When David and I were communicating recently about getting his situation with his local LDS Church leaders national media exposure, he referred me to some of his postings on MormonThink.org that have led to excommunication plans arranged at his expense. These links included:

http://www.mormonthink.com/christian.htm

This one was described to me by David as "[a]ctually the article that seemed to piss them off":

http://www.MormonThink.com/politics.htm

(For further background on how this incident developed into a national story, see: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?)2,645486,645486#msg-645486)
_____


In the process of getting hold of David, the "Daily Beast" contacted me. The result was a very good and extensive interview with David about the upcoming Mormon Church trial against him. David is to be applauded for his courage, integrity and honesty in blowing the whistle on this inquisitional Mormon kangaroo court masquerading as "inspiration."

In that interview, "Daily Beast" reporter Jamie Reno made reference to another fine article that David had written which resulted in the Mormon Church moving to strip him of his LDS membership:

"In his role as managing editor of MormonThink, Twede wrote an article about Romney last month titled 'The God of Mitt Romney: Why Do Some Claim He’s Not Christian?'

http://www.mormonthink.com/christian.htm


"Then last week he posted several stories about the political history of LDS and how the Church may or may not influence Romney, as well as a few blog posts that were tongue-in-cheek takes on the Church. And that was apparently all it took for Church leaders to intervene."

("Mormons Want to Excommunicate Romney Critic," by Jamie Reno, 21 September 2012, at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/21/mormons-want-to-excommunicate-romney-critic.html
______


What an utterly bone-headed move by the Mormon CHurch. No wonder it doesn't want to talk about it. But the lid has been blown off and the hangman's noose is out of the bag. More media exposure is underway.



Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 08:59PM by steve benson.

He simply plowed up a lot of doctrine and actions that the church would love to have everyone forget. None of it was false, but I see how it would light the fuse! I hope he had prepared himself for this possibility. because it was predictable, knowing how badly the church feels when someone attempts to disturb the narrative they've worked so hard to build. It's cost the church a lot of money to hide those things and re-write their history.

This is just nonsense. Mormon Think is about as heretical as you can get. I cannot fathom how anyone can read, let alone write, the articles on that site and still claim to believe. To ignore the heretical nature of the articles, which challenge the very foundations of Mormonism, is disingenuous.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 07:12PM by Samantha Baker.

Lesson to be learned from that fact:

You can have a testimony of the Mormon Church and be left alone by the Mormon Church--as long as you don't criticize in any meaningful way the Mormon Church.

The Mormon Church is politburo, not pastoral.

It is authoritarian and dictatorial, declaring the official rules of engagement and expression, which are based on a creed of absolute obedience to the appointed hierarchy..

If you dare openly expose and embarrass the Mormon Church with historical facts that highlight its lies for all to see, you will be hauled into their court--damn the facts.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 07:28PM by steve benson.

"...as long as you don't criticize in any meaningful way the Mormon Church."

Well, yeah. That's called heresy. You are literate; you know that. Don't pretend this is about Romney or Twede is being persecuted.

One price you pay for being Mormon, or any religion for that matter, is that you must adopt the dogma and the official historical narrative--you must believe else what's the point? (Why would anyone want to remain part of a religion which they knew was lying about everything? And why assume that their lies about historicity don't extend to doctrine?)

Galileo got the same treatment when he proved that the galactic sun did not revolve around the catholic earth.

(And of course Mormon CHurch lies extend to doctrine. Check the history. Word to the members: Tuck the facts away, keep your mouth shut, profess genuflecting obedience and everything will be just fine).

Or, put another way: Pray, pay and obey.

Otherwise, you are a heretic.

So declares the backwater Mormon Cult.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 07:43PM by steve benson.

So?

I really don't get the gist of your comments. Twede is a heretic and as such is likely to be justly excommunicated. To make this a controvery and/or pretend it's about Romney is disingenous.

You keep acting like the Mormon church is different from any other organized, heirarchal religion out there (well except, perhaps, the Universalists.) Heck, it's no different than if you suddenly started writing destructive exposes on your own employer. Biting the hand that feeds you and all that. Frankly, the LDS and Catholic churches are pretty tolerant these days considering their pasts. (I got to the point where I wondered what it took to get excommunicated around here.)

You are also literate enough to know that Galileo's excommunication was as much due to his behavior--how he went about fighting authority--than about his science.

And Galileo's imprisonment had nothing of real significance to do with his discoveries that proveably undercut Catholic Church claims?

What are you smoking? Word of Wisdom weed?



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 08:01PM by steve benson.

. . . that presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon version of God isn't the Christian one, and that the Mormon Church has a long, unflattering and embarrassing history of tangling itself in the dark world of politics.

All of that has nothing, of course, to do with Romney's run for the White House in a critical battleground swing state like Florida.

If you believe that, "GatoRat," I've got some gold plates to sell you.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 09:22PM by steve benson.

I agree that the reason the church has it's garmies in a knot is because of the criticism of doctrine, bringing up of temple stuff, etc. and not the Mitt stuff.

It is a bit underhanded to throw this bone to the media because they'll obviously muddy the waters and make it all about criticizing Mitt.

Oh, well. So sad.

GatoRat you have to look at the sun and say it dosen't exist to ignore the realities of mormonism. I've tried before to look from your perspective, but couldn't get my head that far up my rectum!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 08:05PM by steve benson.

Hate to say it Steve, but I agree with GatoRat.

Some guy creates a website critizing his church, his church finds out and kicks him out. What makes that any different than you doing the same about your employer and getting fired for it??

Again.. their church, their rules.

The Morg recoils at information.

It's inconvenient to their carefully-spun agenda.

How's that Geneva Steel air doing for your brain function? :)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 09:32PM by steve benson.

I agree that they have they right to kick him out. The problem that I have with it is that all of the information being presented happens to be either 100% undeniable fact and very plausible conclusions.

The fact that the TSCC's reaction is to kick him out speaks volumes. I believe a lot of us have been treated the same way when we went to our leaders with serious doctrinal concerns and it is frustrating. We all see the damage that the church has done to our own lives, and the lives of our families and friends now that we are out.

Nope Steve, that's not it at all.

The MT website can stay up forever. Mr. Twede can continue to blog in it all he wants.

He just can't do it and be a member of the LDS church.

Wake up and smell the garment armpit sweat in the Church Office Building.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 09:36PM by steve benson.

What do you mean he can't? Hasn't he been doing it for years?

Why the sudden change in the mormon church hierarchy about what he can or can't do? I'm sure it's not about Mitt Romney, but what is it?

garment armpit sweat . . . No more edits - that's perfect. LoL.

Any organization (corporate, religious, political or otherwise) can kick someone out; that doesn't make it right.

Stating historical facts is not anti-Mormon or negative, but these are facts they don't like people (member or non-member) to be exposed to.

The LDS church is a cult and acts like one. They want to re-write history and then intimidate and punish members who don't toe the line.

All true. I don't disagree with any part of MormonThink. I think the LDS church and its claims are completely bogus.

But that's not the point.

The point is Steve, the LDS church has rules. They are allowed to have rules as long as these rules don't break any laws. Mr. Twede does not run the LDS church, so unfortunately he does not get to make the rules.

If Mr. Twede or any other disgruntled Mormon doesn't like the rules, thanks to Article 25 of the US Constitution, they enjoy something called "freedom of religion". This means Mr. Twede has a choice in what church he attends.

If he is feeling really ambitious, he can start his own religion.. perhaps calling it.. "Twedism".


BOTTOM LINE: this bit of excitement will soon be water under the bridge. They will part ways, church will go on, and life will go on.

I will continue to enjoy MT, I hope Mr. Twede continues his position as managing editor and he continues to blog. It's an excellent resource.

All true. I don't disagree with any part of MormonThink. I think the LDS church and its claims are completely bogus.

But that's not the point.

The point is Steve, the LDS church has rules. They are allowed to have rules as long as these rules don't break any laws. Mr. Twede does not run the LDS church, so unfortunately he does not get to make the rules.

If Mr. Twede or any other disgruntled Mormon doesn't like the rules, thanks to Article 25 of the US Constitution, they enjoy something called "freedom of religion". This means Mr. Twede has a choice in what church he attends.

If he is feeling really ambitious, he can start his own religion.. perhaps calling it.. "Twedism".


BOTTOM LINE: this bit of excitement will soon be water under the bridge. They will part ways, church will go on, and life will go on.

I will continue to enjoy MT, I hope Mr. Twede continues his position as managing editor and he continues to blog. It's an excellent resource.

It's what is commonly referred to as a "Duh."

There's a deeper narrative at spin here--one that follows a tried and less-than-truth-in-advertising history of Mormon political intrigue, control and lying.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2012 10:14PM by steve benson.

through intimidation and punishment doesn't make it MORAL to do so.

Don't you get the point? This whole thing just shows that the church does NOT care about the truth. It's all about control, or "unrighteous dominium".

Sure, but exposing the church, its policies and they way they go about supressing the truth takes a huge amount of polish off the apple. This dents their clean cut, all-american, plays by the straight and narrow rules image. This makes them out ot be calculating, shrewed, cold thugs who seek to silence all truth that might tarnish the narriative they want to stick to. If that isn't cultish, I don't know what is. People reading these articles will have the ugly truth about the church juxtaposed with the clean cut, nice missionaries. I believe it will begin to turn the tide of opinion.

For the record, I have never heard of a modern catholic being raked over the coals by the church for speaking out about truth and/or needed change, I have not heard of this in nearly any religion.

Comparing this to a workplace is not accurate. A church and an employer are two different things. Employers might sever ties with whistleblowers, but only cults do that with members who are speaking the truth and trying to change from within.

FredDurst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some guy creates a website critizing his church...

Stating facts does not constitute criticism. It is a FACT that Joseph Smith dictated most of the BoM by sticking his head in a hat. It is a FACT that he impregnated a young ward living under his care. It is a FACT that he married other men's wives, sometimes after sending those men away on missions. It is a FACT that he ordered the destruction of the newspaper printing press that exposed his polygamy to the wider (and subsequently infuriated) community. And so on. It is not that hard to divine history from just under 200 years ago.

If the facts INVITE deserved criticism, whose fault is that? Surely not the person who exposed the truth.

Unless the facts terrify the entity which seeks to bury them. For the thugs who run Mormons Inc., the truth is as damning as any prosecution testimony.

Well said, summer. The Mormon Church has been peddling its lies, converting people under false pretenses, ruining families. The folks at Mormonthink just want people to know what they're getting into. When was the last time any of us agreed to give 10% of our money to an organization without thoroughly researching the history?

Excellent article! Thanks for the update.

The MormonThink articles show beyond any reasonable, rational dispute that Mormonism is a pack of lies and utter nonsense. How else would you expect the deluded, self-righteous, sanctimonious, totalitarian "men of God" who run the Mormon Church to react? Their reaction once again proves the fraud that is Mormonism. The Church can't tolerate public dissent because that dissent exposes the fraud. But, I can't imagine knowing the truth about Mormonism and yet waiting until I was ex-communicated to get the hell out.

No, the Moron Church isn't like any other church.
Most churches don't have gestapo thugs going around threatening people - and no, the Danites weren't fiction.
Most churches won't kick you out, no matter what.
Most churches don't have Courts of "Love" (Orwell, where are you?).
Most churches, even if they did kick you out, you wouldn't lose your family and friends because of it.
Most churches won't kick you out if you choose not to pay tithes.
Most churches don't try to influence politics with tithes from their members.
Most churches disclose their finances.
Most churches don't encourage lying (Lying for the Lord).
Most churches don't make their members clean the toilets.

IT'S A FUCKING CULT!!!