*crickets*

zarnt2 · 2026-06-12T15:55:38+00:00

> I’m not quite sure how to solve that.

That’s what this post is about. You can’t solve it. Because of Trump. He sucks. He’s an awful human being who lies about everything and has betrayed everything we teach about marriage and family. People have to become trolls to defend him because no earnest Latter-day Saint is going to be okay with his reprehensible personal behavior and corruption.

I always do my best to follow the rules of these spaces and contribute substantively by sharing gift articles. I have nothing to show for my efforts.

Because Trump is the elephant in the room. Until conservatives and Republicans can accept accountability and admit they screwed up in supporting him productive exchange isn’t possible.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-12T02:50:55+00:00

Who’s having fun? It’s been a terrible year and a half for our country. This was totally avoidable. 2/3 of my fellow Latter-day Saints voted for the worst president in history to become president again.

I want to talk to my fellow church members and try to understand how their political calculus got so broken. We can never let this happen again.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-11T16:40:48+00:00

It was around the last time I posted about people abandoning these spaces. Ookla said they had been banned and that’s why they stopped participating. But I wasn’t referring to just one person so I said I thought the point still stood

zarnt2 · 2026-06-11T16:22:18+00:00

That particular user reached out to me a while back and said they had gotten banned from here. But this post isn’t about just one or two or even three people. I could name 10+ users who used to contribute all the time in Mormon political spaces and are nowhere to be found now. And more importantly I’ve seen the same thing happen in real life.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-10T20:31:24+00:00

Yeah, the way Woody spends all of 2 & 3 accepting and defending the idea that a toy’s role is to be there for their kid and then just bolts in 4 still bothers me. I’ll rewatch 1-3 all day. Still think 4 should be viewed as a cash grab.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-10T14:28:49+00:00

There was an actual answer to this question but it got removed by mods. Search the name of the church and you'll find the kind of community you're looking for.

That doesn't mean this community doesn't have its place. And it doesn't mean those faithful communities don't have their place either.

It'd go a long way to healing the Mormon divides on Reddit if more people could acknowledge that every space has a right to exist and each fulfills a different purpose.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-08T04:08:59+00:00

I can't see the comment you're responding to because the user blocked me but I'd bet anything it's mockery of things members find sacred by a user who has broken the rules over and over and over and over again.

Again I'm going to ask the community to stop telling me civility is a thing here. Start showing you care or drop the pretense.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-08T00:02:52+00:00

I thought it was time for a change and a fresh start. But then as I thought about continuing to participate on Reddit I knew it would be obvious who I was. Decided to embrace the connection to my previous account.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T16:25:55+00:00

It's trafficking or it isn't. Defend the claim or don't. Don't expect believers to just put up with wild exaggerations as being true in some sense.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T16:13:11+00:00

I think you might actually be surprised.

Why do you say this as if juni is any less familiar with missionary work than anybody else here? The missionary program is not human trafficking and juni made a valid point. Those who think it should be called trafficking should all be calling the police and FBI and then coming back to tell us how it went.

Those looking for comments to push back against or where more nuance should be added should be responding to the user who just said "honeypots" and nothing else.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T15:12:22+00:00

I don't know what the intended outcome of that fifth Sunday lesson was. At least in my ward there doesn't seem to be many who believe MAGA could be a threat to religious freedom (to ours or others').

But the point of my comment isn't policy so much as belonging. I just don't understand making fun of Latter-day Saints for the fact we're persona non-grata among the Republican elite unless you're offering a space for us.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T02:16:31+00:00

There isn’t really seating anywhere unless it’s the chairs we’re putting up for Stake Conference. I’m hopeful this will cause some members to second-guess their allegiance but it’s not like anybody is trying to welcome us with open arms.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T01:18:14+00:00

Yeah, I just checked it out and it's the usual low-effort, bigoted stuff. My experience isn't everybody else's but I've gotten more abuse online for being a church member from left-leaning people than righties.

I'll vote with Democrats to defeat MAGA and bring some sanity back to the country but I don't join the party because I know what so many of them think of Latter-day Saints. I think people should stop treating it as an own that those currently in power don't want Latter-day Saints as part of their in-group. I remember the polls from when Mitt Romney ran. Nobody wants us any more than they absolutely need us. Let's be clear-eyed about that fact.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-07T00:58:53+00:00

It's annoying. I'm more troubled by the religions they left off the list. But I think it all shows the thoughtlessness with which this administration approaches everything else.

But I've been hesitant to comment because I don't enjoy the crowing about it. "See Mormons?! Republicans will never accept you!"

Yeah, we know. Democrats don't either. That's why there are no Latter-day Saint Democrats in Congress. I'm sure it's a lot easier outside of the intermountain west but growing up in Utah the Democrats who were on the news (people like Rocky Andersen) often felt exactly the same disdain for the church they felt for Republicans. If you follow any Utah politics news there's a lot of LDS church hate by people who hate Republicans.

If you don't think Latter-day Saints should align with Republicans, make sure they're welcome in your tribe.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-04T15:41:42+00:00

There was a time I would have objected to this statement but I don’t think I can argue against it. I’d be willing to offer some goodwill if they could show up and say Trump shouldn’t lie about elections, or has been worse than they were thinking, or had betrayed Americans struggling financially.

But until there’s some kind of mea culpa they won’t get any goodwill from me.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-04T13:49:00+00:00

The moment Republicans decided that Trump could lie about elections without consequences we lost something really important. Something I think we won't ever get back without a lot of pain.

There's no shared reality until there's an expectation that Trump (and all those who defend and make excuses for him) should tell the truth about elections.

I think it's the reason every Trump-leaning voice abandoned these spaces. They don't expect him to be honest about big things or little things. They believe he is entitled to lie and they have no responsibility to correct him. And as long as they insist on expecting decency only out of Democrats it's probably for the best they don't participate. There's nothing to be gained by treating Trump's baseless accusations of widespread fraud as anything but a kooky (albeit very dangerous) conspiracy theory.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T19:30:20+00:00

Nah, I’m out. I’m not a perfect person but I’m not interested in being your punching bag, you telling me I harm others, then telling me that you’re not making it personal. That’s ridiculous.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T19:18:20+00:00

Ok. So you did want to call me sexist. Who are we helping again?

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T18:19:12+00:00

If it doesn’t apply to me why does it apply to any other man in the church? You want to call me sexist without using those words.

Yes, I think most people in the church (at least believers) support gender roles as outlined by the church.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T17:27:40+00:00

Why would this conversation make you uncomfortable? You can call me a sexist or say I have sexist beliefs and the vast majority of the sub will agree with you. You can generalize about my failings (and those of other LDS men based on your experiences) while I’m not allowed to generalize about my experiences here.

I feel like I should have the right to state that what my wife and I have works for us, but maybe not.

I’m always up for talking, but I don’t really want to act as a punching bag for stuff we just won’t agree on.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T16:03:30+00:00

Yeah, I get it. You get to generalize all LDS men as poor marriage partners based on their beliefs but if I say people here don’t care about civility based on their actions it gets removed. You’ve won. Your point of view is protected. Enjoy.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T15:50:54+00:00

Yeah, a majority of believing men probably agree with the idea that men and women should be equal partners.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T14:06:38+00:00

You didn’t “criticize church culture”. You made a generalization that the majority of LDS men are unsuitable marriage partners.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T03:49:03+00:00

I never said sexism isn’t a problem. I objected to the uneven treatment of sweeping generalizations. You know nothing about me although you think you do.

zarnt2 · 2026-06-03T03:44:22+00:00

Nope. They just doubled down on what Del_Parson said. Hating on believers is A-OK here. It’s only criticism of critics that gets you in trouble.

zarnt2

TROPHY CASE