Before my mission, I had to go to the BYU Special Collections library to read a lot of "anti-Mormon literature," or "controversial literature". This is where I first saw "Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?" It is also where I first saw "Mormonism Unvailed". Recently I have been reading "Mormonism Unvailed" on the Internet Archive, and it is really interesting. I can read it whenever I have free time, I can read it very carefully, and I can read it multiple times. It was hard to do this in BYU's Special Collections room.

I think the easy availability of anti-Mormon content selects for more hardcore believers. Membership may be slowly dropping, but those who remain are truly bamboozled.

Church leaders can get away with more than they used to. They can run the church like a cult, for example.

Not to mention the fake news set can dig in their heels with gusto.

Agree. I remember going to the BYU library as an alumni (alumna?) to look up some of the references I had questioned.

The books were behind a glass door and desk. I had to sign in (I suspect that is so they know who is looking at "anti" material).

Now with the internet, it is harder to sort through all the crap to confirm BS from fact since anyone with an opinion about anything has a megaphone. However, with the internet, there is no longer an excuse to be ignorant about church history. You have to deliberately stay ignorant to buy into the fluff they teach at church.

and where to find trunkfulls of lost Confederate gold -- and all you had to do is send me $99.95 and I'll give you a copy of my book and give you a share of the treasure before the end of the world...which could be just around the corner.


You'd probably think I was nuts, a hoaxer, or both.


So did people think about Joseph Smith back in the 1830s.

People could find and confirm that the church isn't true before the advent of the internet, but their ability to discuss it "amongst themselves" didn't exist.

Did this make it harder for some to walk away?  Probably...

But then a merciful ghawd gave us the gift and genius of a living, breathing Al Gore!

I appreciate your post here very much. I was at BYU early seventies. Just before I figured out Mormonism, I went to church on Sunday uncharacteristically a little late. I walked in the back and the bishop was speaking and didn't want to interrupt so I stood there looking at the backs of heads and the cinderblock walls and listening to the same,same,same old banter from the pulpit. The bishop was remiss about something or other.

I left, True church or not, I just couldn't do it anymore. I had no "anti material" to read and knew of none. I was immersed in Mormonism up to my eyeballs and suddenly realized I couldn't even breathe. I pushed my way out the glass doors into the sunshine and stayed there.

A short time later I read my first anti-Mormon literature which was Miracle of Forgiveness. Actually it was more anti-human being literature, but worked the same for me. Fifty thousand million pounds lifted off me as I read and I swear I was suddenly floating.

It's easier when it never worked for you in the first place. I liked learning the details after that, but never needed them. I trusted my gut.

Surely it works both ways.

On the one hand, it's easier to find objective information with the aid of the internet--at least if the topic is not one which major political and commercial actors care about.

On the other, the internet makes it far easier for those who don't want to know the truth to avoid it. Roughly 30% of Republicans, or 15% of the US population, believes that the 2020 election was "stolen."

Social media are Goebbels's dream come true: an unrivaled tool with which to indoctrinate the uncritical mind.

I found it from my genealogy. A book of it my sister sent said Joseph Smith married my ancestor 6 months after she married her true love. I didn't know she was married to anyone but Brigham Young.

This was 2003/2004.

It wasn't the Internet.

Local libraries in Davis county often had "anti" books stolen, annotated or pages torn out.

In addition there were often times books defending against anti books filed right next to them.

It wasn't until I was stationed outside of Utah that I had free access to anti books in any number oddly enough at the base library.

This was the 60s, 70s.

Some of the most intelligent people I have ever met are believing Mormons. They can easily come to the conclusion that the Mormon church is BS just by thinking about it. No research is required. The internet is of no use to them if they won't let go of the iron rod of bulls_it.

A Mormon with an open mind who isn't afraid of the truth and who is searching for answers has easy access to a plethora of information on the internet. The key is an open mind and a desire for answers. The internet as a tool for research is of no use to anyone who doesn't want to see the truth.

Books challenging Joseph Smith, his Mormon church and BoM were first published in the 1830s around the time Joseph Smith wrote the BoM. Many similar books followed. Although the early "saints," especially those outside of the USA, didn't have easy access to the books, they were available in local libraries and bookstores long before the internet. The internet did make research much easier.

Like Done & Done I was out of the Mormon church before the internet. I stopped attending because it just didn't sit right with me. I didn't need research - just like I didn't need to do research when I found out there was no Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. It wasn't till years after I stopped attending church that I could even stomach reading about Joseph Smith and the church he started. Now I find it really fascinating - - disturbing but fascinating.

I used to think the same but there’s a lot of bullshit and bias on the internet. I don’t think a quarter century of internet access has enlightened society at all. I don’t see the results of it. Ok the Mormon church is a scam. Well people continue to get scammed and if it’s not the Mormons it’s somebody else. I’ve never seen so much corruption as now. If anything the internet has become just another tool to scam people with. It’s nothing more than a collection of echo chambers. You can find any answer or confirmation you are looking for.

  
        So you have to work
        very, very hard, and
        with real intent, to
        be all by yourself!!

It was more difficult to learn the truth about the church pre-internet, but I also think that there may have been fewer reasons for members to question it too.

The church used to offer something to its members. So pre-internet, even if a church member questioned its truth claims, it would have been much easier to look the other way. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and I have fond memories of the church during that time. There were fun youth activities, camps, ward socials, dances, etc. In the years leading up to the internet, the church was slowly stripped of nearly everything that makes it feel like a community. Members clean and pay tithing now, but there's nothing for them. There's much more reason for members to study the church than ever before.

I lived in a very small community in south, high school education took 33 years of 6 enlightments and internet for me to learn the truth.

I can remember b4 internet, in my frustrated state of service, how do u investigate this thing, who the hell has the time. 4 kids stay at home wife, working 2 jobs, and allowed them to make me bishop.(not saying no really made me more frustrated)

I can remember saying, I just can't believe this the way if there is a god he would want me to live this way.

Freedom will never b taken for granted.

I like being called apostate. You mean "I" figured it out????

It was 1983 when I found out my future "husband" is gay. March 22, 1983. I'll never forget the day. It shattered my world. And the rest is history. I looked and looked for info back then. I refused to go to BYU. I actually couldn't stand mormon subjects like Manti pageant. Anything like that. Dance festival my sister was in at BYU. Young conference at BYU. That was horrible. And I was the devout child.

Even if "I" wasn't gay, mormonism never worked for me either. Though I worked so very hard at it. First, I had to save my family and, second, I had to find a husband and so I had to be a good little girl. Lots of good that did me. And most of the girls I knew growing up have the "perfect little mormon life" or so it seems. Glad I don't. BUT sometimes their fb posts make me want to vomit. I had an old "friend" from the ward and high school die a year ago of a heart attack. Four kids. Seemed to have the mormon life all ironed out. Her three boys surely can't still be mormons. Living with their girlfriends.

I know there isn't such a thing as a perfect mormon life, but some days it irritates me when I do see those posts. Actually, my older sister who stuck it out the longest (just recently with COVID left), she also says "I TRIED SO HARD."

My therapist said, "We tested mormonism to its very limits and it failed us." I do worry about my daughter. The rest of my family is out.

"We tested mormonism to its very limits and it failed us."

It snapped back and took my head clean off.