Posted by:
DunderMifflinGuy
(
)
Date: June 30, 2022 12:20PM
I would have said "congratulations" a few years ago, but having worked for an Episcopal Church for the last three years (long story) I'm shaking my head. People go into religion with pie-in-the-sky dreams about it being oh-so-good, and not-liike-the-other-religions ideas. Let me tell you, after seeing how churches work on the inside I would NEVER work at one again, let alone go to one.
I saw the most petty, jealous, bickering, nit-picking, self-glorification among the clergy AND staff. I worked for TWO Episcopal churches and they were equally toxic in different ways. Church 1 was a "conservative" parish - i.e., rich, white, right-wing Trumpers, anti-gay, with openly neofascists attending. I'd estimate the fascist element comprised about 60-70% of the parish members. Church 2 was a "woke" parish, super gay-friendly, mostly agnostic, into making worship kind of a circus of sorts, and the inability to think critically. If there was a wacko idea, they embraced it.
I've attended probably 7 Episcopal parishes in the last 7 years since I left Mormonism. Thought I had found "it." Each one was super disappointing, and I found the same cliqueishness I found among Mormons. Went to a few Catholic churches as well. Same thing. Tried a parish of the ACNA. Same thing. When a person I talked to called it a "Burger King vs. McDonalds" argument I was pissed off, but a few years later I found he was spot on.
I decided to read some books by Bart Ehrman, PhD, mostly because I had been warned against them by the churches I worked for. By the time I finished "How Jesus became God" whatever little faith I had in Christianity had completely evaporated.
Side note: I still work for a church (very part-time), but I don't believe at all. I'm an agnostic now - closeted - until I can find other paying work. Christianity is built on a foundation of sand and superstition - Mormonism AND all the rest.
You might want to listen to the podcast from an Ex-Mormon/Ex-Christian on Mormon Stories. In Part 2 (it's a 3-hour 2-part show), she describes how she recognized how toxic churches are and what led to her faith deconstruction.
Final advice: Apply the same critical reasoning to Christianity (any flavor) that you did in rejecting Mormonism. You'll find yourself out eventually. It's a painful process to lose faith. It's devastating.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1611-from-mormon-to-evangelical-christian-rachel-wunderli/id312094772?i=1000567166174