I'm sure this has in general been asked before but I am myself curious with the current batch of frequent users.



1. What is your current Religious Status after leaving the church?



2. What was your political status as a Mormon? (if it evolved as you were still a Mormon state here as well)

-Right-Wing (Conservative, Right-Leaning Centrist/Moderate, Neo-Conservative, Tea Party, Libertarian, Minarchist, etc.)

or

-Left Wing (Liberal, Left-Leaning Centrist/Moderate, Classical-Liberal, Neo-Liberal, Progressive, Socialist, etc.)



3. Did your political status change after leaving or as a result of leaving? If so, what is it now?

-Right-Wing (Conservative, Right-Leaning Centrist/Moderate, Neo-Conservative, Tea Party, Libertarian, Minarchist, etc.)

or

-Left Wing (Liberal, Left-Leaning Centrist/Moderate, Classical-Liberal, Neo-Liberal, Progressive, Socialist, etc.)



Thanks for your response. As usual no political discussion, only discussion of the labels you held. I will post mine first comment.

1. Non-Religious: Atheist, Sometimes a Deist, I go back and forth, so I generally just say Agnostic.

2. Right-Wing (Conservative)

3. Yes, I became a hard social progressive as I started to get out of the church but held on to the fiscal ideas of conservatism, so I started to call myself a libertarian. Eventually I was convinced by some liberal friends and now see myself as a progressive.

Non..not a radical, not a regressive.

materialist/ anti-oligarchy

I occasionally worship with Seattle Mennonites and would more often if I lived closer.

I've always been liberal.

1. I no longer associate with any religion whatsoever. It suddenly occurred to me that it was all a bit absurd to say, "I don't believe in 999 previous and current creation myths, but mine is right." Huh? Why is yours different from the 999?

I now call myself a seeker of truth, wherever truth may be found. But I have no interest in religion whatsoever.


2. I did a survey and I came out right in the middle between Liberal and Conservative. That sounds about right. I don't think much has changed on that score between religion me and non-religious me.

fbtj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm sure this has in general been asked before but
> I am myself curious with the current batch of
> frequent users.
>
>
>
> 1. What is your current Religious Status after
> leaving the church?
>

PanAtheist, con pico de gallo


As for the other stuff I've never been political. The last president I voted for was Nixon, which certainly cured me.

I was democrat even in my stint as a converted member for "misery loves company" reasons but have been green for the past few years.

I didn't vote for Kerry in 04, though. I voted some indie candidate because I hated him and Dubya.

JS had one thing right when he said that nobody had it right. Where he ran into trouble is when he claimed to be the one to solve that problem.

Nobody knows, or has it right when it comes to religion. Politics has a bit of the same problem. History has taught humans a lot about politics. If we learn from that or not, that is the question.

Greed and power seem to be the two consistent things that persist throughout history. There's always someone somewhere who want more of everything for themselves. This problem shows up in history over and over. Humanity hasn't been able to overcome that. I don't think that will ever end.

The struggle of power and riches is here to stay.

1. Don't believe in 'religion' but do believe in 'spirituality' and a God, but definitely not the one in the Bible.

2. Conservative.

3. Even further 'conservative'.

As a Mormon, I believed all politicians were whores and only Mormons could save America from damnation, filth, and porn.

I grew up to be a science-driven skeptic who leans liberal: equal rights and pay, women's rights, take climate change seriously, etc.

#1. Agnostic

#2. Tea Party/Libertarian

#3. I have learned that without church dissenters and apostates of both the early church and todays church exposing much of what is wrong with it we wouldn't know all that is wrong with the church. In political matters it is the same; I rely on whistle blowers and informed dissenters to inform me about what is wrong with government. I have little confidence in either party to lead the country as they are both currently influenced and controlled by a coalition of corrupt money interests.

Not religious, don't believe in any gods.

As a kolobian I was leaning liberal which caused a lot of cognitive dissonance.

As an ex-kolobian I find myself leaning much more conservative which surprises me.

It doesn't really matter though since philosophically I'm opposed to voting. I view life as a game to be won and I prefer to put my energy toward winning it and not fussing about with what rules should be amended to make the game more fair for people who aren't very good at it.

So you guys can all worry about what you want the rules to be, let me know, and I'll keep playing :)

I'm a practicing Pastafarian now. As a TBM I was obnoxiously right wing. Now hardcore right wingers annoy the hell out of me. Hardcore liberals also annoy the hell out of me.

I think most people are annoyed by hardcore anything. Zealots in any form are hard to take. ;)

No religion. Way on the left (but I was a lefty way before I left the church).

1. Read my screen name.

2. Conservative, Skousen-reading, Limbaugh-listening theocrat. Got into politics with Glenn Beck's books.

3. I now oppose theocracy, laugh at Limbaugh, scorn Skousen, and lean left. My left-leaning (in a nation of rightists) came along with my disaffection.

1. Humanist.

2. I took that whole "treat others the way you want to be treated" seriously, and it was tscc and mormons who first labeled me liberal, preceded or followed by such lovely adjectives as wicked, rebellious, and stupid. That taught me you can be known by your enemies as much as the company you keep. So now I label myself a progressive liberal* and I'm proud to be on the opposite side of the mormon church.

*progressive, as in knowing the right thing and doing it now, not decades later; and liberal, as in caring about people and the world we inhabit rather than some religious credo that contradicts itself, much less all the other religions; liberal, as in doing good because it is the right thing to do, and not out of fear of being punished by an angry and arbitrary god.

I still believe in a deity and accept Jesus as my savior.

No longer worship at a Christian fellowship as I've taken up with a local congregation of Judaism that has become my faith fellowship and spiritual sanctuary for now.

I'm learning more there about my Christian faith and heritage than I learned in Sunday School, so it's all good. The people are a better example to me of what being faith driven and godly means, and a complete divergence from the pettiness, gossip and strife found at the LDS houses of worship I once attended.

As for my political beliefs, they may have stayed pretty much the same. Still a moderate conservative in my approach and views on politics. And can be liberal in areas too (which balances my conservative streak.) I like social reform/progressive in health & welfare and education, but less of a centrist government. When it comes to who controls the purse strings in welfare and education it is the central government, so it's a fine line.

See myself as neither a Democrat or Republican. Don't see myself as a Libertarian or Tea Party type either.

When I took a poll on RfM last year as to what religion I'd fit the best with the results were "Conservative Quaker." Had never even heard of that particular brand of Quakerism before that survey. As a former Mormon I was fairly conservative. As an ex-Mormon I'm more middle of the road, with a conservative bent.

And my Jewish house of worship I prefer above the other brands has been conservative. But to be conservative in Judaism is a far cry from conservatism in Mormonism. :)

Conservative Judaism is a meeting somewhere between Orthodox and Reform Judaism. Someone at my shul explained it like this: to be Reform is "Lazy." To be Orthodox is "Crazy." Conservative is "Hazy," and a compromise between the other two. There's also a "Reconstructionist" Jewish movement in America that sees itself as the more progressive of the group, and is evolving ongoing..

1. These days, I describe myself as a "born again agnostic."

2. I was always far to the left of most Mormons--in other words, middle of the road politically.

3. No sudden change when I left, but my entire adult life has been a gradual shift to the left.

1. I'm a lot more open-minded when it comes to religion/spirituality. Eclectic is a good word for my belief system, if you can call it that. But I don't believe in a christian deity.

2 & 3. I've always been a little left of center politically.

1. Religion plays no part in my life these days; I can't quite bring myself to call myself an atheist, so I'll say agnostic. However, I do enjoy the theatre and spectacle of a good high church Anglican or catholic mass if I happen to be passing!

2. I have always been instinctively left leaning politically, even from childhood. I was born and brought up in a coal mining village in England. As a teenager this was probably the first thing that caused problems with my belief in the church, the lack of understanding and caring of a rich American corporation (which claimed to be the one true church) had for the problems and hardships faced by so many people in the world.

3. My politics have not changed since leaving.

I think these are good questions; permit me to warp them a bit!

I think since I self-extruded from LDS I left behind the idea of having an external ideology or belief set or leaning. Instead I've been following a few simple quiet voices that have been speaking to me for some time now:

* My purpose is to love my wife, and our kids. They are and have been very loving of me and could care less what my religious or political beliefs are. (In this respect I've so much more fortunate than many who come to this board.) I am nothing without my wife, really. Job #1 is helping her to the best of my ability.

* Every day, every moment in my life overflows with wonder. Yesterday we spent time at the park, splashing around in paddle boats, eating cotton candy, being silly. Just being. Where does it all come from? A God, or just the physics following the Big Bang? Not important to me now--just enjoy it and be humbled by it. I have, after all, two types of cancer percolating (slowly, fortunately) in my old bod. One of these days I won't be around to enjoy all of this any more. Time's a wastin'!

* Lots of folks out there have it a lot worse off than I do. Seems to me I can do worse things than spend a bit of my time and treasure helping them out.

So, that's it. Doesn't really answer the questions, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I am now an agnostic/soft atheist. As a TBM I was conservative and a registered Republican. My current political stance is moderate/centrist and slightly left of center. My views do not align entirely with any political party and vary based on the issue.

My TBM mindset was fairly black and white. I now feel that most issues have multiple viable viewpoints that can actually be contradictory while remaining viable and valid.

I always leaned left. Which always caused some consternation, in that members believe that anyone who was a Democrat couldn't be a good Mormon. However, after leaving the church, I find myself in the atheist / agnostic realm. My politics have moved further left. I find myself more open-minded. I certainly didn't want to ditch one religion to take on another, as in my exit from the Mormon church I realized that all religions are man-made.

1. Unitarian Universalist (they welcome agnostics/atheists anything really)

2. Independent- depended on the constituent and what their message was. This has always caused friction between my husband and I and my far right parents

3. Democratic Socialist - spent too much time in Germany not to see the benefits of this type of government.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2016 10:48AM by minnieme.

The man in my life was in Germany on several business trips and returned making the same comment.

1. Agnostic
2. Moderate, but always fairly confused
3. Leftist/Democratic socialist

Dudist / Taoist / Atheist

Repug when young, very progressive now.

1. Zen Dudeist
2. Independent
3. Socialist

I quit believing in any kind of an interventionist God on 9-11, when he failed to intervene to prevent the senseless slaughter of 3,000 of his innocent children. But I saw a different god on that day, an internal goodness that restored my faith in humanity, that we could survive the evil born of barbaric tribalism.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2016 10:45AM by koriwhore.

1. None
2. As TBM was uber-conservative just because I was raised that way.
3. Independent. Various views fall into different categories. Now I basically vote AGAINST whichever group scares me the most.

1. Spiritual freethinker. I sift through various teachings and philosophies and if it uplifts me I embrace it.

2. Right wing conservative.

3. Right leaning moderate, but should probably take a test to really see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2016 11:53AM by Forgetting Abigail.

Great questions. Since I left, a BIL started labeling me as a secular humanist. I said I'm not. I'm just a person who likes truth and reality, unless I want to read or watch some fiction for entertainment. But to him, if a person doesn't align with a religion, the person has to be a secular humanist. If that label means I use my mind and heart instead of burying my head under dogmatic dung, well fine, but I don't consider myself one.

1. No religion.

2. Conservative because I grew up with conservative parents in a conservative religion.

3. Middle to liberal. Anymore, I find conservative positions and claims to be mostly lame or dishonest.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2016 12:15PM by blankstare.