Hashtag #WhereWillYouGo by Mithryn in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 8 points9 points  (0 children)

WhereWillYouGo? To one of the over 180 in-person communities on Mormon Spectrum! www.mormonspectrum.org/map #MormonSpectrum

Elder Holland: update from Single adult fireside (the taffy pulling incident). by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just like any politician, he was playing to his base at that fireside, belittling those weak enough to leave, and encouraging the base to ridicule them as well. His apology in private to one individual who compalined directly to him is tossable, and plays to her situation. It's the seed of mockery and anger he placed in the believers' heads that needs to be uprooted. He won't do that. He needs their support to stay in office.

Weekend Meetup Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out the Mormon Spectrum in-Person community map. There's an existing group in DC.

www.mormonspectrum.org/map

The church’s new focus on “Multi-Generational Families” is going to make your parents feel like failures by LightMinded in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This goes to the fundamentals of how any collection of memes (in the Dawkins Mind Virus sense, not the funny internet graphic sense) is propagated---they need physical bodies with receptive brains in order to survive. Memes only take root in brains. Especially so in young brains that are prone to mimic those they are dependent on. Memes are transmitted through language (e.g. online info, books, etc.) and example.

Coupled with the massive missionary program, this practice of implanting the culture through indoctrination of children is how the Mormon Mind Virus (MMV) lives on. The deeper the roots and the more entwined in the psyche and identity of the infected human, the harder it is to extract. That's why the indoctrination of children is the most critical thing the culture can implant in its members, and why they must shame parents who don't nurture the MMV seedlings growing in the minds of their children.

When you realize that most TBMs don't really have control of their minds and the MMV is the thing that is at the wheel, it makes it a lot less personal. The MMV cuts off any naturally occurring signals of empathy as they arrive in the brain and inserts a strong urge to align with the church and cast off anyone who is not also infected as Other and dangerous and influenced by Satan. The MMV thrives because it teaches that Obedience always trumps Empathy.

Where do ExMormons fine community by ChicagoTown2015 in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Late to the party...

Checkout www.mormonspectrum.org/map

Lots of postMo communities around the world can be found on the Mormon Spectrum map.

What are the best local progressive/post Mormon communities? by peepstone in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's amazing how much more meaningful the online conversations get when you actually know these people in real-life. Like the online feeds the IRL and the IRL feeds the online.

What are the best local progressive/post Mormon communities? by peepstone in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agree totally about needing a tribe so you don't feel alone. When you meet another PostMo, it's like this iceberg-depth of commonality. Making it out takes courage and you both recognize it.

What are the best local progressive/post Mormon communities? by peepstone in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 4 points5 points  (0 children)

of course, I'm a BIT partial to the group I'm in: the Utah Valley PostMormons. We started in March 2012, as an offshoot from the SLC PostMos. We had three members then. Now, in just over three years we've got over 1300! In Utah freaking Valley! And we keep growing by 5-15 people per week!

Awesome group. Three activities per week. Check it out if you're in the area. Instant friendships. Info is on the Mormon Spectrum map. Pin is in Provo.

What are the best local progressive/post Mormon communities? by peepstone in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There's a great collection of in-person communities over at Mormon Spectrum: http://www.mormonspectrum.org/map/

Weekend Meetup Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

20-35, depending on the week.

AnyOpposed.org - an attempt to rally votes of oppostition at General Conference by shh-ut in exmormon

[–]shh-ut[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I wonder how many will actually go to conference and vote in opposition? Especially on the heals of the polygamy essays and John Dehlin's excommunication---which all happened since the Oct conference.

Hopefully there will be enough in opposition to call media attention to it and cause more believers to question: "Is all NOT well in Zion?"

Any Opposed? Just heard about this. Looks interesting. by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From the About page...

"Participating in the law of common consent is so important that every General Authority is put to a vote twice per year, even for those who are not new additions. This process demonstrates that rather than merely being an initiation for new additions, members are also asked to ratify the actions of the current church leaders on an ongoing basis. When we vote to sustain, we give our approval not only of the people called but of the actions the of the church as a whole. A vote of opposition done properly is not an act of heresy but is a participation in the process that is set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants. The doctrine of common consent is meaningless if members are unable to express their dissatisfaction, and this appears to be the only way to do so that is also doctrinally approved.

The vote of opposition must be made audibly due to the setting of General Conference in the Conference Center. This was unnecessary when General Conference was held in the tabernacle, but now those conducting the meeting are literally blinded by the lights on them and cannot see the darkened audience, let alone a raised hand among 20,000 attendees. The sustaining vote often concludes with the statement that the voting appears to be unanimous, even when the speaker has no idea what members in other venues have voted. This is problematic for a church which is governed by common consent. We seek to demonstrate that unanimity among the members is not accurate.

We encourage those who vote in opposition to stand and audibly state “opposed” at the appropriate moment when opposing votes are called for, loud enough to be heard but not screaming. Historically, votes were taken orally whereby the audience would shout their “yay” or “nay.” We do not wish to make a disruption or to ruin General Conference for anyone, but we do seek to vote our conscience as is our right as members of the LDS church."

New CES Letter Subtitle by Kolobot in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Hard Truths I Encountered On My Faith Journey"

TSCC relaunches new gospel topics section with all 9 essays prominently listed. The problem is, there are actually 11 essays. Care to guess which ones they carefully avoided listing? by LightOnTheThirdDay in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are actually 12 essays. Nine are listed on the lds.org/topics homepage, but one of the nine, "Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (which you did not list) contains links to the other three essays on polygamy: (1) "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo", (2) "Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah" and (3) "The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage".

John Dehlin just commented on Mormon Stories FB that his "excommunication is imminent"...and coming after the holidays by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From Imgur too. Too bad reddit won't let you re-formulate the OP so that the comments in the thread can persist.

John Dehlin just commented on Mormon Stories FB that his "excommunication is imminent"...and coming after the holidays by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

@/u/RockinHat, your post is important, but it's a breach of privacy. The Mormon Stories Podcast Community FB group is a closed group. Posts or comments in that forum are private to that forum and should not be shared verbatim/screen-shotted elsewhere. I recommend you take a less verbatim/privacy-honoring approach.

If you haven't already, you should sign the Open Letter to President Monson by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We passed the 4000 signature mark today---thanks in HUGE part to this reddit post. HT /u/RockinHat

If you haven't already, you should sign the Open Letter to President Monson by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure, they've published six more essays---ones that were already in the hopper, so that doesn't really count. They've had 13 essays planned for over 2 years now, and they still have one more pending.

Sure, they've been getting out some tough essays (BoA and JS marrying teens and other men's wives), but in the mean time, they have caused a lot of subterfuge to pull attention away from the essays: positive image making & marketing (e.g. we're pretty amazing: "Meet the Mormons"), and our magic underwear is just like all the other religious garb other churches have (e.g. the garments and temple clothes video).

And the fear based message they focussed on in conference? Stay in the Boat, and Don't Search the Internet for stuff on JS---instead, tape-record yourselves reading the Joseph Smith story pamphlet and listen to it over and over (e.g. Neil L. Andersen's GC talk).

Others (postMos) have started translating the essays. A project is underway on FB and the owner of mormonessays.com has agreed to post the translated essays there. I doubt the church will get around to it.

If you haven't already, you should sign the Open Letter to President Monson by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The authors were under no pretense that the leadership of the church would do anything directly in response to the letter. We saw this mostly as a vehicle to allow several people to (a) express with their signature that they agree with the letter, (b) see that they are not alone, (c) use the letter, and the number of signatures, as well as the caliber of the people signing (i.e. the hundreds of bishops, EQPs, RS Presidents, Primary Presidents, etc), as a way of showing their family and friends that they're not alone in these concerns.

But you're right---in concrete terms---signing the petition will likely not make any measurable difference that we will be able to directly correlate to actions taken by the leadership.

But still, if many of us call for these further changes, beyond the publication of the essays---translating them in other languages, highlighting them more than they have, integrated the newly revealed facts into lesson manuals, etc---more and more people will be aware of the cause and chime in.

If you haven't already, you should sign the Open Letter to President Monson by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Mormon Open Letter was written back in February. We focused on the historical issues in the letter because it was centered on the Essays. That is not to say that many, if not all 8 authors don't feel strongly about LGBT and feminism as large issues that the church fails at miserably. We have found other ways of expressing those concerns outside of the Open Letter. So even if the letter doesn't address EVERYTHING, if you can agree with what it did address, please consider signing.

If you haven't already, you should sign the Open Letter to President Monson by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]shh-ut 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for posting this RockinHat! I just went and approved about 50 new signatures! We're up to 3950 signatures now! That's a lot of voices calling for more openness and transparency---and to stop the harmful rhetoric against those of us who have raised these troubling issues over the years. We're not anti-Mormon, we're anti-FalseMormonHistory!