Stop Bashing Mormons thread

yield2me

I heard something funny on Bill Maher the other day. He said that Mormons were like Scientologists but without the cool celebrities. LOL

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

i think mormon religion is pretty dumb even by religious standards, but if thats your thing, i dont care.

anotherclone

I'm reading 'Under the Banner of Heaven' right now. Right now, its talking about the origin of the religion and specifically Mormon fundamentalists. Which I find really interesting in a freakish way. Coincidentally, it is written by John Krakauer (who also wrote 'Into the Wild').

Also, if you do not want to be offended, please do not visit and read this site:

http://www.mormon4president.com

I am not easily offended, so I love this site completely. There is so much wrong with it in a hilarious way, I just don't know where to begin.

jlew24asu

genie wrote:

right, i don't know anything about mormons. so i cannot comment on your statement.

however, i'm very curious to know your reasons. And when you say they are brainwashers, please expand. how do THEY affect YOU in every day life?
so that you would call them a scum.

Personally i would call a scum a person who is involved in some kind of criminal activity, like thieveing, raping, attacking someone for no reason at all.

they dont effect me in everyday life. like I said, I have been to salt lake city a few times and they do not seem to accept outsiders at all.

here is another reason why I dont like them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona

iamsampj

I dated a mormon for 5 years...and I'd say he was a pretty good guy...save some personal issues. he went away on his mission for 2 yrs and came back obsessed w/ marriage and babies...didnt settle well w/ me at 20!! I wouldn't go so far as to generalize that every mormon would be like this.

they do place a strong emphasis on family...which isn't such a bad thing. I will say it was the only church that I've ever been comfortable...not preachy. but, not being baptized into the church, I could only attend a small part of the service. so who knows what they talked about.

nice people. not for me...but to each their own

Kel Varnsen

MrSmith wrote:

i think mormon religion is pretty dumb even by religious standards, but if thats your thing, i dont care.

I don't know about that, I saw that two part documentary on PBS awhile back and I think it is just that Mormonism doesn't really have the advantage that other major religions have of being 1000's of years old so that anything the church refers to as miracles can't be thought of as ancient stories that have been filtered though history. I mean in really, is the idea of an angel giving a guy ancient plates in upstate NY an harder to believe then a burning bush talking to a guy in ancient Egypt?

anotherclone

jlew24asu wrote:

they dont effect me in everyday life. like I said, I have been to salt lake city a few times and they do not seem to accept outsiders at all.

here is another reason why I dont like them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona

I am not a Mormon or even Mormon-friendly. I think they are crazy. But, I believe that Colorado City is actually considered fundamentalist Mormonism. Not all Mormons believe in plural marriage or some of these more extreme things we hear about. The ones that have the more traditional Mormon views (such as plural marriage) are the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists actually do not like many of the things that the more "modern" (for lack of a better word) Mormons do, and that is why they have split off from the church and live in these more reclusive communities.

jeffbr

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I mean in really, is the idea of an angel giving a guy ancient plates in upstate NY an harder to believe then a burning bush talking to a guy in ancient Egypt?

Excellent perspective. That's why I never get how one religion can criticize another for strange beliefs.

jlew24asu

jeffbr wrote:

Excellent perspective. That's why I never get how one religion can criticize another for strange beliefs.

when strange beliefs turn into abusive or dangerous beliefs, it should cause concern.

if you want to praise a statue of a pink elephant, be my guest.

hailhail82

jeffbr wrote:

Works for me. I laugh whenever I see any religionists try to make fun of another religion. They're all wacky.

I just think Catholics are a special breed. They actually believe they're literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. Woohoo!

Well, that is the original interpretation. It's old church doctrine. Most protestant religions happen to have dropped or discontinued discussion of it, but they all believed it at some point.

jeffbr

jlew24asu wrote:

when strange beliefs turn into abusive or dangerous beliefs, it should cause concern.

if you want to praise a statue of a pink elephant, be my guest.

Absolutely. Anyone is free to believe in fairies, ghosts, shadow governments, angles, Santa, Jesus, Mohammed, buddha, the great white buffalo, whatever. As long as they don't try to make their fantasy a state religion, or pass laws to prop up their beliefs I don't really care, and am happy for the comic relief it provides.

genie

jlew24asu wrote:

they dont effect me in everyday life. like I said, I have been to salt lake city a few times and they do not seem to accept outsiders at all.

here is another reason why I dont like them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona

"In January of 2004, the local religious leader, Warren Jeffs, expelled a group of twenty men, including the mayor, and "gave" their wives and children to other men."

wtf? i like how they say women were given away to other men, like some kind of property.

i don't find it to be a good reason to dislike so much mormons for being unfriendly to outsiders. But i won't argue with you, i have no right to.

jlew24asu

genie wrote:

"In January of 2004, the local religious leader, Warren Jeffs, expelled a group of twenty men, including the mayor, and "gave" their wives and children to other men."

wtf? i like how they say women were given away to other men, like some kind of property.

i don't find it to be a good reason to dislike so much mormons for being unfriendly to outsiders. But i won't argue with you, i have no right to.

I shouldnt generalize but I just think the mormon way of thinking takes over innocent minds. like someone said, with their 2-3 year missions. its brainwashing. for the most part, they seem to be a peaceful religion. thats fine by me.

Ahnimus

They are just seriously infected with a bad meme.

genie

jlew24asu wrote:

I shouldnt generalize but I just think the mormon way of thinking takes over innocent minds. like someone said, with their 2-3 year missions. its brainwashing. for the most part, they seem to be a peaceful religion. thats fine by me.

that's alright, i don't like people who brainwash others too

edvedder3779

I was raised in the faith until about 14ish...family is pretty big in the church around these parts, grandfather & uncle were both the equivalent of a bishop/pastor...

JLew - the wiki link refers to the folks in one of the offshoots of the main LDS faith. They are definitely the "fundamentalist" sect, and the main congregation wholeheartedly condemns them & their practices. Warren Jeffs' group does NOT represent mainstream LDS beliefs.

By and large, the LDS folks are good people, at least in the 20+ years of my being involved or associated with them. I left the faith, but I do admire the emphasis on family that is found in a great many of the church's doctrines.

Just my .02...

jlew24asu

edvedder3779 wrote:

I was raised in the faith until about 14ish...family is pretty big in the church around these parts, grandfather & uncle were both the equivalent of a bishop/pastor...

JLew - the wiki link refers to the folks in one of the offshoots of the main LDS faith. They are definitely the "fundamentalist" sect, and the main congregation wholeheartedly condemns them & their practices. Warren Jeffs' group does NOT represent mainstream LDS beliefs.

By and large, the LDS folks are good people, at least in the 20+ years of my being involved or associated with them.

Just my .02...

yea I hear ya. they just really get to me. good people, non violent, all good. but way too controlling of the mind.

and we can also see what the extra side becomes with Jeffs. ah well.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I don't know about that, I saw that two part documentary on PBS awhile back and I think it is just that Mormonism doesn't really have the advantage that other major religions have of being 1000's of years old so that anything the church refers to as miracles can't be thought of as ancient stories that have been filtered though history. I mean in really, is the idea of an angel giving a guy ancient plates in upstate NY an harder to believe then a burning bush talking to a guy in ancient Egypt?

thats just it though. Some Mormon beliefs CAN be proven or disproven. Its prophets CAN be exposed. Where as old religions CAN'T. Jesus and his disciples or whoever might have been total scumbags or true saints, so if someone thinks they are great who can say they are wrong? It happened too long ago to ever really judge. With mormonism thats not the case with some of the characters.

gabers

I thought Bill Maher's comment about Mormons was pretty funny. He said "Mormons are like Scientologists without the celebreties". It kind of sums it up, from all I've read.

I actually knew quite a few Mormons in college (for whatever reason several worked with me at a call center). Almost to a person they were very friendly, but I always felt like there was something there just under the surface I would find uncomfortable. I avoided religious talk. But they do preach marrying young and pro-creating young and often. And they are firm tithers - they give 10% of their earnings to the church.

Vedd Hedd

MrSmith wrote:

thats just it though. Some Mormon beliefs CAN be proven or disproven. Its prophets CAN be exposed. Where as old religions CAN'T. Jesus and his disciples or whoever might have been total scumbags or true saints, so if someone thinks they are great who can say they are wrong? It happened too long ago to ever really judge. With mormonism thats not the case with some of the characters.

Jesus was exectued....

so there you go.