Can we discuss Mormons?

Forgot to add if you're a former or current Mormon, please chime in.

Let’s see what David Archuletta thinks

He was a 30 year old virgin

About a third of my family is Mormon. Note: I don't keep in touch with most of my family, but for reasons entirely unrelated to that, so I think I can provide a relatively fair perspective. I also never became a member myself.

First, you have to understand that most Mormons are not of the polygamist, live away from civilization type. Yeah, they excuse their past leaders who supported that, but the main Mormon church has not been into polygamy for some time now.

Anyway, one thing that may surprise people about Mormons is that they are generally pro-education (both Mormon boys and girls are encouraged to get college degrees), pro-"earning a good living", etc. The combination of that, living a drug free lifestyle, and the fact that they are told not to take on debt has the result that many Mormon families are pretty financially stable compared to a lot of Americans. Not all rich Romneys, but upper middle class.

Lest you think I'm just kissing Mormon ass, there's a lot of downsides to it. They are far more "You're either in or you're out" than most Christian sects. Their whole life is built around their religion. I don't just mean the rules like no sex outside of marriage or "suggestions" like no caffeinated beverages. I mean their free time is spent doing activities with other church members. Need to move? You're going to ask young, strong elders for help. Want a recipe? It's going to be a lady from the ward. Group events are with other members of the Church. Their entire social circle is "the church". Even basketball games are played inside their wards! It's cultish, but not quite at the level of a true cult... probably. Anyway, that's the reason many Mormons struggle to give it up even if they know it's not for them. Giving it up means giving up EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.

As for the gay thing, their Church is almost comically alway trying to have their cake and eat it too. For example, their university, BYU, has a section for "LGBTQ+ resources" on their website, but a gay dude can't kiss another gay dude hand on campus. Contradictions like that are everywhere. My guess is that there is a lot of infighting going on behind the scenes between the younger old guys and the older old guys over that. Of course, how that fighting and inconsistency gels with being the modern revelation of the word of god is beyond me...

Yeah, I've heard that they basically center their life around the church. I did hear once that if you wanted to work or do business in Utah you had to be Mormon because they like to keep the business and money within the church (does sound culty) but I doubt that's true especially outside SLC with bar owners, etc. Hell, Baptist megachurch members here do the same.

Look up soaking.

Mormonism, like most evangelical-esque forms of Christianity, relies heavily on the superiority of men and unquestioning of authority figures which forms the perfect breeding ground for schemes, misrepresentation, manipulation and outright fraud. Due to the strong societal pressures in Mormon-dominated cities/states, a lot of it goes unreported and unprosecuted. The LDS church maintains a separate officially unaffiliated law firm for plausible deniability whose sole purpose is to take in reports and cases of white collar (and other more heinous crimes like child sexual exploitation) and bury them before the authorities have time to find and prosecute the criminals.

A friend of my sister, a good practicing Mormon family, fell prey to one of these schemes. A member of their ward conned them into taking their entire life savings, including their kids' college funds and mortgaging their house, and "investing" it in a "no-lose" proposition that, of course, was nothing but a Ponzi scheme. They lost literally everything. And the kicker was that when the crook was caught, the father of the family didn't want to testify against his "brother" until the cops threatened him with prosecution for aiding and abetting this guy in the millions of dollars he stole. That's but one example of how fucked up the Mormons are.

A joke a formerly-Mormon friend told me goes like this: "Why do you never take just one Mormon fishing? He'll drink all your beer."

I keep up with ex-Mormons on their subreddit regularly and the whole thing is slowly imploding, with the wards merging and closing everywhere. Still richer than God, though. Don't be deceived by their friendliness, there's terrible cruelty underneath for anyone who dares leave their cult. Just look at the long letters they write to their "unruly" gay kids, putting their obviously nonsense religion over their parental love. It's basically their whole personality.

They recently bought The Kirtland Temple from their more liberal (and near broke) Community of Christ offshoot for $192 million, which left my favourite YouTube lecturer in tears, for which I'll never forgive them. They made this kind gay pastor cry, who does that?

A "religion" founded by a con man who told everyone he was talking to white salamanders hiding in his hat and holding golden plates... what could possibly go wrong?

I've read quite a bit about Joseph Smith and the man was a total nutcase and con artist. It's incredible that a whole religion was built around him. He was a complete fraud.

The bizarre thing about the Franke case is that the con this time was a female who even brainwashed the husband into leaving the wife. Apparently, he had some porn issues the female con told him to work on justifying separating him from wife and kids. Weird for a patriarchal religion.

Yeah, Smith was nuts but Brigham Young was worse. A murdering thug.

It is a cult. They give me the same vibe as Scientology except even whiter and richer

They're currently busy losing their shit over David Archuleta posting a video yesterday saying he's left their cult for good. One endless meltdown on Twitter, to say nothing of the comments on his Insta.

Every single Mormon I've known ( at different ages/places of my life) are either individually or as a family the most FUCKED UP people I've ever encountered. Strong "moral values"? Family-centered faith? Strictly observant members of the Church's strict/rigorous dogma? Believe me- those same members ( or individuals in the family) is secretly drinking like a fish, watching slasher porn, or reigning hell down on the other individuals in their home.

On two separate occasions with two different Mormon families I've known in the past few years both either outright disowned/threw out their gay under-18 children or subjected them to the most fucked up psychological treatment it drove the kids to the point of Suicide. BTW, in both families substance abuse was rampant by the parents - the mom of of the one family was a chronic alcoholic who specialized in picking kids up from school dead drunk ( as in driving). The other set of parents kept the neighborhood dealer hopping like a bunny so they could get stoned behind closed doors. Meanwhile both were highly opinionated on the shortcomings of Society.

Another Mormon family I knew as a youth, was so oppressive in their adherence to church doctrine, the mother and girls of the family were always made to walk BEHIND the males of the family ( including the youngest 6 yr old son.) The Father was a total asshole who lived to start neighborhood disputes on everything to "whose lawn the tree leaves fell on", to knocking on neighbors doors and bitterly complaining about the heathen-us influence of the other kids playing in the street with their offspring. (I got this treatment once showing a doll to one of the sons, shit- my father cursed the Mormon dad in BOTH English and Spanish. Vile.

Today, abuse both financial and sexual is so rife in the church at every level that, it is rivaled only by the offenses of the Roman Catholic Church. They are barely keeping a lid on it. A few years ago, the Church was found to have illegally defrauded members to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars when a Mormon charitable foundation was discovered to be nothing more than a slush fund for church leaders to finance church investments - for pure profit.

Cult doesn't even begin to describe it- it follows the pattern of strict indoctrination, aggressive recruitment, isolating members from other communities, etc and general brain washing. One of their most visible members- Marie Osmond, rather than support her gay son, stood by the church even when the son committed suicide. Today her donations and vocal support for the LDS is just as strong as they ever were.

I don't care, if they have pretty smiles on their faces, have nice manners in public, and finance and organize endless activities to keep the kiddos and 'homemakers' busy. Underneath it all, is a hypocritical, corrupt, and ultimately destructive.organization that has literally destroyed the lives of many.

Most Mormon women are educated, but the expectation is that they stay home once they start popping out kids, which they are expected to do right away.

Under the Banner of Heaven was eye opening. Even though the mainstream Mormons claim to have booted the fundies, I still think some of them quietly support that shit.

Mormon names are hilarious. These aren't even close to thr worst tho

Ransom and Rafter?

LDS has become a hedge fund masquerading as a religion.

They take tithing very seriously.

I'm blanking on the correct term for it, but I've heard of a religious philosophy that states it's okay to cheat and swindle people outside of your church because they're bad people anyway. Is this a real thing and, if so, is it true that some Mormons live by it?

R20 bleeding the beast is the practice of cheating the government. Don't know if it applies to individuals.

Just in time for DL's favorite ex-Mormon's new song. Stream Hell Together so he can afford better songwriters.

My family on my mom's side are all devout Mormons. My mom was and had us all baptized into the church but the only time we had to actually attend was when they were paying our rent or bills because charity comes with conditions when it comes from the Mormons. I grew up in Utah and their main concern is about appearances. Abuse of all kinds is rampant in Mormon homes but as long as things appear okay then thay is all that matters. This is why Utah had the highest rate of prozac prescription the 90s because Mormon women medicate themselves to deal with it.

The men are taught early on they hold the priesthood for their families and are the central authority figure. Women are taught to be demure and "keep sweet".

I hate the church. They are vile and evil and being nothing good to the world. I'm just grateful that I kept on the peripheral because my mom didn't really buy into it too deeply.

Mormon church breeds perfect liars and narcissists. They're the stepford wives of religion always smiling in your face acting like they're just like you but they manipulate and lie to you every time. Mormon men past and present believe they're entitled to things because god says so and they're narcissists. That's why so many of them go into politics or entertainment. All of them are socially stunted and the cracks show once they leave their church bubble and get checked in the real world.

No spontaneous blowjobs for Mormons wearing magic underwear.

First of all, they are not Christians. No hatred, just a fact. I learned that from their guided tour in SLC. They may be “Christian like,” but their unique beliefs: Jesus came to the New World, their own Bible, magic underwear, having a prophet, beliefs about Blacks, Missouri as the promised land, the golden tablets, caffeine weirdness, etc. really set them apart. Compared to Christian fundamentalists, they’re not terrible on LGBT issues. I also was shocked when Romney was able to win primaries in the Sowth given their beliefs that Mormons aren’t Christians. I usually like the ones I met IRL. I’m not Mormon and there are no Mormons in my family. I always chat the young men on bikes up if they approach me.

Partner's father knocked up a woman, she had twins, he hid the issue and the children were put up for adoption.

Fifty-five years later they made contact through DNA matches. They were raised Mormon. It is so obvious how troubled they and their children and even grandchildren are. The Mormon cult operates in the West - particularly in Utah but the taint spreads through numerous states - as a theocracy. These relations are miserable, emotionally stunted, materialistic, feel like they're always under surveillance (they are), up-tight and pretty much psychologically disordered all around. None are happy. Lousy marriages abound. Women are passive-aggressive (Daddies rule the house.) controllers. It's ghastly to see them tied into knots. The innate resemblances to family lines are there - certain interests, skills, and ways of looking at things - but there's no sense of natural development or peace.

The threat of shunning is strong, and the punitive nature of the cult constantly tears at their self-esteem and confidence. AND, of course, the specifics of the cult's "beliefs" are absurd, but that goes for almost all religions. But not all religions are mind-controlling cults. We see many parallels with $cientology.

R26 They're actually worse than fundamentalists on LGBT issues. The only reason they're putting on a front for the public now is because they were losing members to suicide because actual doctrine puts homosexuality one step under murder.

About 5 years ago, the Mormons were caught saying that the children of a gay couple couldn't attend "primary" (what they call the weekly after school church propaganda lessons held in the local ward houses, usually right next to or within walking distance of local elementary schools). Young Mormons immediately protested, and began leaving the church in droves. The church went into damage control, but it scared the bejesus (ha!) out of them.

They officially "tolerate" gays, but clearly on the surface only; the story posted here last week about the BYU indoctrination class showed that. What Mormon kids don't realize is that the church isn't going to change doctrine just because the world has moved on. Church elders have no problems spreading lies and speaking out of both sides of their mouths, and eventually, the kids who stayed based on promises of tolerance and acceptance will be sorely disappointed when they at long last realize the truth: the Mormon "church" is all a lie. It's not a church, it's a cult masquerading as a business. An enormously profitable business at that; and don't think for one second that it is guided by the principles of the faith... unless the faith condones doing anything to make a buck (and I mean [italic]anything[/italic] ).

R14 Thank you for telling the harsh but necessary truth about how bad it is. All or nothing/black and white thinking is the only way in this cult. It's an entire organization of generational abuse and trauma that the rest of us have to deal with when some of them leave the nest and start coming into their own as people in the normal world. I've had to hand hold a couple men I dated through this but eventually got tired of being a savior for a grown man. They're emotionally behind the rest by a good 10 years.

Net worth $265 Billion. Just to keep that in context, net worth Catholic church $26 Billion

The family who lived next door when I was growing up was Mormon. They were very nice people, smart and well-read. They were very religious but it wasn't something they brought into every conversation and they never tried to convert us. They were actually very private about their faith. Can you imagine a group of Evangelicals exercising that level of restraint? It bums me out when people trash Mormons because I had such a positive experience with this family. Mormons are about 1% of the population.

I love mormons. They’re always so friendly and well mannered

They're cultlike, but they can't hold a candle to the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Do they still drink postum?

1%? Are you sure about that? There’s a huge Mormon temple not far from my house that was built a few years ago in my small town. I was so surprised. We have Mormons around here? And that place is just massive.

I think her husband should have got in some trouble too, he was there for part of the time this was happening

The church is absolutely abysmal with regards to gays. The high suicide rate among teens in Utah in part can be directly attributed to the church. If you read the local obits as I make a habit of doing you'd be appalled at the # of favorite single uncles "passing away" in their twenties and thirties.

Yes, R37. He had to know what was going on.

They seem to adore new social media and technology. They are all over Tiktok.

The Osmonds, probably the most high profile Mormon family, imploded. Divorce, money problems, abuse…it’s all there. There’s a documentary where the touring members of the family were interviewed in Branson. All of them seemed miserable.

Marie has her problems but in the end, she seems the most successful and down to earth member of the family.

You will never see a Mormon church in the hood.

I'm an atheist now but converted to Mormonism in my youth. Critics can say what they want, but the theology of Mormonism is genius. The whole premise is that eternal life means progression into godhood. This is the religion's real appeal and why its members are so loyal. Who wouldn't wanna be a god? If you're a creative guy, the possibilities would be endless. Well that's what I found attractive about it but my hard dick got in the way.

Joseph Smith was a straight up genius who tied up all the loose ends of Christianity and made it into a compelling philosophy of existence.

Too bad it's all theory with no proof.

They're image obsessed and keep up with everyone around them to try to compete. Lying for the good of the church is taught as a good thing and they lie so much they can't keep up with the lies even out of the church. Beware the ones who turn loving or hating this doomsday cult into their personality.

Everyone, please ignore everything you've seen and heard about the Mormon church. All of the abuse, all of the testimonials from ex-Mormons online.

Because R32 once had some friendly neighbors who were Mormon.

Fucking idiot.

Yes, r36. If you live in an area with a lot of Mormons then it will feel like the country is full of Mormons. They are a tiny minority in the US.

r46 There are almost as many Mormons as Jews in the U.S. There are plenty of Mormons.

Correct, r46. Mormons make up about 1% of the population and Jews make up about 2%. They are both tiny minorities.

Whenever I hear Utah I automatically think Mormonville. I'm actually surprised when I meet someone from Utah who's not Mormon.

Yes, r47, but the Jews are funnier and make better movies.

r50 And there's the whole Illuminati world bankers conspiracy thing with Jews too. 🤣

Can't argue with that, r50