This question about the relevance of the church being true gets asked all the time by Mormons when confronted with evidence that the church’s claims aren’t true. Some members of the church will even candidly admit that the church’s doctrines and history seem sketchy to them, but they don’t worry about it. They say the reason they’re members is because they value the fellowship and support they get from the Mormon community, and not because they actually believe the church’s claims.
When viewed in this light, one of the stock questions asked on this wasmormon.org website, the question of “Why don’t you leave the church alone?”, seems very legitimate. If the church provides comfort and fellowship to people, then are ex-Mormons really doing their Mormon friends any favors by telling their stories on a website like this one, and pointing out the church’s many flaws?
The truthfulness of the church begins to feel irrelevant, even if we’ve heard “I know the church is true” a million times. Even if the church isn’t true, many feel that it is at least good, and they remain members, perhaps nuanced. They pose similar thoughts as Blaise Pascale, who argued that in the long run, everyone is better off assuming God is real, because the stakes are just too high to risk it.
An ex-Mormon YouTube video creator named Alyssa Grenfell, who claims she “gave up eternal life for coffee,” thoughtfully addresses this issue in the video shown below. In this video, she’s commenting on the South Park episode that dealt with Mormonism.
Throughout the video, Alyssa shows the South Park Mormon character, Gary Harrison, being confronted with lots of evidence showing that Joseph Smith was a con man. He responds to this evidence by saying, “And maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life.”
The entire video is well worth watching, but the embed code that will run if you click on the video image below will skip most of her video and take you directly to the last part, where one of the characters says something many members say to those who leave. Alyssa’s reply is worth hearing.
South Park Quote: “Maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life!”
It’s funny he’s now giving this speech because this is what I said earlier, which is, how often it is that members will say “what if it isn’t true, well then, it gave me a beautiful life, it gave me a happy family, and so honestly if it’s true or not doesn’t even matter.”
It’s almost like there’s this underpinning belief in Mormonism that even if something is make believe, does it matter if it makes you a better person? It’s this kind of fantasy that I think keeps the church going for so long. They don’t really care about evidence, they don’t care about science, as much as they care about faith and promoting this feeling of goodness and happiness. And is that so bad?
I might not say it is so bad, I might not say mormonism is so bad, if it didn’t do real damage and harm. And that’s the problem. Members only see the good because the good works for them, but it’s but this is a really selfish point of view because it’s saying if something works for me, then it’s good, definitively good. If it works for me, I won’t walk away from it, even if it’s bad for other people. Even if the doctrine teaches unkind, bad, horrible, racist, sexist, homophobic things about other people, if it works for me why would I walk away? To me, that’s why the heart of Mormonism is very insidious, because those who are members turn a blind eye to the people who are damaged by the religion, because if it works for them, where’s the problem? I find that to be sickening honestly.
Alyssa Grenfell, ExMormon Reacts to South Park’s “All About Mormons”
https://youtu.be/-h8ecpifkfA?si=ZsLKI9hA6HQOcirT&t=2542
What if it isn’t true?
Again, some find even if the church isn’t true, it is still useful to them. It gives them a sense of community, a connection to their heritage, and family or it just helps them be happy. They would echo Gary here “Well, so what if it’s not true, it still gave/gives me a beautiful life. It gives me belonging and a happy family. Honestly, whether it’s true or not doesn’t even matter.” They figure that if it isn’t true, it’s still good or even good enough.
This might work for members for a time, but eventually, we all must face the fact that the church may not be that good. It is not always innocent. Not always benevolent. It is not positive in the lives of many others. When we take all this in, the evidence shows the church to be a net-negative. It is not true, and in fact it does real damage.
Alyssa hits this nail on the head. She sees that “the doctrine teaches unkind, bad, horrible, racist, sexist, and homophobic things about other people.” She continues to point out that “the heart of Mormonism is very insidious” because “members turn a blind eye to the people who are damaged by the religion.” They continue to assume that it is a good organization or corporation even when they realize it is not as True as they once believed. She calls attention to this in hopes that people will recognize Mormonism for what it is. A harmful, negative organization that fools everyone into thinking it is a benevolent religion.
She has many videos on her YouTube channel that are well worth watching. After viewing the partial clip that you’ll get when you click on the video image above, you might want to drag the slider at the bottom of the video back to the start and watch the entire video from the beginning, especially if you’ve ever seen the SouthPark video that she’s reviewing. It’s very entertaining and informative.
In another video that you might find worth watching, Alyssa tells the story of why she left the church, much like the stories posted on this website. That other video is shown below.
More reading:
- Would You Want to Know If The Church Isn’t True?
- The Problems with Joseph Smith and Peep Stone Translations
- Does a “Burning in Your Bosom” Outweigh Physical Evidence?
- Pascal’s Wager for Mormons and Ex-Mormons
This post is by Doug.
Hi, I'm Doug
I was a Mormon, but I've since repented of that.
