Posted by:
intellectualfeminist
(
)
Date: February 17, 2013 06:34PM
Since today was the big day of the "Mormon Reformation", I posted about the event on FB. A friend of mine (non-LDS) saw the post and shared it on his FB page. I commented on it, and a mutual LDS acquaintance simply couldn't keep her mouth shut and got in our grills. I'm sharing the relevant conversation, between "Her" (LDS mutual friend), "Him" (non-LDS gay friend), and "Me" (obviously, me! Raised Catholic, became Mormon at 19, stayed Mormon for 22 years, left the cult a couple of years ago, now no longer religious but culturally Catholic, I guess.)
Him: (sharing my Mormon Reformation/95 LDS theses post on his FB page) "This is awesome, taking a page from the brilliant Martin Luther (before he got all anti-semitic and weird is his later years)! Hope the Church pays attention, remember Luther REALLY didn't want to start his own church but........"
Me: "Oh you can be sure they're paying attention, but they don't want the general membership to get any ideas." ;)
Him: "It's a pity too, 'cause there are so many great LDS folks out there, and so many beautiful things about the church".
Her: (LDS mutual friend butting in) "I ought to mention at this juncture that it's hard for me to watch you guys hating on something that is so important to me. Could you please hate my church a little less obviously"?
Him: "Wow, it's so weird that you see that as hate".
Her: "This particular post isn't particularly hateful, but overall the general tone of conversation about a church that neither of you belong to is a bit strident".
Her: (again) "If you think about it you might understand why seeing posts of this nature might make me feel personally attacked. I can guarantee there is not a wart on church history that I haven't looked at on a slide under the microscope. Even when I disagree with you on something I do not fill my fb walls up with the disagreement".
Me: "Strident? Sorry, I don't get that. Having been a former LDS member for 22 years does give me some familiarity with the subject. And no, this isn't a personal attack. I make a lot of Catholic posts as well, many much more critical than this. I have never had a Catholic take issue with my posts on Catholicism, or tell me that they felt personally attacked by my observations. Perhaps a danger of identifying too closely with one's personal beliefs is that there seems to be no boundary between a person's own individual identity and their faith. But back to this; I posted about the event as it was obviously important to a lot of people. The ongoing issue of disclosure, or the lack of it, is a serious one for many".
Him: (directed at Her) "Sorry my dear, I really try to support all my LDS friends, in spite of the churches stands on issues that have a direct impact on my life (talk about haters!) but I have a problem with ANY institution that won't take criticism from its members. I know I will never see eye to eye with many conservative or religious types, but I want to at least be able to respect them as worthy adversaries, and right now they need to put their houses in order".
that effectively ended the conversation. At least publicly: I privately messaged my friend and we agreed that yeah, we love "her", but she's in a cult. What are you gonna do?
Call them on their persecution complex when they start crying about how mean people are to them. It's amazing; mutual LDS friend is one of the smartest women I have ever known. She's a sharper tool than I am in so many ways, and yet......she doesn't see the cult for what it is. Funny that she actually engaged us like that; the other Mormons that have gotten their widdle feelings hurted by some of the information I've posted simply passively-agressively unfriended me.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to hear how "Reformation Day" went. I had comments and interest from non-LDS people who had no idea, and appreciated that I was getting this info out there.