Hi, I'm Doug
I was a Mormon, but I've since repented of that.
About me
Updated: August 27, 2024
I was born into a devout Mormon home, but from an early age I questioned many Mormon beliefs and practices that didn't make sense to me and I never received convincing answers to those questions.
It started with something as simple and innocent as me, at a very young age, watching newborn babies get carried up to the front of the chapel where priesthood brethren would solemnly place their hands on the baby and say words like, "I bless you that you will be righteous throughout your life and always obey God's commands". I remember asking my parents, "So if this baby does, in fact, grow up to do as he has been blessed to do, and does obey God's commands all his life, then in the afterlife, when he stands before God to be judged, will God give him credit for what he's done?" If the blessing he was given as a newborn had the power which I'd been taught that priesthood blessings contain, then THAT BLESSING is what caused the kid to lead a good life. The kid doesn't get the credit. My question caused my parents to just laugh and tell me I was a silly little boy, but it was a valid question and I really wanted an answer to it. What's the point in blessing a baby if the blessing has no meaning?
That first childish question might have been just an inconsequential curiosity, but it shows my questioning mindset. I don't know where I got that mindset. I clearly didn't inherit it from my parents. On multiple occasions my father "bragged" to me that he had never ever questioned the teachings of the church, and my mother said similar things, and they implored me to be more like them. If my parents had been born into Muslim families, they would have spent their entire lives completely sure that Islam was the one and only true church. It would be the same if they'd been born Jews or Hindus or Catholics, or whatever. Even as a young boy I somehow saw the foolishness of this line of thinking and I tried to get my parents to see it too, but to no avail.
As I grew I encountered soooo many church practices and doctrines that made no sense to me and/or which contradicted the available evidence or other teachings of the church. I trust whoever's reading this is familiar with the CES Letter (cesletter.org), or websites like mormonthink.com, or podcasts like mormonstories.org. (If you're not familiar with them, then definitely look them up.) I didn't have the advantage of those resources when I was growing up. The person who wrote the CES Letter wasn't even born when I was in my teens, and there was no such thing as the internet back then either, so I had to learn all that stuff the hard way... piecing together clues from what few books and magazines I could find that my parents would have been horrified to learn I had read. I once wrote a letter to the Smithsonian Institution asking them if they had ever discovered any archaeological evidence backing up the historical claims of the Book of Mormon, not really expecting that they'd actually reply, but they did. They apparently got asked that question a lot and they sent me a letter listing all the types of artifacts which SHOULD be readily found all over the place if the Book of Mormon was true, but informing me that none of that stuff had ever been found.
By the time I was nineteen I had complied a thick three-ring binder full of Mormon doctrinal issues that were either highly dubious or outright absurd, but I'm sure you know what nineteen year old Mormon boys are supposed to do, and here it was, time for me to do it. When I showed my parents my three-ring binder and I told them how sincerely I had prayed about it without getting any "burning in my bosom", they told me the problem was my doubting mind. They said that Satan was the one placing those doubts in my mind, and as long as I listened to him, the Holy Ghost would never speak to me. They said the only way to answer my questions was to serve a mission as God wanted. What could I, a teenage kid with no real life experience, do? The people who I had loved and trusted all my life were fervently assuring me that God would answer my questions, but he would only do that if I went on a mission. If I didn't go on a mission then God would withdraw the Holy Ghost from me, my questions would never get answered, and it would all be MY FAULT since I was being disobedient by not going on a mission. I kid you not. My parents and the church's leaders (including a General Authority I met with) were pinning the blame on ME for the fact that the Holy Ghost wasn't speaking to me. I was committing the sin of asking questions, and I needed to repent of that sin.
Long story short, I eventually decided to trust my parents and went on the mission, but of course my questions were never answered and the Holy Ghost never showed up. Looking back on it now, I'm extremely offended that the church forced me to go out into the world and lie to people all day every day for two whole years. Full disclosure… I didn't last the entire two years. Or rather, I should say that thanks to a compassionate and creative mission president, I didn't have to spend the entire two years lying to people. My mission president and I found a unique workaround that allowed me to keep my integrity at least somewhat intact without having to disgrace my family in the eyes of judgmental ward members by returning home from my mission early. However, since I started this paragraph by saying "long story short", I won't go into those details.
I've now been free from Mormonism for more than forty years... or at least as free as is possible for someone who still lives in Utah. My neighbors still try to bear their testimonies to me. They don't know that I’m an escapee. They just know that I’m not a Mormon. When they give me Books of Mormon and tell me how it'll change my life, I want to tell them that the reason I'm not Mormon is NOT because I haven't read the Book of Mormon. The reason I'm not Mormon is because I HAVE read it... and the other Mormon scriptures and a long list of other Mormon writings... and in those documents I found a mountain of unrefuted evidence proving conclusively that Joseph Smith was con man, not a prophet. That's what I WANT to tell my neighbors when they do that... but no... if I say that to them then I'll be marked as one of Satan's emissaries and shunned by people with whom I need to have good relationships, so of course I have to just smile and nod and thank them for their concern on my behalf.
On my shelf
# Why I left More stories of 'Why I left' the Mormon church
For me it's all about integrity, or lack thereof on the part of the Mormon church and its members. It astounds me how Mormons can look straight at a mountain of unrefuted evidence which proves that their religion is a hoax, and just shrug it off, saying, "Yes, those facts are puzzling, but I'm not going to think about it. I have faith that God will answer all our questions in the next life".
I realize that many Mormons will question my claim that there's a "mountain" of evidence. In order to keep this write-up from getting too long, I'm only going to talk about a few key items in the paragraphs that follow below. If you want to see all of the stones that, when piled together, form the mountain of evidence, here are a few links you can click on:
- cesletter.org
- mormonthink.com
- mormonstories.com
- letterformywife.com
- mormonleaks.org
- wivesofjosephsmith.org
I realize that many Mormons will question my claim that the evidence in this mountain is "unrefuted". They will say, "But the Church HAS refuted that alleged evidence!" They'll point to the articles the church has published which ATTEMPT to refute the evidence, but if the Mormons who are pointing to those articles have even read them at all, they are somehow unable to see how those articles fail miserably at refuting anything.
For instance, consider the church's response to the total absence of archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon's claims. Their articles say, "There's so much jungle in South and Central America that hasn't been explored. The evidence you want could be sitting right there and just hasn't been discovered yet." That's a perfect example of blowing smoke instead of making a sincere argument. Sure there's lots of jungle that could be hiding artifacts, but look at the countless artifacts that HAVE been found. If the people of the Book of Mormon reached the vast population levels that the book claims, and spread out across the land as far as the book claims (with those people who allegdly kept written records on long-lasting media... gold plates and the like... reaching as far north and east as present-day New York state), it is inconceivable that none of the innumerable artifacts which have been found in the centuries since that time support the Book of Mormon's claims.
Or look at the church's articles that claim to refute the DNA evidence which shows that American Indians are not descended from Israelites. The church's articles about this say, "DNA evidence is not reliable". YES IT IS! The church's articles say, "We never claimed that the Lamanites are the PRINICIPAL ancestors of the American Indians". YES THEY DID! How can they lie about something that's so thoroughly documented? It's just like how they lie when they say that "It was never official church doctrine that the reason for black people being denied the priesthood is because they were not valiant in the pre-existence". YES IT WAS! That doctrine was taught from the pulpit with "God's prophet, seer and revelator" sitting right there listening and not objecting. Sometimes he himself was the one who said it, or things like it. Teachings that are even more reprehensible than the “Not Valiant Doctrine" were preached directly by the prophet Brigham Young and similar things were taught by church leaders who came after him, up to and including the time that I was alive to hear them preaching it with my own ears. And by the way, don't fall for the claim that "they were just speaking as men, not as prophets when they said it". A core idea that was drilled into me and every Mormon I grew up with was the promise that "the Lord will never permit any man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray". We were also admonished to "accept the words of local church leaders the same as if the prophet himself was saying them". Teachings which the church now tries to distance itself from were taught as official church doctrine from the pulpit in general conferences and included in books and magazines that were published by the church, with the full knowledge and blessing of the president of the church... the one who "the Lord will never permit to lead anyone astray". I find it incredible that "the brethren" can just do a Jedi hand wave while saying to the members, "you didn't see what you saw or hear what you heard", and the members simply say, "OK".
And then look at the articles published by the church which attempt to explain away that fact that Joseph Smith's "translation" of the Book of Abraham scrolls bears no resemblance whatsoever to what the scrolls actually say. Published right there in the Pearl of Great Price are images from the scrolls, side by side with Joseph's alleged translations. At the time the Pearl of Great Price was published, nobody could argue with Joseph's "translation" since nobody at that time could read Egyptian. But now people CAN read Egyptian and Joseph's "translations" are laughably wrong. And what's the church's explanation? They don't have one. The articles they publish which claim to refute that evidence simply say, "The Book of Abraham is a religions text, not a historical one, and therefore the only way to know if it's correct is to pray about it."
In fact, that's the essence of the church's response to basically EVERYTHING in the mountain of what I say are unrefuted facts. In pretty much EVERY case, the church falls back on the claim that prayer is the one and only way to know truth. Well, if a warm feeling in your heart when you pray is all you've got to counter a mountain of solid, tangible evidence, then you've got nothing. Do Mormon church leaders seriously expect us to believe that Mormons are the only ones who get a warm feeling in their hearts when they pray to their chosen god, asking for confirmation that their chosen religion is true? People in other religions get warm feelings in their hearts that are EVERY BIT as strong as what Mormons feel. A warm feeling in your heart isn't worth shinola as evidence for the truth of the Mormon church. Read up on why medical researchers have to test new drugs against placebos before concluding that the new drugs actually work and you'll find documented proof that when people want to believe something will help them (perhaps only subconsciously), their minds can cause very real and measurable changes to their bodies. When Mormons report feeling a "burning of the bosom" they're not necessarily imagining things, but what they're feeling is not necessarily from God. The burning in their bosom is much more likely to be from chemicals that their brains caused to be released into their bloodstreams or from subtle muscle contractions or something similar. Check out this video from Stanford School of Medicine for more information about the Placebo Effect.
youtu.be/…
So yes, I do think it's completely correct to say that the evidence showing Joseph Smith was a con man is unrefuted. And by the way, that unrefuted evidence also shows that he was a sexual predator… of girls as young as sixteen, fifteen, and even FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, as well as a sexual predator of older women who were still married to other men at the time Joseph "married" them. I've put the word "married" in quotes because all too often those alleged marriages were sham weddings that were never recorded either by civic officals or by the church... the same church which teaches that genealogical records are of supreme importance. Also, it's not clear at all whether Joseph provided financial support to his supposed "wives" after he'd had his way with them, or if he paid child support for the kids he fathered with them. If the church has evidence showing he did support them, I'd like to see it. For a church which insists that Joseph did nothing wrong, they've been astoundingly quiet on this subject.
Joseph did a whole lot of things that would get a person rightfully thrown in jail if they tried those things nowdays, and which would definitely keep that person out of the Celestial Kingdom according to the teachings of Mormonism, but Mormons just shrug it off. They say, "Don't delve into the mysteries". They say not to worry about those "unknowable questions". They say to just be patient and God will explain it all later. This shows a stunning lack of integrity on the part of Mormons. They sit in church and sing "Do what is right, let the consequence follow", but they clearly don't mean it.
The kicker, for me, is the fact that Mormons believe that men are put here on Earth to prove they've got the intelligence, initiative, and critical thinking skills needed to become gods in the next life. (Women aren't. The best a woman can hope for is to become one of a man-god's multiple wives in the next life, pumping out spiritual babies, but let's not go off on that tangent right now.) If men are put here on Earth to prove that they've got what it takes to become a god, then for sure they should NOT be closing their eyes to such clearly obvious proof that Joseph Smith was a con man. A person who's got what it takes to become a god wouldn't be so amazingly gullible.
Questions about Mormons My Answers to Questions about Mormonism
#Link to this answer of 'Why are you sharing your story?' by Doug Why are you sharing your story? See more answers about 'Why are you sharing your story?'
The short answer to that question is that my Mormon friends and neighbors have been bearing their testimonies to me for so very many years in hopes of getting me to see the error of my ways, it's time I returned the favor.
;)
The longer answer is this.... Hopefully I've still got many years left before I die, but I am getting on in age and before I go I think it’s important that I put my story out in the public record, much like I think it’s important for Holocaust survivors to put their stories in the public record before they pass away. Given the way the Mormon church likes to rewrite history and then gaslight its members, I think it’s vital that people who witnessed first hand the teachings and actions which the church employed in the past but which it now wants to deny, should set the record straight. People who know things which the church doesn’t want its members to know should speak the truth and put that truth out on the public record.
INTEGRITY, or lack thereof, is the key. Since Mormon church leaders refuse to face the facts, act with integrity, and admit that their church is built upon a foundation of lies, then somebody else has to say it for them. I know that my Mormon friends genuinely WANT to act with integrity, and in fact they believe that they ARE acting with integrity. However, closing your eyes to unrefuted proof that the church is a scam in NOT an act of integrity. If a Mormon were to act with TRUE integrity then they would give more than just lip service to the words of the apostle Hugh B. Brown who said, "The honest investigator must be prepared to follow wherever the search for truth may lead. Truth is often found in the most unexpected places. He must, with fearless and open mind, insist that facts are more important than any cherished, mistaken beliefs, no matter how unpleasant the facts, or how delightful the beliefs."
Don’t get me wrong. Mormon culture has some GREAT things going for it, and I have tremendous heartburn about saying anything to a Mormon which might cause them to leave such a wonderful community. I’ve seen firsthand how willingly members of the Mormon community support each other. My father was a bishop. I’ve seen him come home after visiting a member family that’s struggling, and he then picks up the phone and calls the elder’s quorum president, telling him to find an elder who has the tools and the skills needed to fix a roof and then send that elder to the struggling family’s home because their roof leaks and they can’t afford to pay a company to fix it. There were times when my father asked ME to go over to some poor widow’s home and mow her lawn or shovel her snow, and not charge her for it, because she didn’t have anyone in her life who could help her out with those things. What an incredible community that is! It’s one that I would genuinely like to be part of again. But the price of membership in the Mormon community is too high, and I’m not referring to tithing when I say that. (Although I do recommend that Mormons take a moment and ponder how much money they're paying to "The Corporation of the Brethren" that has secret accounts which, thanks to a brave whistle-blower, we've recently discovered hold hundreds of billions of dollars, only a tiny TINY fraction of which is being used to help people in need.) No, when I say the price of membership is too high, I’m referring to the requirement that you have to throw away your integrity in order to be a Mormon. You have to close your eyes to clearly obvious truths and pretend like those truths don't matter.
#Link to this answer of 'What is the reason or reasons for your loss of faith?' by Doug What is the reason or reasons for your loss of faith? See more answers about 'What is the reason or reasons for your loss of faith?'
In what I wrote above, I made several references to what I called a “mountain of unrefuted evidence” which led me to conclude that Joseph Smith was a con man and to conclude that the church leaders who followed him are little if any better. I only went into specifics for a small fraction of the pieces which make up that mountain of evidence, but I did list some links to websites which a person could look up in order research things in depth for themselves. I’ll repeat those links again here, in case someone is just skimming through this admittely long writeup, rather than reading it all from start to end.
- cesletter.org
- mormonthink.com
- mormonstories.com
- letterformywife.com
- mormonleaks.org
- wivesofjosephsmith.org
There are a great many more. The links I've given above contain links to other websites and they reference books and magazine articles which you could spend years reading.
In order to make it easy for you (the reader) to see the church’s attempts to refute this evidence and see why I say the church fails miserably in those attempts, I’ll give a few links here. I think all the church does is try to blow smoke, muddy the water, and then fall back on their catch-all claim that "prayer is the only way to know truth"... but you should of course judge that for yourself. (As with the other links, these are good as of July 2024. They might change in the future.)
Regarding the problems surrounding the Book of Mormon...
churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/…
Regarding the problems surrounding the Book of Abraham...
churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/…
Regarding the problems surrounding polygamy...
churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/…
When you open these links on the church’s website, you’ll see a list on the left side of the page (at least as of July, 2024) that will take you to the church's responses for many other issues besides just the three I’ve given above.
#Link to this answer of 'Why don't you leave the mormon church alone?' by Doug Why don't you leave the mormon church alone? See more answers about 'Why don't you leave the mormon church alone?'
The question of why not just leave the Mormon church alone is one I've wrestled with for many years and one I continue to wrestle with even as I write this. I know full well that many people find comfort in religion, and I understand when they say, "Even if the church isn't actually true, why won't you just stay silent and let us enjoy the comfort and support that the church gives us?" I get that. I really do.
But consider the young girls in the FLDS church (Warren Jeffs' followers), the LDCC (the Kingston Clan). the AUB (the Allred Group), or one of the many other Mormon offshoots who still carry on the practice of polygamy that Joseph Smith started. Those girls have been taught from birth that it's God's will that... while they are still just CHILDREN in many cases... they must marry some creepy old guy who already has lots of wives. Those girls and their families are [allegedly] forced to live in an information bubble where they are "protected" from exposure to any ideas that might cause them to doubt what they've been taught. It can be argued that those girls find comfort and support in their religion. Since they do, does that mean we should leave that church alone and just let those young girls suffer?
I'm not saying that the correct course of action is to outlaw those churches, but I think is it entirely appropriate to share information with people in those churches that might lead them to question whether it's right for young girls to be coerced into becoming yet another child bride of some older man who already has lots of other wives. They can choose to either accept or reject what they hear, but shouldn't they be given the chance to hear it? Doesn't common decency demand that they be given that chance?
Now look at the Mormon church through that same lens. I know it's considered very impolite to use the word "brainwash" when talking about the way Mormon children are raised, but let's be honest... If you look at techniques that the world acknowledges to be "brainwashing tactics" and compare them with the techniques that the Mormon church uses on its children and even its adults, you'll find a one-to-one correspondence. The information bubble that Mormon children grow up in and which Mormon adults have been conditioned to keep living in... the one which restricts their access to ideas which might "damage their testimony"... is disturbingly similar to the bubble that people in the polygamy cults live in. The essay "Lying For The Lord", which you can read by clicking on this link...
mormonthink.com/files/…
... clearly shows the lengths that "the bretheren" will go to in order to hide truths from Mormons in general and Mormon youths in particular.
Despite the church's propoganda to the contrary, a great many Mormons are suffering harm that's not unlike what people in the polygamy cults experience. Studies have shown that Mormons have a substantially higher rate of depression than the general population and it's not hard to see why. Although today's Mormon girls are not coerced into becoming one of some man's many wives like they were in the early days of the church and like girls in the Mormon-offshoot polygamy cults still are today, they ARE taught that that'll be the fate of many of them in the next life. If women don't like that "fact", too bad, because Mormon doctrine says it's God's will that men rule the Mormon universe while women only play a supporting role, working together with their sister wives who will all share the same celestial husband. Also, consider people who don't feel the spirit when they pray or when they stand in the temple performing rituals that they think are suspiciously cult-like. They are told it's THEIR FAULT they aren't feeling the spirit, and sadly, many believe that. They search their souls looking for what they're doing wrong, when the fault actually lies in the church, not in them. And of course there are the LGBT people who are taught that they're sinners for loving the people they love. The only way they can enter the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom is to conform to the Mormon norm. All of these things are understandably horribly depressing to the people affected.
The information bubble that Mormons live in prevents unhappy members from accessing information which shows that the pain they're experincing is actually due to lies that Joseph Smith told two hundred years ago and that current church leaders keep repeating. Read through the other stories on this wasmormon.org website, or listen to the podcasts on the mormonstories.com website, or watch the many YouTube videos made by people who have left the Mormon church. What you'll find is case after case after case where people finally feel the joy that they thought they'd never experience.... after leaving the Mormon church.
Even if you look at the lucky Mormons who are genuinely happy with their experiences in the church (and I'll freely admit there are lots of members like this), think about how much time and money they give to the church over the course of their lives. The amount of time donated can be astronomical but that's hard to quantify, so let's just consider the money. For most Mormons, the total amount of money donated to the church over the course of their lifetimes comes to hundreds of thousands of dollars. For many it's in the millions. Imagine the good that money could have done for their family or for others they love if they hadn't given it to "The Corporation of the Brethren" who already have hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars stashed away in secret shell companies and hidden bank accounts that are not being used to help the needy in the way that members were led to believe.
If you see a person at the post office preparing to send huge sums of money to a Nigerian prince, do you not have an obligation to warn them that they're being scammed? Maybe they'll ignore your input. Maybe they'll tell you that the Nigerian prince makes them happy and so they don't mind giving him money. Fine. You don't force them to stop sending him money. But as a matter of human decency, you're obligated to let that person know about the countless news articles you've seen where the Nigerian prince always turned out to be a con man. It's the same with Mormonism. There's overwhelming evidence showing that Joseph Smith was the original Nigerian prince and that the brethren leading the church today are no better. It would be morally wrong to stay silent about all that evidence when you see people you love losing huge amounts of time and money to a scam like that.
I would never consider outlawing the Mormon church, but I think it is entirely appropriate to share information with Mormons that has been withheld from them by their church, just as it's appropriate to do for members of the Mormon-offshoot polygamy cults. Mormons can choose to either accept or reject what they hear, but shouldn't they be given the chance to hear it? Doesn't common decency demand that they be given that chance?
------- A few more thoughts, since this question weighs heavily on me -------
Let me repeat... I'm absolutely NOT suggesting that people shouldn't be allowed the option of being Mormon. I'd never say that. In fact, if the government were ever to outlaw Mormonism (or any other religion), I would stand side-by-side with my Mormon friends and fight FOR their right to be Mormon (or any other religion). I'm just saying that when there's a lull in the fighting and my friends and I are sitting down together catching our breaths, it's entirely reasonable that I should be allowed to ask them questions that will make them think, just like they've been asking ME questions for over sixty years now that they hope will make ME think.
The Mormon apostle J. Reuben Clark once said, "If we have the truth, it can not be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed." If you believe those words to be true, then you should have no problem with people sharing information that Mormon Sunday school and seminary teachers conveniently neglected to include in their lessons. If someone is upset that I'm talking about things which Mormons don't like talking about, then I take that as an admission by that person that they (maybe only subconsciously) already realize that Mormonism is not true. They just don't want to admit it. Is that what a person with integrity would do?
Anyone who thinks religion does more good than harm hasn’t studied history. I've heard people say, “OK, I'll admit that the Inquisition was bad, but that just a one-off event.” NOT IT WASN'T! The Inquisition is just one tiny example of the many MANY times religion was used to commit horrible, inexcusable atrocities. Mass murder and mass stealing of people’s property was widespread and religion was the way the perpetrators justified their atrocities and motivated their followers to commit those atrocities. Slavery was a common practice that was justified by the use of religion and the bonds of slavery were strengthened by forced religious indoctrination. There’s a very good reason why Europeans sent priests alongside their warriors during the inappropriately named “Age of Exploration”. (It should have been named the “Age of Genocide”.) No, I’m not at all convinced that the good done by religion even comes CLOSE to outweighing the harm which religion has caused throughout human history.
I've heard people say, “But churches don’t do that any more”. My reply to that is to ask them to please read up on current events. The crimes being currently committed in the name of religion might not be as blatant and far-reaching now as they were in the past, but they’re every bit as real. Consider the women in Islamic-run countries (and also in Hildale Utah and other polygamist enclaves) who are essentially just property of men. The men who treat women as if they're just property are allowed to do that because their actions are done in the name of religion and "we’re not allowed to criticize a person’s religion". Consider the women here in America who are forced to give birth to their rapist’s baby or they are denied critical medical care when their baby miscarries, because doctors fear they’ll go to jail if they take any action which the religious zealots in the government have outlawed. Consider the people who don’t fit the “binary gender model”, and as a result are denied the same rights that other people enjoy, again because the religious zealots make the laws, not the people who rely on reason. The Mormon church is especially guilty in this regard. If you're not familiar with the Mormon church's role in California's Prop 8 fiasco, Google that. Also, keep in mind the distressingly large number of LGBT people who have been disowned by their Mormon families, with some even being kicked out of their homes while they were still in high school. Depression and suicide rates among LGBT people in Mormon communities are staggering, and anyone who says that problem isn't made worse by the Mormon church is fooling themselves. No, I’m not at all convinced that “churches don’t do that any more”.
I hear people say, "False hope is better than no hope". My reply to that is to ask, "Is it really?" A meme I see frequently on the internet and with which I enthusiastically agree says, "The greatest threat this world faces is the widespread belief that someone else is going to solve our problems for us." This is true in both our personal lives and our global civilization. We need to wake up and recognize that some extra-terrestrial being is NOT going to solve our problems for us. Paying tithing instead of using that badly needed money to save up for a down payment on a home or some similar critical need is NOT going to bring you prosperity. The second coming of Christ is NOT going to save the world from our failure to stop global warming, pollution, and overpopulation.
I'll end by repeating the quote I gave above from the Mormon Apostle, Hugh B. Brown. "The honest investigator must be prepared to follow wherever the search for truth may lead. Truth is often found in the most unexpected places. He must, with fearless and open mind, insist that facts are more important than any cherished, mistaken beliefs, no matter how unpleasant the facts, or how delightful the beliefs." If you believe those words to be true then you can see why people like me should not be asked to stay silent and leave the Mormon church alone. We're just following the advice of your very own apostle, Hugh B. Brown.