Do you think the church's excommunication policy affected you at all when you were a TBM?
I mean this particularly in regards to excommunication for speaking contrary to whatever the church deems to be acceptable.
To me, the excommunication policy always demonstrated clearly that criticism against the church is among the most heinous sins.

I am just wondering if anyone else felt like this policy (just the fact that it was there) was influential in stifling open conversation about the church for you.
Even when I was a TBM, there were always things I disagreed with or didn't "buy," but I was very tight-lipped about them - not even being fully open about them with my husband.
I'm trying to figure out how I became so controlled by the church, and it seems like this excommunication business was something that affected me without me realizing it.

I accepted that criticism of the church was a sin and tried to steer clear of it - even in my most intimate relationships.
In other words, the possibility of excommunication derailed the hope of fully honest communication.
What a fucking mind game they play.
And I do mean that almost literally, as in them sticking their evil thought phallus in my head and hammering hard.
Hope that's not too graphic for this crowd.

I totally appreciate the very valid sentiment that you are referring to. In the MORmON bubble that I was raised in, Dying was just a temporary loss of a person's body. Being ex-ed was the loss of a person's soul, even IF a person somehow managed to be alive while their soul was in some state of Limbo. When a person was ex-ed, somber tones were used in referring to their lost personal status, it was far worse than IF they were dead. Being found on the wrong side of "THE" church was a fate far worse than death, and promoting that notion was terrorism.

It didn't phase me a bit. However, it's because they'd ex'd me before for things that they only speculated about. If i'd of gotten even a whif of that's what they had on their mind, I would have resigned on the spot. I wasn't about to let them have that much fun again.

I know for a fact that the fear of being ex'd keeps many a mormon from saying things they'd like to say. It keeps them silent, and prevents them from criticizing the church. This has worked out well for leadership. They can pretty much do whatever they want and not have to worry about the chatter. The internet has put an end to those days. The ability to say whats on your mind and remain anonymous has brought the discontented out of the wood work. A new commandment has been put in place. Do Not Read anything bad about the church! I don't think it's working very well.

She insisted that her kids learned to lie to avoid divulging that we were associated with polygamists who lived in trailers on our farm. I was old enough to know what was happening with the plyg prophet and his preaching, but I was too young to think up lies effective enough to fool possible gossipy neighbors and the bishop. So my mother made me practice lies and slapped me around quite a bit if I mixed up the false excuses. She also pinched me and secretly yanked my hair or twisted my arm if she heard me give away clues to outsiders.

She said if we were exed, our lives would be ruined and it would likely be my fault. I guess no one found out and turned us in or the local leaders didn't want the hassle of dealing with our underhanded goings-on. We all attended the local ward and participated like every other family and no one mentioned polygamy in a personal way to us.

Wow! That's messed up!

I thought that the biggest mind game they played was when they announced somebody's excommunication, didn't give us any reasons, gave us no facts, then told us never to discusss it.