Hey everyone, I took a break from RfM for a while but I think I'll give it a shot again. I was always a good Mormon girl, from pioneer ancestry, and pretty much all my relatives are Mormon. I went to BYU, went on a mission, and got married in the temple (though we were never very compatible). I'd always had questions, but I put them on my mental shelf, figuring that I'd find the answers someday.

Then one day I stumbled onto RfM. Bam! the whole thing collapsed and my world turned upside down. The whole thing was a lie and reality wasn't what I'd been taught to believe. I kept attending church for almost a year to try to figure it out. My TBM husband went inactive because he couldn't handle the comments I whispered to him during the meetings. (In typical Momon passive-aggressive fashion, he didn't tell me the reason for his inactivity until years later.) We ended up getting divorced, of course.

I was in the Army National Guard and got deployed to Afghanistan. I met my soulmate there. He identifies himself as Muslim but we have a lot of similar ideas about religion. We wanted to get married, but there were bureaucratic problems with the visa process for him to get to the US, so eventually I decided to go back to Afghanistan to get married. I converted to Islam to get married. There's really no other way I could have done it. I don't really believe in any religion, but I think that at least Islam is better than Mormonism. I took an online quiz that said I'm actually a Deist, and that's probably the most accurate label for my current beliefs, if you have to put a label on it.

I came back from Afghanistan pregnant (I planned it that way). We knew we wanted to have a family together, and I'm starting to get a little older and didn't want to wait any longer. I hoped my husband's spouse visa would be approved within the 9 months before our baby was born, so we would be together for the birth. It didn't happen. After trying everything, contacting the embassy, senators, media, and online petitions, an international reporter in Kabul, Afghanistan picked up the story. Our son was a year old when she went to the embassy, in person, to get information for her story, about us and another female soldier marrying an Afghan interpreter. The next day, both cases got emails from the embassy saying that our visas were ready.

Recently we had another baby, and we're happily raising our kids in our mostly post-religion family, in spite of nearly all our relatives on both sides being religious and living in Utah county.

So, if you took the time to read all that, what's your story? How did you leave Mormonism and where are you at now?

Welcome back, Naomi. I'm glad that everything has worked out for you. I wish you continued happiness.

Welcome back from me, too, Naomi!!

I'm glad the "steps" you and your husband had to take worked out, and it sounds like you have achieved the life that you most wanted to have. Congratulations!

And I'm sorry...I don't have a "leaving" story because I'm nevermo---although I've been here on RfM so many years now, I think I probably ought to be awarded at least "honorary exmo" status!!!

:D :D :D

So glad to see you back, Naomi. Your story is fascinating and I'm so happy that you are all together and happy. Good luck with the Utah County thing.

I'm glad you're back in the US and back on RfM. I think Deist describes my current mindset too. I hope you find pure joy in your new adventures. :)

Thanks. I was actually only in Afghanistan for two weeks for my wedding, and that was almost four years ago. I've been pretty solidly stuck in Utah for quite a while.
I have a serious aversion to organized religion in general, but I never really considered myself an atheist, either. I just choose to redefine God as something I can believe in, if that makes sense. I believe in Nature and Love and Life, and aren't those really higher powers and the source of creation? And I'm kind of agnostic because I don't think we really know much beyond that. I'm OK with not knowing. If there is a God of the sort imagined by religion, She would have to accept me doing the best I can with my life. (Honestly, if you're going to pick a gender for the power that gives birth to life, it really would have to be female, obviously.)

I've been all over the place with my religious/spiritual mindset. I was a devout TBM, a new age spiritualist and then a mainstream Christian. Now, like you, I'm okay not knowing. I can't prove or disprove the existence of a creator so I just won't worry about it. Life is so much easier when we just live in the moment.