I am among the deepest resenters here, but I think there are much worse scams and cults than the Mormon heist.

Am I wrong?

Okay, name one?

What other cult steals, lies, has blood oaths & penalties, bigotry, misogynistic principles written into their sacred stories and passages? What other cult hides away its history and true doctrine so as not to let outsiders (or even those insiders) know what they really believe?

I'm thinking there's extreme Islam. Christianity itself.

If the corporation isn't pure evil, it's an equal par with all the rest.

The Masons.


Of course, I don't know much about them, but.... I believe Joseph only touched to very tip of an ice burg.

They don't stalk you for leaving. Some people might shun you, happened to me when I quit Eastern Star after 30+ years, but NO ONE has stalked me. Also some people have respected my decision and tell me that leaving was good for me and I am happier.

I spent yesterday doing a picnic with a group of high school friends who were all former members of Demolay, the Masonic youth group. Their dads were all Masons, but none of them are (one's now an atheist; the others are members of various faiths, and everyone is generally a pretty good citizen these days). None of them spoke ill of the Masons; they simply decided it wasn't for them, that's all. One of them lamented today that he sees a problem with the "decline" of fraternal organizations, the Elks, Lions Club, Rotary, etc., including the Masons, and I agreed with him.

I wish I'd known these guys better back when, and they've graciously included me in their activities, and they've turned into a first-rate support group.

I even brought a "date" to yesterday's get-together, another classmate who's resigned the church, come out as gay on our class website (I'm straight), and once presented at Sunstone.

He spent much of the time renewing a friendship with another guy there; they hadn't seen each other in 40 years, but had been friends since grade school.

Another friend told of "integrating" the Demolay youth group way back when and encountering a really bigoted sort who tried to cow them... Yes, there are racists among the Freemasons, but they're on their way to becoming extinct.

The bigot lost.

the great and abominable whore of all the earth, (mcKonkie) AKA the catholic church. I was reading some about their centuries of abomination on western Europe all of the heretic burnings beheadings, the holy inquisition (some of my own ancestors were murdered by them). The number they did in latin America over the Indians. In mexico alone they stole over half the land and resources, the institutional racism etc. Thank god for Juarez!

Are we to be appreciative that a worse cult/scam didn't trap us?

That's silly. There are always worse situations in life and it's a waste of time to think about the ones that have nothing to do with our real and present problems.

And the winner is...Mormonism

Who was worst, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Hitler, or Stalin?

Scientology, the Moonies, the JWs. Saying that you are marginally "better" than those cults is not saying a lot.

They might be "weird" but come on... None of these ordered handcart trains which killed hundreds, ordered murders and revenge oaths on apostates, government leaders, etc...

Forced members into settlements then forced them to live United Order (pure communism). Practiced racism on such a strong basis.

Made men and women live polygamy. etc...

I'm sorry but nothing beats Mormonism for pure Leader worship, pure hatred, pure insanity, It's PURE EVIL.

And still make my mother cry by saying polygamy will be practiced in the afterlife.

"It will be different, we'll have different feelings about if in the afterlife" but she still bawls about it.

Tell me how that's not emotionally damaging. Tell me how that doesn't put a dark cloud over a true believer's entire life, knowing you have that to look forward to when you die.

And in grocery produce? Hundreds of innocents were filling the hospital parking lots and hallways and there weren't enough staff to help them.

They did also murder some of their own who saw through the scam.

From Wikipedia:

The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of 751 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, United States, through the deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with salmonella.

A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections.[2]

The incident was the first and single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history.[3][4] The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans since 1945.[5]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack

The question is dangerous. It's like asking which rapist is worse.

"All cults say, ‘I am your mind, I am your brain. I’ve done all the work for you. We hold the answers.'

Cults (@ldschurch included) are as dangerous as drugs. They commit the highest crime: the rape of the soul. “ - L Ron Hubbard Jr.

If there are, that doesn't make the morg any less of a scam and a cult. So being the tallest of the dwarfs, so to speak, still isn't much of an accomplishment.

Would you comfort a rape victim by telling her that someone else's rape was worse?

Would you comfort someone who had lost a child by saying that someone else lost three kids, so just be grateful you only lost one?

Would you comfort someone who's beloved was murdered by saying that someone else's beloved was tortured and murdered in a worse way?

I find this post deeply insensitive. Each person's pain is the pain that devastates them personally, that rips them to shreds, and I would never qualify it.

There are those that post here that were never damaged very much by the Mormon church. These people often say, just let it go, just move one, take your power back. They don't know.

There are others who lives were ripped to shreds. I was one of those whose youth was stolen and whose life was impacted by the electroshock therapy at BYU. I am not interested in giving the Mormon church a downgrade on the evil scale just because others had it worse from someone else.

There is always something worse or something better, but saying that to someone struggling is just discounting their pain.

This... A thousand times this.

It is completely invalidating to come to a board that is setup for people recovering from damage from the LDS church to say, "eh... There are worse things out there."

Just because there are "worse" doesn't mean it hasn't damaged people's lives... Just because it hasn't damaged you as bad as others, doesn't mean the pain those have experienced is any less.

We should just be glad they didn't eat us.

Thank you for not eating us Morg!!!

Wow, I never looked at it that way!! How much do you think I should send them for not eating me?

I wonder if someone at the COB is going to see this thread and decide to try to bill us for not eating us?

Islam is worse. If simply because it is so much bigger. Same misogyny. Same ridiculous rules of personal behavior. Same homophobia. And the radicals recruit children to kill themselves and others in the service of God. Just because it is enormous does bet mean it is not a cult.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 12:35PM by icanseethelight.

I do think Islam is false, simply because it is a religion, but I don't think it's worse. However, there are cults inside Islam that are worse.

I don't understand the desire by those who no longer believe to state how much "good" there is in the church.

I for one don't agree with that statement. I know about all the guilt I had to endure going up. I know what guilt it will make my children endure. I also see the hate that my family members blast out on FB about things like gay marriage. All because their church tells them its what is right. And that they are better then everyone else.

So who cares if there is a worse cult or scam. The church is bad enough. Millions of dollars every year from it's members. Including people like my mom. A widow who works part time as a temple cleaner. She doesn't have much money, but she better pay her 10% other wise she will be out of a job.

Just my thoughts, but I just may be a little bitter.

Well.... I think it depends on what you mean by "worse". There are/have been some pretty crazy dangerous cults out there, and by that I mean, people have been in physical danger, or have been living in controlling commune type environments. EDIT: Ok, now I read the post above about electro shock therapy. Yup - that's pretty bad...

The thing about the church that I find so appalling and dangerous is that they are a business masquerading as a religion. Lets just call a spade a spade here. The level of dishonesty, cover-up, stealth, etc with the church is, I believe, much higher than a lot of the so called 'crazy' cults out there because it's pretty obvious to a lot of outsiders what those cults really are - not so much with the church.

When people leave some of those 'crazy' cults and tell people about their wierdo experiences, people immediately realize how crazy and unhealthy it probably was. Not necessarily so with the church. They are an organization of professionals. Ever noticed how hard it is to tell an outsider, who has never been Mormon or dealt with the Mormon culture, about the wierdness or dangerous parts of Mormonism....? I have - people don't get it unless they've experienced it. It's not in your face obvious since they've done so much to change and cover up their wierd past, and because they've done so much to portray a squeaky clean All American image. They know what they're doing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 01:33PM by dogeatdog.

David Koresh's Branch Davidians, Marshall Applewhite's Heaven's Gate, and Jim Jones' People's Temple...

All of the founders of those groups essentially "died as martyrs."

Oh wait...

How did JS die again?

Well, if forced to be either a Scientologist or a Mormon, I'd choose the latter. The issue is that most No-Mos who know little about TSCC usually have a satisfactory opinion of LDS Inc and a suspicious view of Scientology. LD$ Inc has been able to paint itself as being close to mainstream, if not quite truly mainstream (of the mainstream but not in it, in Mormon Speak)

Which in my opinion makes the LDS church more worse. Sure you hear everyone spout off about Scientologist. So many people stay away.

But then you have people saying "oh, the Mormon church is all about families and love. Maybe I should check it out."

*dangerous was the wrong word to use*



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 01:57PM by wanderinggeek.

Because there are worse doesn't make it better. Of course there is always worse. The cult of Nazism. But because it existed does it improve the situation of little boys being abused in the 1930's any better?
You can always find good in anything...its when you ignore the bad

And that justifies the:

Racism
Sexism
Closed door interviews of underage children
Financial secrecy
Banning family from weddings
Obedience to 'leaders'stressed above all
Excommunication of Mormons, that are only speaking the truth.
The KGB like 'Strengthing of Members Committee'
Lawsuit happy 'Intellectual reserve'
Discouragement of any independent thought
Cookie cutter dress code. (cookie cutter everything!)
Lies, Lies and more lies.

you ok with that ElderCarrion? Not me

+100000000

And I'm not okay with the Mormon church and members protecting present day polygamists in their wards and neighborhoods.

A cult that knowingly and willingly brainwashes little kids is worse than any others I can think of.

Nobody ever wins the gold in the Misery Olympics.