a guy in the booth next to me is having a deep conversation with a friend about Mormonism. I have no idea of the context aside from it seems like he is trying to talk her out of taking the church seriously.

The first thing I heard was "I just want the truth, that's what matters to me, so you can see where I'm coming from".

Then he said that he grew up with Mormons and lives across the street from the "only Mormon church for 100 miles" and that he knows more about Mormonism than most Mormons.

He just told her he "has a very real concern about using feelings as a substitute for rational judgment". He is now talking about the structure of authority in the church and how people in the church are about "obeying". He said he has a problem with how members submit to the authority structure and said that he worries about corruption.

Whatever the conversation is about, he really is doing an awesome job articulating everything that is wrong with Mormonism. His conversation partner seems really quiet. I hope she's okay emotionally-- I know these kinds of conversations can be painful.

Best line yet:

"...it's like you can never get a pure signal from a Mormon about what it is they believe".

but he was on a roll and they were clearly engaged in a sensitive conversation. I didn't want to intrude. I already felt weird enough for hanging on every word-- of course, he was really animated and loud, so it was hard to miss.

He was totally awesome and he definitely would have fit in well here. I was so impressed with how clear-minded he was about it all. I just hope his friend can appreciate it.

At the time I left he said something like "I'm not trying to get you to think that there's nothing in life worth believing in. I'm not trying to destroy your hope in finding some kind of meaning in your life. I just think you should be careful about believing what people tell you when you can see that their reasons for believing what they do don't have to do with what is true and reasonable."

Smart guy. I'm glad to know there are people like him in the world.