I left the Mormon church about 15 years ago. As a result, I lost most of my friends and community. There were/are two women who love me regardless of my religious views, and several men and women who keep me on the radar as a “fellowship” opportunity with hopes of bringing me back to the fold.
I am at peace with my decision to leave and am happy with my spiritual life right now. I love reading and studying various belief systems, and have recently been studying quantum physics and the ideas of Carl Jung. A collective consciousness as a higher power is both appealing on a personal and scientific level.
Leaving the Mormon church was one of the most difficult decisions of my life, and I did not make it lightly. I choose not to “bash” the church or convince any others of the “rightness” of my decision. Suffice it to say, with such easy access to both current and historical information and documents, I found the the Mormon Church’s doctrine, history, and present-day actions and attitudes to be far more damning than anything that Mormon apologists could explain away.
I decided to share this information now because I am weary of receiving messages, visits, and invitations from LDS members who think I have been misled and want to convince me to come back. How dare you impose your beliefs on me under the guise of friendship? I do not try and convince you to leave a misogynistic, racist, and bigoted institution with a history of lies, half-truths, and abuse. I did not send you articles and videos or invite you over to chat about leaving the church. I simply left.
Even my own father realized his job was to love me, not to convince me to “come back”, and he was the most devout member of the LDS church I have ever known. So, if love is good enough for Hank , then perhaps it can be good enough for all of the other devout members out there.
Or, perhaps we could come to a quid pro quo arrangement. I spent upwards of 30 years studying and serving in the Mormon Church. When you put that amount of time and effort into studying the critics and historians of the same, then we can compare notes.
Light and Love,
Big Laura
Big Laura 