We used the Mormon church as a backdrop for other religions and churches we attended since leaving it.
It was the cult that was the standard litmus test for what we were NOT looking for in another religion.
So in that sense, we didn't bury our heads in the proverbial sand when we left by pretending we weren't born into it.
It's been a part of my identity for a good chunk of my life. My children were able to leave at a younger age so they don't identify with it perhaps as much as I did. Still I raised them as LDS until we left. The values I was raised with were the same ones I tried to instill in my children.
Some stuck, others didn't. Theirs is a different generation from mine, and another world than the one I inherited. I just try to keep up with them, now as adults, they've chosen their own beliefs and I love em no matter. I'm a product of being a Mormon for much of my life. How can you pretend to be something you're not? Even after I stopped believing Mormonism, my personality is still pretty much formed from how I was raised.
I accept that aspect of my upbringing and take pride in my heritage. Honoring my ancestors who came before me isn't about their religion per se, as much as their faith in God, their love for family and the sacrifices they made to make a life. What their religion was is secondary to me as their legacy. I come from a long line of not only Mormons, but Protestants, Anglicans, and Jews. So my family tree was diverse all along. I don't discriminate between them based on religion.
Except for the Mormons. And that's because of all the shaming and judging that is done to other members within the church for whatever slight that is perceived. It is not a religion that practices charity (only in lip service.) With LDS there are firmer boundaries that need to be drawn and maintained IMO than with other religions, after leaving. And that gets back to it being a cult, that makes a person feel like one has to erect barriers for leaving. I didn't ask to be born into it or to become baptized. Leaving is considered a fate worse than death, no? When you are dyed in the wool TBM.