Never being short on myopic arrogance and plain old ignorance, many many Mormons believe the only hope for raising decent alcohol-free, drug-free, sex-free, non-swearing, good, respectful kids is in the Mormon church. (Never mind the bad kids raised in the church, right?)

I was reminded of the stupidity of this at lunch today. I was eating at a restaurant patio when a group of eleven teens came out and pulled some tables together. Except for a couple of above-the-knee dresses, they could have passed for Mormons. They were probably from the Church of Christ or Methodist churches up the street, or the Presbyterian church a few streets over. They were wholesome, well behaved, with no tattoos or needle marks. One of them asked politely if he could take one of the unused chairs at my table.

But, well, they were lighthearted instead of shamefaced and somber, so that's a terrible sin. And they don't go to seminary or other LDS indoctrination sessions, so they might as well be criminals and whores.

Stray Mutt writes above: "Never being short on myopic arrogance and plain old ignorance, many many Mormons believe the only hope for raising decent alcohol-free, drug-free, sex-free, non-swearing, good, respectful kids is in the Mormon church."

In my experience, mormon kids are the best at being bad. Why? They learn to lie, to be sneaky as a survival skill. It is not humanly possible to live up to, nor by the rules of the mormon church/community without going completely bonkers. Therefore, mormon kids learn to be "bad" while appearing to be "good." Practice makes them better at this. It's a skill developed over time.

What the LD$ Church actually teaches quite well is that appearances matter more than substance, and that the best way to deal with rules is to find ways around them -- ways that are undiscoverable by Bishop, parents and those who have gone mormon bonkers.

"...with no tattoo or needle marks..."

Pretty judgmental with that wording. I have numerous tattooed, in fact a full sleeve and working on more and I have never ever inserted a needle in my body for drugs. Unless you meant needle marks caused by bad tattooing. Just because someone has a tattoo does not make them bad.

it's called irony.

In that sentence I was speaking as a judgmental Mormon, the kind who imagines all non-LDS kids to be heroin addicts, rapists, murderers and servants to Satan.

I have tattoos myself. I once smoked a joint. That's the extent of my recreational drug use.

Ah, gotcha. Funny how people out for so long can jump right back and mimic that judgmental mindset. Scary really...

Yeah. Heaven forbid there should be any decent people outside TSCC.

I remember having the mindset as a teenager that I was one of very few good youngsters on the earth ... and as a result I was probably judgmental and downright mean to any non-member kids I met.

Appearances are deceiving. Ask my dog. I took him for a walk and we passed a regular looking man and my dog growled and barked at him. Another block down we passed a group of kids with tattooes and street clothes outside smoking. He walked by peacefully looking at them and trusted them instantly. Hm. Dogs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 09:28AM by suckafoo.

I thought it was common knowledge that children raised in a very repressive religious environment always turn out to be the wildest ones. See also: Footloose.

My parents did everything they could to keep me from having non-LDS friends and tried to force friendships between me and the other Mormon girls my age.

My non-mormon friends: Honor roll students, heads of the "prom promise" committee (kids make pledges not to drink or have sex on prom night), honest, hard working kids.

My mormon "friends": Doing drugs behind their parents backs, skipped classes all the time and every single one was getting to at least 3rd base with their boyfriends.