I resigned a year ago. Last week, two strangers, unannounced and without prior consent from legal guardians, came to my house and talked to my underage child about coming to lds events.

I have not had anyone answer the phone when I have called the bishop's house.

Someone suggested showing up at the church on sunday to talk to the bishop.

I realized this week would be f&t meeting. Do i dare use a microphone to remind the congregation how inappropriate this is?

Personally, I think it's a great idea!

tickets should be sold for that event...I'd pay to be there...think everyone would stop texting and put down their mobile devices for a moment :)

I would be soooo nervous! but I would ask my spouse to film it for you all. I did think about asking rfmers to be there for support.

The catch is, I work on Sundays, and I am not sure when services are. No one answers the bish's phone.

I would call the police. This sounds like grooming from pedophiles.

I'll bring popcorn. They need to shake things up a little. People would LOVE something different to happen.

I have a bit of a funny story which happened about 8 months ago where a lady in our neighborhood got up in f&t and said someone in the PTO at school was complaining to her about how Mormons are so clicky and unaccepting, and the lady in f&t didn't fess up to the neighbor that she was actually Mormon too. I thought, "Hm. I wonder if I know who she's talking about?". So I asked my non Mormon neighbor, "Hey. Did you complain to so and so that Mormons are clicky and unaccepting of you and your kids?" And wouldn't you know it, it WAS my neighbor! I laughed so hard. I told her she was mentioned in front of everyone in sacrament meeting. She got a kick out of it but then felt bad because she didn't know the lady was Mormon.

snuckafoodberry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll bring popcorn. They need to shake things up a
> little. People would LOVE something different to
> happen.
>
> I have a bit of a funny story which happened about
> 8 months ago where a lady in our neighborhood got
> up in f&t and said someone in the PTO at school
> was complaining to her about how Mormons are so
> clicky and unaccepting, and the lady in f&t didn't
> fess up to the neighbor that she was actually
> Mormon too. I thought, "Hm. I wonder if I know who
> she's talking about?". So I asked my non Mormon
> neighbor, "Hey. Did you complain to so and so that
> Mormons are clicky and unaccepting of you and your
> kids?" And wouldn't you know it, it WAS my
> neighbor! I laughed so hard. I told her she was
> mentioned in front of everyone in sacrament
> meeting. She got a kick out of it but then felt
> bad because she didn't know the lady was Mormon.


Mormons think the world admires them for their high standards. They are shocked when they get a dose of reality of what people really think.

http://puremormonism.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-dont-they-like-us.html

"At the recent FAIR conference in Utah, some interesting data were shared. Guess what? People don’t like us. No, let me rephrase that: people really don’t like us. According to the polling firm which gathered the data, LDS people have an unfavorable to favorable rating of 5 – 1. For every person who thinks well of us there are five who do not. To compare, notice that Jewish people have a favorable rating of 7 – 2 (seven likes for every two dislikes) and Catholics have a favorable rating of 2 – 1. Where are we going and how did we get in this handbasket?"

Very interesting. Non Mormons don't want to offend them so they say the same old line when talking to a Mormon person which usually starts out with something like, "Yeah, I knew a Mormon family they were good people. They would do anything for you." It is pretty much the standard thing people say. You don't see them converting to Mormonism over it, but the excuse for that is that people have difficulty living such high standards.

I'm going to take time to read the link you put here.

This article found on this blog you provided a link for is highly entertaining.

I always thought it would be fun to see someone crash F&T.

The ones I went to, Sister Cries-a-lot talked about how she prayed to find her car keys, while her husband, Brother Cries-a-lot talked about how someone persecuted him at work because a non-Mormon wore a white shirt to work with a tie and someone laughed and said, "Hey, Bob can I join your church?" And Sister Fujimora can't speak English, but...she wants to bear her testimony. So, you get the picture...it's already awkward.

So why not make it awkward AND fun!

Hell yeah! You would be a rock star!

First, was it the missionaries? Because, if it is, you need to call your local mission office, speak directly to the Mission president and let him know that you consider this massively inappropriate and that if it happens again, or if you hear of it happening again, you will call the authorities. Strangers speaking to underage minors to try to get them to attend unknown functions should be a red flag in any normal person's book. I understand that a lot of religions, especially LDS think they are exempt from this, but it's not.

If it wasn't the missionaries, then leave a message for the Bishop that you would like to speak with him, over the phone and to call you back as soon as possible regarding an important matter regarding someone from his ward and your children. Let him know that if he doesn't respond that you may be forced to call the stake president or even the police and that you would like his help getting it resolved. When he does call you back, say the same thing I suggest for the mission pres.

Next, if you attend church with the attempt to speak at Fast and Testimony, several things can happen:
- You will be noticed as "new" and be approached by several people, including the missionaries, to try to figure out who you are and if you are a potential convert. Do not underestimate how off putting this can be, you will be in their playing field and they will have home field advantage.
- If you do work up the courage to speak publicly about it from the pulpit, while you may feel like you are getting your point across, you won't. They will write you off as an "anti-mormon" who doesn't understand that they are trying to "save" your kids. If nothing else it will add to their persecution complex and feed into their confirmation bias.
- You would then be on their radar, some over eager member may try to take you on as a project, if they can figure out who you are and where you live. Which is the opposite of what you want.

Really, you might, and I stress might, get a few people to think, but really it would just be gossiped about. You would be that "crazy person" who interrupted F&T meeting and might even be used as an object lesson on what happens to people when they leave the church.

Just my two cents.

Why not do all three of Finally Free's suggestions? Cover all the bases.

Finally Free, you are right! Thank you for that perspective!

That would make me mad enough to have my lawyer draft a letter to the entire stake leadership, including women, and also copy the COB with a statement to the effect of it being inappropriate and invasive. If there are any legal precedents I'd mention those too, like alienation of affection since the church teaches to put church ahead of family. The idiots won't pay any attention but COB might send them a directive to leave your family alone. YOUR KIDS ARE OFF LIMITS needs to come across loud and clear.

If you go, don't show up until the meeting is just starting.

Leave right before they say the closing prayer.

Leave right after saying what you want to say.

Hayduke, if you are anywhere near the Bay Area, I'll come support you. I know that people will see this as "anti" but it will be so unexpected that I'm pretty sure they will all remember it. Some might even actually think about it. I do think that, especially among people raised in Utah, this kind of stuff is more common than it should be because people just don't realize it's wrong!

You will have to walk in as the meeting is starting and should dress, you know, Mormon. They'll probably grab the microphone as soon as they figure out what's going on, so you probably want adopt a testimony tone and cadence, and not give away who you are and your real point until you get a chance to show them, through comments they would agree with, just what this represents.

You might open by seeming to tell an inspirational story about some kind, sweet people who showed up at your house because they care about your kids. How you appreciate the fact that these people are so caring. That way they will at least get the context. Tell them that as a parent, you love those kids, too, even more, and are always conscious that you need to teach them things that are true and will make them happier, better people. As a parent, you try to make sure that all the influences in their lives are positive ones that will support the values you hold. This means, sometimes, banning TV shows or movies, and keeping them away from people who can be a bad influence, EVEN WELL MEANING ADULTS. As a parent, it's your right and responsibility to protect them, and LEGALLY, nobody should be talking to your kids without your support and permission. NO parent could ever feel good about people who contact a kid behind their parents' backs to invite them to events they don't approve of. Say you have tried calling, but couldn't get through, so you are here to ask in person that your kids be left alone. Because while you respect their right to worship as they want, they do not have the right to attempt to persuade minors to go against their parents' religious views.

And if you still have the microphone and feel so inclined, you can explain that you have spent hours and hours studying the scriptures, studying church history, and praying for answers, and then bear your anti-testimony...

Hi. I used to attend this building a long time ago.
Yoh could say I've been drifting for many years.

I'm back I guess. Trying to figure it out, reconcile all those issues.
You know, Joseph marrying 14 year olds and other men's wives..after he sent them overseas on missions.
Etc...
I'm trying to find a way to navigate through that, and find Jesus.

Etc

How to do it:
Go to a ward while on vacation. Start with things which everyone agrees with...then drop the bombs. Gulled into agreement, they will hardly know what hit them. I did something like this before the "Love Council" or else I would not have been allowed to speak for an hour without interruption.

One question I asked them, rhetorically, was "do any of you believe in the Book of Abraham?"

hayduke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I resigned a year ago. Last week, two strangers,
> unannounced and without prior consent from legal
> guardians, came to my house and talked to my
> underage child about coming to lds events.
>
> I have not had anyone answer the phone when I have
> called the bishop's house.
>
> Someone suggested showing up at the church on
> sunday to talk to the bishop.
>
> I realized this week would be f&t meeting. Do i
> dare use a microphone to remind the congregation
> how inappropriate this is?

Could you do it and get up and produce testimony tears? How you thought that men of god, etc, wouldn't do this sort of thing to you in your time of trial, strife and anxiety. That you thought these were the spiritual giants you could rely on. And now your faith was in tatters due to the improvident actions of these men. If you could pull that off, it would be Oscar worthy.

Sterling