|
PT6A posted:To be fair, of my friends who are Muslim, and of the vast majority of Muslims I've dealt with... most people don't actually leave the faith in terms of formally renouncing it, or converting to another religion, even if they stop being observant -- and many will just do whatever they want anyway (drinking alcohol, sex outside of a heterosexual marriage, etc.) according to their own conscience while still identifying as Muslim. So, my guess is that most people who actually identify as "ex-Muslim" are dealing with leaving the more extreme and toxic communities within the religion. While I have no doubt their experiences are absolutely horrific in many/most cases, I don't know it's representative of most Muslims who simply decide to quit following the rules, or were never particularly observant to begin with, especially those not living in countries governed by Islamic law. You technically are in an inactive/non-observant state unless you are 1. Excommunicated 2. Stop going and make it a point to have your name removed from the records of the church Basically most people that stop being Mormon are the inactive/non-observant type. I have quite a few individuals in my wife's family that go to other churches but never had their names removed from the LDS church's records. We always go to Rock N roll church with one Bro-in-Law when we visit in TX. One thing when I served my Mormon mission in Detroit, we were explicitly instructed we couldn't teach the Muslims in Dearborn. It wasn't because it would of been hard to convert, LDS leaders basically said "if one of these individuals decides to convert and their family finds out they could be killed". Church didn't want to be the cause of a death like that. Only way we could teach them was if they proved their extended family was OK with them learning and we had approval from higher ups. I used to take my morning run to a mosque and talk with the local muslims coming out of prayer in the morning. Loved the friendly theological discussions because they knew we weren't going to join their religion and we wouldn't try to push ours. Now the same two ladies from the Jehovah's witnesses that knew where we lived and came by EVERY Saturday at 10am wanting to Bible bash, we had to practice deflecting religion and being nice with them. A thing in Islam most people don't understand is the Koran teaches them to learn about other religions. We gave a lot of free Bibles or Books of Mormon to Muslims. Never offered to teach, but always offered to take out their garbage or clean up their yards. I'm still a mostly-active Mormon (I do love sleeping in on Sundays though). I will try to chime in later in the thread for some viewpoints of someone who still follows the faith. I also was roommates with a bunch of Muslims at BYU (I purposely avoided LDS roommates because they annoyed me). Was great "fun" to see the blatant discrimination there. I'd go to bat for them at the honor code office. Pretty sure my name was on a list of "assholes that interfere on our unjust system of Honor". Literally the BYU honor code office could have someone anonymously call in that :Person X was smoking or drinking" they would have a witch hunt over those tips. Never give students power like that, lots of items like that piled up which led to me leaving BYU. Cheap school, good education but the naive Mormon kids really were tough to deal with. On a sidenote, I took a general ed science class from the BYU Professor who was big into 9/11 was an inside job. I'd sit in the back row and sleep although he was a really really nice guy. That class was still boring as hell. Question for any active/ex-mormons reading the thread: How many of y'all saw the whole Utah Mormon/ Non Utah Mormon divide in attitude/behavior? I live in Utah now but I grew up in the Northwest. Its shocking how back biting and "click-ish" native Utah Mormons can be in their "holier than thou" attitudes. If my wife and I both didn't have really good jobs, we'd have left the state already
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2016 06:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:14 |
|
|
Triggered posted:. Religion is a very personal choice to me that my Dad encouraged I explore and figure out what I want to do for myself. I was inactive for a number of years while exploring other religions. The Universe is chaotic in some senses, but its too well organized in other ways for me to say there isn't some sort of "God" or Higher source of intelligence out there influencing things. I do see why there are atheists out there and agnostic folk though as they have some very valid points. I came back to the LDS faith because it felt what was right for me. I don't really do anything social in the church so the social aspect isn't a big deal for me. I have plenty of family that left the church for their own reasons. My family is very open about religion though. Same with my wife's family, half of her siblings aren't religious or go to other churches. I do take things with a grain of salt and I've gotten in trouble for pushback towards local leaders deciding to make their own rules or preaching stories that are dubious at best. Do I believe the doctrine? Most of it, I still struggle with some items especially those related to historic events. LDS church spins it one way, Anti-Mormons spin it another. Truth lies in the middle, I was a history major so I have to go and find information and verify sources instead of blindly believing a story. There is a lot of misinformation out there from both sides in regards to items like Joseph Smith's plural marriages or his stories of the first vision or even the seer stones. As my atheist buddy jokingly says, if you're going to be religious why wouldn't you want to be LDS? Exaltation for Mormons is eventually becoming a God yourself! Glad I wasn't the only one that referred to Utah Mormons as Utards. They still are Utards. Living in the Utah bubble makes me want to make a few people disappear every once in a while. Seriously I can't believe the naivety I see from some of the local born and raised LDS Utahns. For a Mormon though, I'm pretty out of the norm when it comes to items I firmly stand behind. I was very Anti-Prop 8 while my sister was campaigning to get it passed. I have a firm belief that everyone has their own right to make their choices. Its not my place to tell someone what they have to do and shun them for not being the same as me. Everyone on this earth is different, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. We all can learn and grow from each other and influence one another to do good in this world. If we force our beliefs on others we'll end up in a state like some of these Islamic "caliphates" springing up in Iraq/Syria. Lots of needless hate Mitt Romney is a oval office. Not a fan of him. But I also am a moderate person and hate most Mormon politicians. Thanks dudes for taking more money from big business to screw us over. What is funny is looking at Salt Lake City's political climate. Mormon leaders pulling strings one way, Openly gay Mayor who she just married her partner giving them the political finger. Its entertaining.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2016 18:03
|
|
|
Panfilo posted:Do Mormons understand that being fake nice comes off as really insincere to people? Parts of Utah have some of the highest RX rate for anti-depressants in the country if that gives you an idea.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2016 20:11
|
|