TSCC anyway.

You send a letter and you are resigned when they get it. How much easier do you want.

No, you do not have to do any of the other stuff they ask you to do.

that SAID "You are no longer a member of the LDS church." I cherish that piece of paper. I have it in a file along with a copy of my resignation letter, the idiot "Please think again and come back" pamphlet, and finally, the "You're outta here" letter.

Knowing that you are no longer a member is not QUITE as satisfying (to me, anyway) as a letter from them SAYING so.

When I later re-joined the church I grew up in, I asked if I needed to be re-baptized or anything because of my period of Mormonism - and I offered to show them the letter saying that I was no longer a member of the Mo-church. The minister said that the fact that I had resigned was as good as never having joined in the first place, and no, they did not need proof. It felt like coming home.

Then that is your problem, not an legal problem.

The courts did force them to accept resignation. That's as far as it went.

Reminds me of a song, "Hotel California." You can get in anytime you want but you can never get out.

Leaving a church is not a legal matter. You just leave and

never come back. You don't have to jump through hoops to

stop going. They don't ever take your name off their records

anyway even if you do resign so why bother.

As of the 8th of August I am no longer a member. All I did was write a letter to my bishop and a week later I got a confirming letter from the LDS membership department. I wanted to resign rather than just remain inactive. I needed that sense of closure and finality.

It really is just that easy. Email is even easier. Thank God I'm done!

I started this thread. Thanks for all the comments!

Tom Padley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As of the 8th of August I am no longer a member.
> All I did was write a letter to my bishop and a
> week later I got a confirming letter from the LDS
> membership department. I wanted to resign rather
> than just remain inactive. I needed that sense of
> closure and finality.
>
> It really is just that easy. Email is even
> easier. Thank God I'm done!
>
> I started this thread. Thanks for all the
> comments!

Everyone has to do it the way they feel the most comfortable. I just told my bishop that I no longer believed and that i was never comming back. He was a really nice person and he believed me and didn't try to change my mind. That was about 14 years ago. They have never bothered me since then.