It always bothered me as a missionary that we demanded respect for our beliefs but did not respect the beliefs of others. This is definitely not restricted to just missionary service nor is it restricted to Mormonism. However, it was painfully evident while knocking on doors and proselytizing. We would enter people's personal space and try to push our beliefs onto them. The inherent disrespect of thinking our beliefs were better than theirs and that they should convert to Mormonism was palpable. It is amazing that more people were not upset by our actions. The Eleventh Article of faith is recited within Mormonism ("let them worship how, where, or what they may") but it is not practiced in the slightest. It is particularly apparent when Mormons deal with "apostates." The contempt wafts off of TBMs in pungent waves.

It seems to go back to the ability to see what is wrong with another person's beliefs and the almost complete inability to see our own. I find some hope in forums such as this. It is evident that many people can overcome cognitive dissonance and the intellectual blindness it causes.

Learning to welcome questioning and dissent seems to be possible though not comfortable at times. When anything becomes too sacred to withstand questioning then it ceases to be valuable in my opinion.

I see alot of people running around demanding respect while walking all over everyones elses rights.

is the church demanding to know how much money people make in order to judge their tithing amount.

Then the church turns around and refuses to divulge ANY financial information.

Seems to me like the Muslem thing...


If you disrespect MY stuff I'll kill you.

If you try to build your church in my country I'll kill you.

I can't say that I never showed disrespect to people's faiths because I certainly had bad days as a missionary, but when I was a 19 year old knocking on doors, I tried very hard to be polite and very accepting of people's own beliefs.

If someone wanted to talk to me about their own baptism, or the virgin mary, I might have berated it in my mind, but I never attacked anyone because of it.