I've connected with many of my childhood classmates on FB, most of them are still and have always been LDS.
The snarky ones have weeded themselves out over time. The ones remaining are down-to-earth salt-of-the-earth types that don't carry axes to grind. One sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Haven't noticed any of my temple recommend holders in sleeveless clothing yet.
The biggest surprise for me are my returned missionary niece and nephew, who although they still profess to believing in Mormonism, are careful to avoid discussing anything religious on their walls. Not a word on religion or spirituality, ever.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 07:06PM by Amyjo.
It seems like they have this vision of what a truly christ-centered organization might be and they look ONLY to the ways in which they see that mormonism is that. When it is not that, they forgive it. When a policy change is announced they reply, "when we know better, we do better."
They may even be lobbying for women to hold the priesthood. They certainly are in favor of same sex marriage. The cognitive dissonance is going to give them a brain aneurysm! I know because this is largely how I operated way, way, way back in the day.
It was only when I considered what the really bad parts of the religion would do to my children that I had to leave. They were 9,7, and 5 when we announced no more church. They were quite neutral and happy to have more family time on Sunday. When we were blessed with one last child, who is gay, we were completely distanced. I am so thankful he never had to experience mormonism's twisted recommendations for how he should manage his god given sexuality.
My paternal grandfather used to tell my dad how he wished that his wife could hold the priesthood. He couldn't understand why his better half would be denied the full blessings of the gospel by not being able to exercise priesthood authority during her lifetime.
He took that wish to his grave; his wife had predeceased him by a decade.
I left the cult with my children initially while they were in grade school. We went back for a stint during their high school years, which I regret doing to this day. But it was during that return hiatus that I became more convinced than ever how much of a cult the church was, so that was reinforced when I left it for the last time.
Was concerned for my children's welfare too, when we left (both times.) Once realizing it was a cult, I knew it would be worse for them to stay because of the underlying damage that cults do. I'd had a lifetime up to then vested as a LDS. Tried to spare my children from further damage/fallout our staying would have done to them.
Everyone on my Facebook list who is a former Mormon was already known to me as a foMo when I added them. I guess that is a drawback/feature of spending the bulk of my life outside Zion.
I left when I was still at BYU (1960s and 1970s), so I have been out for a very long time now. I did recently see comments on MormonStories from two of my former professors at the Y, congratulating Omar and Nancy Kader on their four hours (!!) of interviews on MormonStories. If you have a lot of time, their story is pretty interesting. They have a son, Aron, who has a pretty successful career as a Palestinian-Mormon comedian. Now there's a niche market.
I found out some years after graduating that one of my favorite profs had been on the boards of the ACLU of Utah, and Planned Parenthood of Utah. He may have done that after he retired, but in any case, don't assume that even Utah County BYU profs have fully drunk the Utah koolaid.
A friend of mine made a comment on FB that she liked wine. For a normal person, that's no big deal. For a 6th generation married in the temple etc., that's a huge statement. Yep! She's out.
Two classmates that have been BIC TBM their entire lives are not "out" completely, but they no longer go to services. One smokes tobacco, and the other has more questions than the church has answers. The 2nd one has been turned off by the excessive hypocrisy she continually encounters at the morg.
So she has been taking a sabbatical of sorts these past few years.
She's one of the sweetest people on earth. She made me a star of David afghan crocheted by hand, and sent me some homemade jams, doilies, and other assorted goodies "just because." I paid her for the afghan, but she didn't do it for the money or ask to be compensated. I insisted. It is a work of art.