I recently "came out" as ex-mo on facebook. This is what I learned after posting a rant on the polygamy essay through private messages:

1. My cousin, an attourney and son of a current stake pres is leaving the church.

2. Three former mission companions have left or are in the process of leaving.

3. My young men's president growing up, no longer believes and says he will leave at some point.

4. My former bishp's daughter and her husband want to meet with me to discuss how I left, cuz they're ready to leave and my post made them feel like they weren't alone.

5. My sister in law PM'd me to say she wants to know more and has wanted to leave the church for a couple years, but has been way to afraid to do it. She is now reading the CES letter with my brother.

6. A member of my ward as a youth contacted me to say my post gave him courage to leave and he is now talking with his wife about how and when.

7. The seminary presidnet when I was a junior in highschool contacted me to say he loved my post and he is on his way out too.

8. Received 18 friend requests from perfect strangers who saw the post, thanked me for it, and at least confirmed they no longer believe, but are in various stages of leaving.


I was blown away by these responses. If you haven't already folks, take the fight to social media. There are probably thousands of people that have closeted fears, who have huge problems with the church, but feel like they have no one to talk to. They will thank you for your bravery and it will make all the backlash that you WILL get from TBM's and family worth it!!!

That's really cool. In my case, all I have succeeded in doing so far is to piss people off and cause my former bishop to testify to me.

I totally feel for you cludgie. I didn't bother to mention how many people I pissed off. I also got tons of private and public messages from family and friends who were so upset that I would "attack" the church publicly. It has made for a very tense family situation, but I'm at the point that I don't care anymore.

I think your efforts have done more than is readily apparent.

You appear to be a first domino in a large chain...:)

Remember this when somebody tells you that speaking up for facts and honesty doesn't do any good with TBMs. It clearly does.

I agree. I honestly thought I was just gonna piss people off. I had no idea it would generate the sentiments it did. I was TOTALLY shocked!

Are you in Utah? I wonder because I'm in the Morridor myself but my coming out on FB only resulted in folks getting upset or deleting me! :(

I'm in Mesa, AZ so not quite Mormon Mecca but close.

It would be cool to hear about some of this happening in Gilbert, as well.

I visit that area once or twice a year. While i'm there I leave little MormonThink.com business cards lying around everywhere I go. I'll never know if they do any good, but that's something I can do when in a place where I don't know anyone.

I think the next bit thing that will bring members out of the church is when more and more people go public with their disbelief. It's the fear that keeps so many in the cult.

If everyone who disbelieved posted on Facebook tomorrow, the meeting house might be empty on Sunday.

I'm in a small community in Graham County where most of the people I work/associate with are Mormon. I hope it spreads over here. I feel so alone being the only exmo over here.

I had precisely the same experience when I came out on Facebook. My disaffection had a domino effect on at least half a dozen members throughout the Stake, including my then very TBM mother.

That is awesome! I was thinking it was going to be a bad thing.

One of my best friends growing up found out via my mom telling his. And he contacted me to say he's been doubting for years. And was so happy to find someone else. His sister also doesn't believe and we talk on FB about the church all the time.

It's crazy how many people think the same way we do.

Well done, templenamegabriel. TBMs need to know that people are leaving the church and the sky is not falling. It is possible to walk away from the insanity. As TBMs see others make their exits, the fear will subside and they'll be able to take control of their lives. Social media is not good for the morg.

I admire you for stepping out.

At the rate of people leaving, I wonder if is from let's say 1000 a month to now a 1000 a week? If it gets bad enough they will need to readjust the ward boundaries again, not for growth or even shut down some to consolidate in other chapels.

Here's my results:

MIL - I know the church is true, JS was a prophet of god, hold to the rod, pray.

BIL - (chirp chirp) <----crickets

sister - hmm, that's weird

other TBMs on facebook - let me take this opportunity to repost annoying TBM messages and blog posts about how true this church is and how polygamy was brought forth to fulfill the last dispensation blah blah blah vomit

Twistedsister, I don't know why our experiences were so different. The tactic I used was posting a link to the SL Tribune's article about the essay and the comment, "glad to see the church owning up to some of its past." This generated responses because an all out attack would have turned off half the TBMs. What this did was put them in defense mode since they wanted to clarify points about the article. I got comments like "Well the article isn't the same as the essay itself. Joseph never had sex with these women" which opened up the door for me to say "oh yes he did, just look at the footnotes of the essay" and asked other TBMs how they reconcile that. There responses just gave me more fodder to go into everything from child brides to blood atonement and everything in between.

I actually don't have a ton of TBM FB friends, just a handful. The family listed above we texted links to and asked what they thought.

Wow!! What a response... good for you to come out publicly. That takes a lot of courage. Once others see people leaving, it will give them courage too. The momentum has started :)

This is great, I really need to come out online but the only mormons I have left are true friends so I don't think they will really care or at least won't challenge me.

Roslyn, what I didn't consider was that the friends of my friends would see their responses. That's the source of the 18 people I didn't know.

are one of my relatives. My mother's brother's family ALL lives there.

that's amazing!! we've been out for a few years now, we just left, didn't make a speech or anything but as we have 2 unbaptized children it's pretty obvious that we're out..been considering resigning formally as every so often we are hassled, maybe I should consider a quiet post along the lines of, "this isn't going to be news to anyone but we've offically resigned from the LDS faith." what do you think? you've really got me thinking, there may be people out there who don't know about NOM, Exmo, Postmo, etc and they feel alone..

ABSOLUTELY!!! I wouldn't hesitate if I were you so long as you're comfortable with everyone knowing. I had one guy I have never met call me in tears over what he was going through internally and he said my post gave him the courage to leave someday.

everyone who's LDS on my facebook knows that we're permanently inactive and the rest are nevermos who couldn't care less.

but the rub is, two of my BFFs are LDS and they are amazing ladies, they didn't care one bit when we left, one of them even ran interference and became my visiting teacher so that people would quit bothering us. :) I know they will love me regardless but sometimes I wonder if I just stay "inactive" versus "resigned" will it be hard on them?? I know one of them tells herself that I never really had a testimony anyway which she knows is BS we used to go to the temple together all the time but if it makes her able to cope with my "eternal salvation" you know? I just don't want to hurt her, she's a doll.

The only member who seemed to care when my wife and I left the church was the wife of one of the families I home taught. I think she had been holding out hope that we'd return until I called her

and asked if she'd like to take a mess of stored wheat off of my hands. When she came to pick it up she cried. Giving up the food storage must have meant we weren't coming back.

greenAngel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> but the rub is, two of my BFFs are LDS and they
> are amazing ladies, they didn't care one bit when
> we left, one of them even ran interference and
> became my visiting teacher so that people would
> quit bothering us. :) I know they will love me
> regardless but sometimes I wonder if I just stay
> "inactive" versus "resigned" will it be hard on
> them?? I know one of them tells herself that I
> never really had a testimony anyway which she
> knows is BS we used to go to the temple together
> all the time but if it makes her able to cope with
> my "eternal salvation" you know? I just don't
> want to hurt her, she's a doll.

I had the same experience with my two best friends and a few other friends who became my visiting teacher so that wouldn't get bothered. Unfortunately, after I resigned, I haven't heard from any of them very much. We used to chat about everything nearly every day. Now I'm lucky if I hear from any of them once every 3-4 months. I resigned last December.

Leaving LDS Inc is going viral.

There is a tipping point, when enough people leave to stop the normal expected retaliation. I think we are there now.

the truth shall set you free but first it will piss you off.