I have absolutely no problem with people assigning themselves a labelled belief system. In reality, I believe that your belief system is a personal decision and, as such, no one has a right to tell you what/who you are.

I find as an ex-mormon with all of the baggage that comes with having grown up a mormon, that there's an expectation of zealous labelling. Even among ex-mos, we have been so indoctrinated that if we don't hold tight to something and become its champion, then we aren't being the best ex-mos that we should be. In some ways, it may be a leftover of mormonism, the idea that we have to research and claim a belief system with gusto.

Mormonism is based on and avidly pushed into prosletyzing, "Every member a missionary." Sometimes I wonder if we don't still feel that we have to convince others that our new found belief system is the right one. Do we forget that it is not our job to convert everyone else to our way of thinking?

I would dearly love my family who are still LDS to know the facts about the church and make a decision on that reality. Unfortunately, I know that it may not go the way I want.

When C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity, J.R.R. Tolkien was bitterly disappointed that Lewis chose to be a Protestant rather than a Catholic. Tolkien had debated Lewis (an atheist) for years regarding his lack of religion, but in the end his efforts met with an unexpected end. Shouldn't Tolkien have been happy that his friend now agreed with the general philosophy?

I sometimes feel, that even here amongst people with similar experiences, there's a desire to prosletyze and/or defend new found knowledge. It's wonderful to find out and share, but that doesn't render anyone who disagrees an imbecile.

In my own journey out of mormonism, and in dealing with family and friends who are still mormon, there is a desire on their part to throw a label on me. Truthfully, I have no religion. I do not believe in the god of any religion, although I cannot definitively say that there is no "higher being". However, I would not label my "beliefs" as anything specific. For some reason that makes people uncomfortable. I'm not championing anything and I'm not intersted in forcing others to think the way that I do. If I'm guilty of anything, it's ambiguity.

This post is my convoluted way of asking whether anyone here still feels the pressure to label themselves and fight for that label as much as they did when they were TBM's.

*edited to add an "i" to assigning. I'm claiming the label of anal retentive. Yipee!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2011 12:14AM by sanityprevailed.