Do your Mormon friends and family ever try to sneak Mormon beliefs into conversations? My mother does this. Mom will introduce some wrongheaded Mormon notion into a conversation and act like either it's the "right thing to do" or else everyone is doing it. She won't properly identify the source of the idea, as of course it's Mormon, and I think she likes the idea of getting people who don't believe in Mormonism to accept a Mormon idea. Plus, there's kind of a bossiness about the Mormon religion that makes people unable to contain themselves. They also tend to be very personal subjects that overstep boundaries, or else I'd be more detailed about what she talks about.

My conversations with Mom seem to follow a pattern. Mom will express some ridiculous Mormon notion and act like it's the only good and proper action possible. I'll reply with "That doesn't make any sense, because..." and go on to contradict everything she has said with either examples of how what she says isn't true or by referring to something we know from science. Mom will hem and haw, but will be unable to refute what I've said because she's just parroting what some Mormon leader said and hasn't actually given it much thought herself. So, she'll be confused, change the subject, and proceed to the next stealth Mormon wrongheaded notion, which I'll also refute. This is how my mother and I communicate.

After 10-15 minutes of this, she'll hand the phone to my father, and we'll have a comparatively normal conversation about fishing or lawn tractors.

I just think the attempts at stealth Mormonism are fascinating. Why can't we have a conversation about anything else like normal people? I wonder what she would do if the church shut down and they boarded up the building. Guess we'd have to talk about grandkids or something.

Does anybody else have this experience? Please tell me your stealth Mormon stories.

And yes, it bugs him. I think she's trying to be faith-promoting but it doesn't work. Occasionally it ends in a fight if he confronts her on the b.s.

My mom sometimes just injects a little Mormon point-of-view into things. I don't get the sense that she's trying to convince me, but it just permeates her thinking. If I had to guess, I'd say she's AVOIDING talking about Mormonism around me. I think she'd rather talk about it with someone who will agree and reinforce her, not somebody like me who will ignore the reference or acknowledge her comments with the attitude of "that must be nice for you."

Those in my family who have PUSHED mormonism haven't enjoyed my response. Maybe the message got around.

I used to call Mom on her b.s. and that would end badly. I also take your approach sometimes and say "Hey, that's great for you." It's just always fending off a moralistic tirade, which can be stressful. My favorite attempt to derail "stealth mormonese" (lol, thanks en passant!) was Mom's sister who said to her once. "So... what books have you been reading lately? I mean, other than churchy stuff." lol

I think it's a way for her to confirm that she's a good member whose life revolves around the church like it's "supposed" to.

My brother doesn't attempt to doctrinize me any more, but should I ask my him, "How are you?" or "How is (family member X)?" he will inevitably reply in stealth mormonese about how blessed they are.

Never mind that three of four family members have life-threatening illnesses and 50% are unemployed. They are nonetheless the blessed recipients of many blessings, as is made stealthily but unfailingly apparent in any casual conversation. (en passant rolls eyes and tries to ignore it.)

Mormonese! LMAO! I'm going to use that.

My mom has been doing this bullshit. I used to be very interested in family history. She always brings it up as a way to "bring me back" or sort of remind me of things that I believed in the past.

It is so manipulative. I hate it.

because I'll meet their comments with what I've learned about Mormonism. They've found that this can be harmful to their world view so they've opted to keep quiet for the most part.

Every now and then my TBM wife tries to sneak something in but regrets it after. I've agreed to the truce but will 'share' if someone else does.