Many of you know that Brian Dalton (“Mr. Deity”) used to be a Mormon. Here, speaking from his nearly three decades in the faith, he takes the religion apart in a video that’s remarkably “strident” for Dalton. And much of what he says applies to religion in general.
He’s clearly ticked off that he wasted so many years believing in fairy tales. ~
Sadly, this won’t penetrate the magic underwear defense shields of any of the Mormons I know….
b&
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I’m baffled how any intelligent adult Mormon can go on with the pretending. They must at some point be confronted by all those troubling contradictions. But, no. It must, as Ben says, be the underwear.
The big thing about such young churches is that their history is so recent. There are very few records relevant to the rise of Christianity compared to the stacks and stacks of evidence from the Mormon era. DNA indeed!
In seriousness, it’s a perfect example of doublethink exactly as Orwell described it in 1984. How it is that people get it into their heads that it’s a good idea to engage in doublethink in the first place is beyond me…but that’s what they’re doing.
(And, of course, the answer is that some conman has convinced them that they should do so….)
b&
I have New Age-ish friends who engage in doublethink and embrace contradictions as a virtue. This is I think partly the result of a sloppy confusion between the black-and-white fallacy and the laws of logic. A “logical” thinker will be rigid, judgmental, and inflexible. But accepting contradictions will make you open, forgiving, and free.
In other words, they’re shifting categories around. As usual.
Well, a conman and a whole supporting social infrastructure of very nice, like-minded people and money. My wife’s Mormon friend gave up her career largely due to peer and family pressure and the weight of tradition. It’s a remarkable cult (as many of them are, the Hasids are much the same in my experience). I’m impressed anyone can break out.
There’s your problem.
Seriously, I don’t see any problem with Mormonism that isn’t inherent in all revealed religions.
Some years ago I saw a Southern Baptist list of “cults.” Of course the Mormons were on it. No doubt, the Baptists and other evangelicals can’t imagine themselves being on such a list.
> It must, as Ben says, be the underwear.
You may be more right than you know. Mormons promise to keep a lot of (open) secrets, including ceremonies related to just that. Sunk costs fallacy and social shame kick in and, well, how could you leave with so much invested?
P.S. This is my first (and maybe last) comment on the site after reading for a long time, under an assumed e-mail for anonymity.
Thanks for de-lurking–yours sounds like a voice we could use around here.
“Ditto.”
b&
Please stay among us🐱
Front page hard-copy article in the NY Times today (11/11), “It’s Official: Mormon Founder Had Many Wives.” Items mentioned include Mountain Meadows Massacre, 1978 repeal of ban of blacks in priesthood, “temple garments,” men can be eternally “sealed” to more than one woman, but not the reverse.
I think Mormons benefit more than most from the respect granted “faith” in our culture, since the easiest and simplest way to deal with disconfirming empirical evidence is to suddenly shift focus and go all fuzzy about having hope and trust and humility.
Years ago I used to hang out in IRC religious debate rooms and it seemed to me that the Mormons posed an interesting problem to the other Christians. Their arguments against these heretics were receiving constant backup … from the atheists. In fact, most of the time they only had to murmur a couple things about “unbiblical” and just happily watch the historical claims get shredded by the same folks who usually pulled the same thing on the Bible. Only this time the atheists were right. And when they started on the unreliability of the “burning in the bosom” there, again, were the godless skeptics, playing tag relay with the best of their own apologists. Yeah, faith is a lousy method of testing things. Um…
That’s the problem with one sect pointing the finger at another sect and using reason. If there are people there drawing attention to the similarities between the two, it can get uncomfortable. As I recall, they started trying to form debate rooms which excluded atheists — presumably because we were too “distracting.” Um …
There’s more than one pundit speculating that Romney lost the presidential election because evangelicals hesitated to vote for a Mormon.
Speciation is interesting when observed in real time.
Verily, if only Romney had been Southern Baptist.
But Romney carried every state where Southern Baptists have much sway, with the exception of Virginia (and the SB’s aren’t overwhelming there).
As much distaste and SB’s have for Mormons, n****r socialists are the greater evil.
” Romney lost the presidential election because evangelicals hesitated to vote for a Mormon.”
On the flip side, there are many people that have an undeserved positive view of Mormons….they dress so nicely and are so family-oriented.
True with one huge exception. I knew a flight attendant who worked with a gay man. He was very close to his large, warm, close Mormon family. When they found out he was gay, they were told to shun him or they would be shunned. Being Mormons, this was the entirety of their world so he was shunned.
He committed suicide.
I’ve heard more than one story like that.
“On the flip side, there are many people that have an undeserved positive view of Mormons….they dress so nicely and are so family-oriented.”
To the chagrin of Southern Baptists, particularly so to evangelical, pentacostal Church of God, Assembly of God, Nazarene and other diamond ring and tie pin types.
If I recall correctly, the evangelical divorce rate is at least equals (if not exceeds) the general Amuricun average.
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My fave book on the Mormons was written by an exMorman, and is a page turner.
Martha Beck (2005). ‘Leaving the Saints: One Child’s Story of Survival and Hope’. She has a doctorate and also taught at Brigham Young Uni.
Brian Dalton doesn’t pull his punches with loons he knows the best. Nice!
“If something sounds too good to be true it usually is”.
“I learned that the hard way when I responded to an email from a friend in Christ who happened to be the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian diplomat who just needed my help to get their family fortune out of the country”.
I assume he’s just making a rhetorical point there. I doubt Brian Dalton ever fell for a Nigerian scam.
Me, I never answer those emails for less than $25 million US…