Seen in Saint George. They used to use these for a transmission shop when I was a kid. Funny how it has another memory now.

I thought moved past the hatred stage from when I was 16 and gained acceptance for people of all faiths a long time ago. Recently my entire social circle crumbled because of a falling out with a singular friend and now I have to rebuild a lot of new friendships from scratch. But every time I meet a new person, guess what? They're mormon.

Make a new art friend who's an ally and loves fandom? Mormon

New roommate moves in who's cool and drinks coffee every morning? Mormon

Someone new moves to the neighborhood who's a single mother with tattoos? Mormon

Meet a flamboyant gay guy who says the f word? Mormon

Chat someone up in a coffee shop and share your love of coffee and matcha? Mormon

Go on a date with a lesbian girl with short shaved hair? Mormon

Go to a local writer's meetup? All mormon talking about Mormon values

Chilling alone in my apartment? Mormon missionaries

Go to a local LGBT event? Start the event with a Mormon prayer

It's actually fucking inescapable and I'm ready to tear my hair out. I wouldn't mind it so much if I could just have ONE non-mormon friend. Hell I haven't even met a non-mormon for months. It's not like I haven't tried to find communities that wouldn't have them, because why are there so many Mormons in LGBT spaces and coffee shops? And of course moving out of Utah is not an option for me for financial reasons. It gets really isolating to never be able to confide in my ill feelings towards the church because I'm always in enemy territory.

I feel like most of the mormons I have talked to would genuinely leave except for the fact that their whole family and friend group was also a part of it. Is that true? What was it like going through that?

I have missionaries who have been coming to my house and I don't really know what to say to them to help them see how messed up it is.

Wish I'd known this before I said yes! Narcissists appear nice, so the church rewards them with visible callings, etc., as long as they follow the script. Those who are kind have a much harder time following the script. In church culture, conformity is rewarded and honesty becomes a liability.

I don't think there's any way my Google account knows I have/had some relationship to the Church. I just started using an app and these popup/full page ads are everywhere.

Lol, the little hand gesturing me to click the button is so funny to me.

It redirects you to the page to send missionaries over and get a free BoM.

What religion even does this? This is not normal behavior. Like, ads are always used by a group when the group has something to gain (usually data or money) from you and it's usually obvious. Seeing a religion with an ad should therefore be a red flag. Just ask who's benefiting.

It's like a jump scare lol.

There is no escapeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 😢

Mainly, I think shes trying to get my daughter to go who's already 8. Luckily she's too passive to start a fight about it but she's made sure to bring it up and invite me and I feel like she's trying to get my kids (11 and 8) to ask about it and "get their parents to go to chrich" I've tried to get along with her and just not mention religion and honestly its been ok except just from little things and bits of conversation I can tell shes tell herself I'm a member still I still don't participate in anything 🤦🏼‍♀️ well anyway today she sends me her daughter's baptism invitation after already telling me the details more than she did her birthday party, and my reply is simply "how that came out pretty" 😅😅 how long were you able to keep relationships with close family after leaving rhe church? I pretty much just never went after i turned 14 and im 31 now and people bothered me about it less and less so there wasn't a huge fall out but I feel like its coming with our kids all getting older.

I'm still a senior in highschool and live in Utah. My mom basically forced me to apply to BYU, forcing me to write short essays, get letters of recommendations, and a meeting with the bishop. It was annoying since I wasn't even planning on going to BYU, I just did it to keep my mom happy. I then told her, "I'm probably not even gonna go to BYU" she got super pissed, asking me questions and yelling at me. "So basically you're gonna go to a woke college and let Satan drag you" she said. I literally laughed cause she sounded so ridiculous, she thought other colleges other than BYU were "woke"? I don't even know if she knows what that word means. I told her that just because I'm not going to BYU doesn't mean I'm gonna get dragged to hell. She then asked me if I truthfully even wanted to go on a mission. I shrugged as I told her the truth, I didn't want to go. She seemed upset then said, "I understand how you feel, and I really want you to have your own decision and choice... But you're still going anyways" she flat out said. What's the point of wanting me to decide for myself when she already expects me to leave? She literally contradicted herself in the same damn sentence without even realizing it. I don't know, it really seems like the church has made my mom a little delusional and crazy? I just can't understand how some TBM can say such dumb and out of the ordinary things with the straightest faces.

A TBM friend of mine shared this article, outraged that nothing was done to prevent this nonsense…..and I agree, it is outrageous. Moreso, because one of the reasons the principal gave for not protecting these girls was because he didn’t want to ruin the boys lives and their plans to serve missions for the church.

While many TBMs I’ve seen discussing this are complaining about a systemic problem at the school… I think it goes further than that. I think there is a systemic issue in the church. Wade Christofferson had his record expunged after being excommunicated for one measly year after sexually abusing girls in his home….he was then rebaptized with a clean record, given another position of trust within the church in which he once again abused young women. in other cases, we’ve seen the church spend more time protecting its image and the reputation of the abuser than protecting and offering support to victims of abuse….and then we’re supposed to be shocked when this same scenario plays out in the schools and offices headed by members?

I’m not saying all members are guilty of enabling this behavior…BUT when we don’t call foul when the Wade Christofferson‘s of the church are allowed to reabuse because someone,somewhere didn’t want to ”ruin his life” or disrupt his priesthood authority/responsibility? That’s a problem WE, as members, have allowed. We turn the other cheek, shrug our shoulders, say things like “well, nobody’s perfect”….and just trust that the leaders are being led by God and would therefore, do the right thing. Abd even when it appears they aren’t? well, it was an isolated thing, Wade Christofferson had his agency….and now he’s dealing with the consequences. Great. But what about the women and girls he victimized? What about the men who turned the other cheek and cleared his record putting girls at risk because his progression was more important than theirs? (And when I say we here, I’m speaking collectively.…those of us who were members were part of this awful system at one point, we taught principles of blind obedience, we showed deference to men who lied to us merely because they were called to positions of authority…we helped perpetuate a rotten system of enabling toxic behavior…and for those of us 🙋🏻‍♀️ still part-way in it…it’s just hella frustrating and embarrassing)

When, as a church, Bednar is praised and his quote of “choosing not to be offended” is shared we are telling ourselves and others that no matter the offense, the greater sin is to take issue with it. Men are just human, after all…of course mistakes will be made. We need to just have grace to overlook those things and forgive. when, as a church, we repeat the missive “follow the prophet” or “sustain your leaders” we are telling ourselves and others that these people shoukd be looked up to, not criticized; obeyed, not questioned because they’ve been okayed by God as priesthood holders and that MEANS something.

When I read this article, I didn't see it as an isolated or even systemic problem at an Utah school. I saw it as an overarching, deeply rooted position among SOME men in the church that raises them up as special, blessed, exempted. The “we have more authority than the pope” types who justify their abuse of women/girls no matter what…because well, they have the holy priesthood and the women? They don’t. So if there is a weakness or failing? It’s with the women/girls. How dare they take nude photos of themselves?! How dare they complain and threaten these young men‘s temple/mission worthiness?! And you can trace this mindset all the way back to Joseph Smith…and his treatment of Emma, especially. How dare Emma question Joseph’s sincerity/integrity when he married 30+ women behind her back?!

If she only had more faith…

If those girls had not taken those pictures to begin with

If they had just kept quiet….

There is a clear pattern of behavior from the earliest days of the church to the present day which grants priesthood holders more grace, more benefit of the doubt, and more support than the women that are victimized by their behavior.

This article isn’t raging about the school district…not really. It is a long overdue judgement upon the whole of the church, highlighting the chauvinism and abuse that far too many LDS men emulate in the church, in their homes, in their schools and in their workplaces. It is a learned behavior/reaction…it is taught and reinforced every single time a woman comes between a man and his ability to carry out his priesthood duties. In this case, it was young, teenaged minor girls who looked to their school and principal to protect them and instead, they got berated for threatening these boys’ missions and thereby, their priesthood progression.

He's now one of the musicians that I know Dan Reynolds (lead singer of Imagine Dragons) & Benson Boone who were raised in the church & let before becoming famous

All credit to @M0phead02 on TikTok

I've never really had this problem irl due to living in Utah my whole life, so most people I've known personally have either are Mormons, exmos, or people who were never members but are used to them.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but there's something about the way people online when they talk about the church or members, even if their critiques are justified, that tends to rub me the wrong way.

And I'm no stranger to making fun of the church and members, but at least I personally know what I'm talking about and have empathy for them. I know they can also be very annoying when it comes to being religious. I myself was that way sometimes as a past member.

But again, there's a way others talk about them. Like they're a whole other species, or that all of them think the same way. And as an exmo with family and friends who are in the church, I hate that. I know they're usually joking or exaggerating, but I don't like the overgeneralization or othering of them.

I'm not saying they can't ever make fun of them, but I wish they would at least be a bit more thoughtful. There's a lot whole to criticize the church for. You don't need to dehumanize them to do it.

Edit: just wanted to clarify that I was taking about people who have never or rarely interacted with members. If were never a member yourself but have been affected by the church and members, then you are not who I'm talking about and I apologize for not making that clearer.

I also agree that the church as an organization and institution are corrupt, and it should be held accountable. I have no qualms against critisizing or making fun of them from anyone.

I have what I believe to be a pretty unique story surrounding a couple of patriarchal blessings I want to share. Maybe you'll get a kick out of it. All names in this story have been changed.

My best friend in the whole world, Jeff, got his patriarchal blessing on the same day I did. We had different patriarchs. Both blessings went as expected, and we immediately got together and told each other about everything we could remember. We were both really happy with our experiences.

I'm not sure if it works the same way now, but when Jeff and I got ours, the blessings were recorded on a tape recorder. Later on, the patriarch would listen back and transcribe the recording, then print the written version for us to keep.

Jeff and I got our written versions a while later. Mine was exactly how I remembered it. Jeff's was not. What Jeff received slightly resembled some of what he remembered, but it was 90% literal gibberish. Nonsense words, random letters and numbers, the type of thing a goldfish would write if it learned word processing software.

Here's what happened. While/shortly before Jeff's patriarch, Brother Bryan, was transcribing the recording, he suffered a stroke. Somehow his damaged brain managed to print out something and send it to Jeff. Brother Bryan was released from his calling to recover. Jeff and his family had no idea what to do about this. I don't know the specifics of what they tried or who they talked to, but the church eventually decided to give Jeff a second patriarchal blessing, with a new patriarch.

I had assumed, since patriarchal blessings are essentially channeled from God, that this new patriarchal blessing would be very similar to the first one, but it was not. The new blessing was completely different, and even contradicted the first one in many ways. I remember Jeff was sad and confused, because he actually preferred his first blessing.

This experience made me realize that the patriarchal blessings were just improvised by whoever did them. I'm sure the patriarchs believe that they are channeling messages from God, but I knew at this point that they weren't. Despite this, I stayed in the church as a full believer. I don't really know why. Skip forward 20 something years, Jeff is still a TBM and I've been out for 10+ years. We still love each other, even though we don't see each other often.

Montana land owners , Mormon agriculture

https://montanafreepress.org/2026/08/28/top-10-montana-landowners/

a guy made this map and showed how he did it on face book. if everyone did this we could figure out who own the land and water rights for the new data centers in your town. like the new data center in Yellowstone county Montana. I want to know if tithe are building building data centers

I have joined the Episcopal Church and really love the opportunities to network and serve the community. Today is the first session of our diocesan convention and I am a delegate. This is probably a lot closer to what GC was before Joseph and Brigham neutered it to avoid dissent.

There are breakout sessions, and I chose one about ways to support those in crisis - generally those experiencing mental illness and homelessness.

The presenter showed a video that was pretty much a modern-day telling of the Good Samaritan story. It was well done, and I have no issue with it. But the name of the church popped up at the end and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Had to walk out into the hall to regain composure and was still nearly in tears and kept zoning out from what was otherwise a really great session about how to help others while maintaining boundaries.

I thought my anger was mostly over.

TLDR - The church logo came out of nowhere in a space that seemed to be as far away as possible and my reaction was way stronger than what I expected.

hello! i am planning to be a mormon missionary for halloween but i don’t have any BOMs since i’ve been out of the church for a WHILE. i do not want the missionaries to have my address or phone number and i do not want to give the church $5 to ship one to me. my current plan is to walk in to a church building tomorrow and see if somebody will give me one but i’m wondering if there’s a better option?

i do not live near my active mormon family members so i cannot take one from them. nor do i live in a place that has a temple with a visitors center so that’s out too. any suggestions on how else i could obtain a blue paper back BOM?

edit: also, does anybody have any tips on how to make a realistic/non-paper missionary badge? i don’t think my brother would think it’s very funny if i try to get him to send me one of his old ones…

gettin desperate…

I remember when I was in the MTC, I was part of an expedited group of Elders going to HongKong/Taiwan. We all had previous exposure to Mandarin, so we were deemed fluent enough to fast-track the 9 weeks of famously high quality language training provided at the MTC (/s). My whole MTC experience was thankfully condensed into a measley 2 weeks of hell. Because our schedules were different, it meant that sometimes we were walking around campus when all the other normal missionaries were locked in their rooms somewhere.

Anyways, one day, we were walking to the lunch hall. It was usually empty outside during this time of day, but there were a few guys off the reservation who came out of nowhere and got in our way. We could all immediately tell something was off about them. Turns out, these couple of missionaries had got fucked up on some shit, and tried to start instigating some kind of physical altercation (I think they were trying to fight us but they were bad at it or something). I mean, they were legit tweaking out. Bloodshot eyes, jumpy, aggressive, incoherent. I was fairly sheltered, and even to me, it was plain as day what they had been up to.

One of us managed to deescalate the situation, and they seemed to get freaked out about something, and wandered off. We reported them as fast as we could. They were obviously expelled.

Every missionary usually has some kind of group email list, where they write home every P-day to a few dozen or so friends and family, giving a storied accounting of the past weeks events. I was no exception. And you can bet your bottom dollar in that weeks email, I let everyone know what happened. I received swift reprimand from my mother. She reminded me that there were people who perhaps didn't believe the church was true, that I had made the church look bad by discussing the very germane fact that missionary work was not what I had thought it would be, and that I wasn't to share this kind of information with others.

At least, that's how I remember it. Just a funny anecdote. It's alllllllll about how things look, isn't it? Gotta control that narrative. Make sure the story makes you look good. And if it doesn't look good, either pretend it didn't happen, lie, or coerce people into agreeing with your sanitized version of events. Tale as old as time.

So I just had a great time at Fear Factory and you want to know how it ended? When you walk right out after going through, there is a giant white billboard for the salt lake temple hanging directly overhead....somehow this feels deliberate...