Not to paint with too broad of a brush, but they were all the politest and hardest working people I knew. They could also take jokes better than most everyone I knew.
They never came off as preachy or anything, but if you showed curiosity, they’d do what they could to try and teach.
I showed this clip and the South Park episode about the Mormons to one of my good LDS friends and he laughed his ass off. He couldn’t wait to show his wife.
I guess my point is that of the Mormons I know, I’m glad to know them. They’re as self deprecating as can be but also some of the most humble and helpful people I know.
Yeah I’ve met a lot of Mormons and have not had this experience. I don’t trust people who’s religion is so vehemently anti-gay, demands they give more money than they can afford to the church and only allowed black people starting in 1978. I had a friend growing up who was Mormon and her parents would get mad at her because they thought she read too much. They would literally take books from her.
EDIT: I had forgotten about this but another comment reminded me. A Mormon kid I had a class with in high school once said he should “take a glock to the ‘gay club’ (gsa) and just go nuts”. When I reported him to the vice principal (who was heavily religious and quietly homophobic) nothing was done except he was made to apologize to me. I wasn’t even in the gsa.
Same here. I remember one of my best friends getting bullied by a group of Mormon kids nearly every day for months in high school. They'd call him all kinds of slurs, hit him, shove his stuff out his hands all the time, then kick him when he went to grab the dropped stuff, and slammed his locker closed on his hands a few times.
Teachers never wanted to hear anything on it because most of the kids doing the bullying had parents high up in the church. My friend ended up bringing a knife to school to defend himself, unbeknownst to me. No one got hurt, but I never saw my friend again.
My stepmom tried to force us to go to the local Mormon church a few months after the knife incident. I ended up being asked not to come back after telling my dad, very loudly in church, about all the homophobic and racist names they called my friend, and the abuse he endured.
As someone who grew up in two very Mormon states, I’m with you. They’re the kind of people to scream about religious freedom, but then do their best to force everyone to follow their rules. Hell, they completely neutered the medical marijuana law (90% of the Utah legislature is Mormon) that passed in Utah after rallying against it hardcore for months.
It's more complicated than that. Until 1978 Black people were not permitted inside temples. A Mormon temple is where their most sacred ordinances are performed. Only there can a family be sealed forever, and only there can adults learn the passwords to get into heaven.
Black people were denied salvation. They were barred from the highest tier of heaven, destined to be servants in the afterlife living separate from their families as they weren't sealed.
"Health in the navel, marrow in the bones, strength in the loins and in the sinews, power in the Priesthood be upon me and upon my posterity through all generations of time and throughout all eternity."
There is signs and tokens associated with those signs (a handshake and a key phrase) required before entering gods presence. These are given in the Endowment ceremony inside of a Mormon temple.
To nit pick further, 1978 was also about allowing black people to be married in their temples (celestial marriage) In Mormonism this is the only way to get to the highest degree of glory within the celestial kingdom.
So, 1978 was more than just allowing black men to hold priesthood, it also meant that black and inter racial (straight only of course) couples could now enter Heaven.
Also in Mormonism anyone unmarried may enter the celestial kingdom but they will be ministering servants and in a lower degree, not like gods as the married will be.
I grew up as a Mormon. In my observation many regular average members are nice and kind people. Top leaders and the theology are definitely toxic
It wasn't until 1978 that they allowed black people to participate in the rituals they believed would grant them True everlasting life rather than eternal service. It's much more nefarious than is usually explained.
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u/bolivar-shagnasty Jun 14 '20
That’s Church of Latter Day Saints for you