So I have just reciently come out of Mormonism. I have gotten over my rage and now am trying to understand at least one thing. As I search for storys of Ex-Mormons on youtube I have found that they ether become Born again Christians or Atheists. I am not seeing much in the middle ground. I supose this is not suprizing considering how badly burned some must feel after they learn the truth. What I want to know is are there any Ex-Mormons that go into some other sort of religion? and where can I find the statistics on something like this?

I have determined for myself to be Gnostic as it embraces science. Science is what lead me out of Mormonism and set my mind on fire with simple truth. That is that homosexuals are as normal as any other person. Don't worry I accepted Jesus fully after I realized the Mormon church was a lie(said the prayer twice just for good measure). I do however want to find my own spirituality without the wieght of 2000 years of traditions and possible corruption of teachings. Any thoughts?

As an atheist I take a little issue saying that is an "extreme reaction." In my mind, it is the logical conclusion. You have followed the logic halfway and realized that Mormonism is made up. To follow the logic all the way to the end and realize the same for Christianity is not extreme. There is no need to denigrate those of us who choose not to believe in "Santa Claus for grownups" as some of us think of it.

If you don't want to be extreme, don't make extreme statements.

With that said, if that is not your path that is fine - do what works for you - or what you believe. There are a number of people on this board who have continued on with a Christian religion or a completely different religion. I would say the majority here are atheists (or at least the vocal majority are, lol).

It seems like a good opportunity to explore a number of different religions and approaches and determine what works for you and what you believe.

Note: I'm surprised at your impression that a lot of Mormons become Born Agains. I get the feeling that is quite unusual - perhaps it is just that the Born Agains highly publicize the few?

I do know that as an ex-Mormon I would have a very difficult time becoming involved in a flavor of Christianity that teaches that if you don't believe the right thing you are damned to hell for eternity (now that baptisms for the dead are taken away this belief is unpalatable - God would not be that unjust.) There are flavors of Christianity out there that don't believe this, but you have to look around a little to find them.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2012 07:04PM by bc.

I am sorry I used the word extreme in my description. I just thought of those 2 choices as being as far from each other as possible. Not that the people are making rash choices. It seems I still have a lot of work to do deprograming the judgmental attitude out of myself.

No worries - I'm not upset - just wanted to point out the issue.

You're characterization of polar ends makes sense. Best of luck in your journey - I definitely understand trying to figure out how to fill the hole.

What you are missing is that you don't haveto believe in Christianity or be an atheist. There are other choices-lots of them. You don't even have to subscribe to organized religion to believe in God. BTW, there are lots of Christians who are not literalists and many interpretations of Christianity out there too.

It's easy to come to the conclusion that everybody winds up atheist on this board. But look closer, we have a few believers aswell and I wouldn't describe them as born again. In real life most exmos I know are some kind of believers that have rejected organized religion, one is a born again and I'm an atheist. That is, most are in between.

I have a theory about your observation. Atheists feel a need to write their stories because we are outcasts seeking support. The believers already get support from their new churches and it's the born again that write their stories out of missionary zeal.

If you stick around this board for any length of time, you will find that many exmos are attending other Christian churches. I remember a couple of years ago there was a shoutout thread for exmos who are now Lutheran, and it got a *lot* of responses. There are exmos who are now Catholic, UU, Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and many other denominations as well. Some prefer to go to independent Christian churches.

And yes, many are now atheist or agnostic. I don't recall any BAC's, but I suppose there are some.

Exmos have explored other spiritual paths as well -- Judaism, Buddhism, Paganism, and so on.

It's a wide world out there! Mormonism is just one (very) small part of it.

Besides, even as a TBM, a religion based on a blood sacrifice seemed pretty goofy. I'll pass on being washed in the blood of the lamb.

Yes I also find a need for a blood sacrific to be somewhat disturbing. The odd thing is that I didn't even consider it bizare when I was mormon. Since I broke the programing though it all seems so incrediably silly. I feel kinda dumb. This is another reason why modern Gnostic belief (as far as I have researched it) appeals to me. A complete rejection of the bloody God of the bible. Many of Jesus teachings still appeal to me though.

Hmm, my first impressions:

TSCC rejects all other religions as lacking 'fulness' of the truth. My dad has explained his atheism as a combination of his own intellectual inegrity and having already been part of a church that rejects other religions. It didn't seem a big leap to just reject all religion. Makes sense to me.

As for becoming Born Again Christian, that's a pretty extreme and literalist position which frankly isn't too different from blind TBMism: you don't ask questions, you don't think, you find another form of true belief to get all worked up over. I will admit this seems kind of unlikely for the majority, because once you've been screwed over by deep belief in something it's hard to reach that fever pitch again.

I think those who don't become atheists are varied: I'm a perfect example. I'm far, far from a Born Again Christian but I do consider myself Christian. I go to an Episcopalian church, after wandering through lots of mainline Protestant demoninations. I find it's the best fit: my desire to search after the sacred, my attraction to the life of Christ, my tendency to ask questions, and to doubt. All of that is embraced fully in Episcopalianism.

Most of the ex Mormons I know are neither born again or atheist. They either don't care much but believe in God or they goto mainline Protestant or Catholic churches.That may not be typical, but it is my experience.

Now that I've been out long enough to look back and reflect on my exit, I think it's fascinating that so often exmo's try to find a belief system to belong to. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it - I did it myself - but I think it's interesting.

It's like, "Well, I'm not a mormon anymore, so I'd better be something else!" So we start church shopping, taking online quizzes, reading other religions' holy books, trying to find a church to belong to, or at least a label that applies to us.

I think because mormonism is SO MUCH of our identity as members, we feel uncomfortable not having something to fill that gap once we leave - whether we continue to be believers or not. "I'm not mormon, I'm Christian." "I'm not mormon, I'm atheist." "I'm not mormon, I'm Gnostic." "I'm not mormon, I'm Buddhist."

Obviously, being BIC, I have no idea what this process would be like for anyone who left another religion. It's just something I find intriguing.

Personally, I don't believe in god or any kind of supernatural creator/presence. I suppose that makes me an atheist. But it has little-to-naught to do with my daily life, or the choices I make, or the people I associate with. Atheism isn't part of who I am, it's just something I happen to be.

I must be honest and say I can not prove that God exists in any capacity. I just know I have an inner voice that has always helped me. If this is God I can not say because I know it is common for people to have an inner voice. I do find the idea of having no religious identity to be a little scarry. I may go atheist in the end but I am not there now.

Are you aware of the Unitarian Universalist church? It may be worth exploring:

http://www.uua.org/

It was a process that took several years. I didn't jump right into another church -- I needed a break to sort things out and deal with my family's reaction after I worked up the nerve to tell them I didn't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible.

I hadn't heard of Epicurus or David Hume, but I had the same questions:

"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world? – Epicurus, as quoted in 2000 Years of Disbelief"

and

"Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?"

"[God's] power we allow [is] infinite: Whatever he wills is executed: But neither man nor any other animal are happy: Therefore he does not will their happiness. His wisdom is infinite: He is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end: But the course of nature tends not to human or animal felicity: Therefore it is not established for that purpose. Through the whole compass of human knowledge, there are no inferences more certain and infallible than these. In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men?"


I think I was looking for some sort of community with a common belief system that jibed with my view of the world.

I messed around with animism and some other stuff, but applying the same thought process that got me out of church in the first place, I wasn't satisfied.

The Friends in my old area allowed atheists. I went to a Friends school, and I like meeting. I almost went, but I didn't. I would have gone mainly for one hour of meditation with the occasional awesome heartfelt comment, but I really wanted to be around peaceniks.

I realized that no one worships a god they don't like. God is created in our own image.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 01:46AM by Beth.

I tend to agree with you re the extremes. However, keep in mind that many people are extreme in their view points and at the same time, not everyone is extreme with thier view points.

I've found that there are lots of awesome people in the world.

Congrats for getting out!!! You have a wonderful future ahead of you...:-)

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I will write that book I have wanted to for years. I no longer have to worry about the dissaproval of the church and I have a bright new perspective.

When I figured out tssc was a fraud I knew I never wanted to be part of an organized religion ever again, but I thought I would continue on thinking of myself as Christian. As a mo I'd never really studied the bible but when I started looking into it more with the same critical thinking I'd suddenly developed during my path out of tssc I realized it seemed just as unbelievable as the BOM to me.

I can't believe in a virgin birth, Noah's ark, the stories of Moses. Realizing there were stories really similar to the story of Jesus written years before when he would have lived (Krishna, Horus) was really the icing on the cake that brought to to where I would now call myself an agnostic/mostly confident atheist. Like bc said above, for me it ended up being the most logical conclusion I could come to.

romy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Realizing there were stories
> really similar to the story of Jesus written years
> before when he would have lived (Krishna, Horus)
> was really the icing on the cake that brought to
> to where I would now call myself an
> agnostic/mostly confident atheist. Like bc said
> above, for me it ended up being the most logical
> conclusion I could come to.

The perennial recurrence of such stories, in widely separated cultures so that globalized borrowings are highly unlikely, could suggest that they represent a common pattern in the collective unconscious. Rather than dismissing it as an infantile genetic predisposition to "believe," a la some god-gene, I see it as an archetype in the human psyche and possibly a deep intuition of some truth beyond the reach of bodily senses. "The map [the particular story] is not the territory"--but that doesn't mean there is no territory at all.

Yes I do find it interesting that the same stories repeat themselves in history. It could just be that people are people so they do the same things at different times and places. However I find these silimarities to be very encouraging.

You will evolve and change the further out you get. So will your spiritual needs and beliefs. Life outside is much more fluid.


***So I have just reciently come out of Mormonism. I have gotten over my rage***


Hahahaha. Sorry to laugh, but I have found this also has an ebb and flow. Do not be surprised if/when it takes YEARS to get ver your rage. If you are new to leaving, you are only beginning to know the damage that was done.

Any rate, just live and love. Everything else will work out.

There is a very large part of me that wants to hurt the Mormon church but I have concluded that it would be futile. They will just use any action I take as justification for "the divinity of their work". ALso I can take much satisfaction in knowing that the church leaders are their own worst enemy. They have lied and changed their stoy so often that they will soon lose all credibility.

People on YouTube, etc, are volunteer samples (self-selection bias) and do not accurately reflect the larger population.

You have to look for the people who aren't trying to get your attention to share their opinions. This is the middle ground that you're not seeing at the moment.

I called myself a Gnostic after I left the church. I liked the Deism aspect of the Gnostic writings. I needed it for awhile. Now I am closer to being an atheist Buddhist.(I like the practice of Zen.) I believe, like Spinoza, that the wonder of life is embedded in nature itself, in our very DNA that goes back to our first single celled mothers on earth. Science is awesome as it scratches at the vast universe for for a few glimpses at truth. Enough of a miracle for me!

Thanks for all the input guys. It is deffinatly helping me to talk to other people about what I am feeling. It seems I have a lot left to learn and I lkinda like that. See you on the boards

I'm still trying to figure things out myself. At this point, I consider myself agnostic, but most certainly trending towards atheism. I think that in order for me to remain christian (or become christian) I'd really have to turn a blind eye to logic and science and almost really betray myself. I'm a very rational person, always have been. So learning the lies of the church I think put me on a natural path towards complete disbelief towards all man made religion. I'm still unprepared to take that last leap into self declared atheism, I would hope that there is a god and that he is merciful, but after feeling like I've been raped and pillaged (figuratively speaking) by religion all while believing that I knew it to be true, I'm not sure how there could possibly be a god.

Many religions have no problem with science.If you stay away from the Biblical literalist and Bible thumpers. Here is a link.

thhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.salon.com%2F2007%2F12%2F19%2Fjohn_haught%2F&h=iAQGyRN2Z



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 01:32AM by bona dea.

The religions that "have no problem with science" are either watered-down pseudo-religions like Unitarians or the ones who grasp at straws and believe in "the God of the gaps," Just cherry-picking the things that science is still working on and saying "God did that!"

After intellectualizing Mormonism, I applied the same tools to Christianity and theism in general. They came up snake-eyes.

All of it depends on magical thinking and supernatural things.

Then there is the problem with organized religion in general.
Why does being spiritual or even believing in a deity mean you have to join a church? Just free-wheeling it seems more logical.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 01:43AM by rationalguy.

Most Christians whom I know (and that are admittedly on the more liberal end of things) have no problem with science, evolution, etc.

But I agree with you that being spiritual, a Deist, or even a Christian does not necessarily entail joining a church. That's been my approach for much of my life.

You might want to read the link I posted. This guy is a Catholic and extremely intelligent and , oh yes, he discusses the God of the Gaps. Most Catholics and mainline Protestants have no problem with evolution. They teach it in their schools. Sorry, but you are way off.If you really are a rational guy, you might want to research various churches' views on science.I think you would be very surprised.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 02:23AM by bona dea.