In Newsweek!

In Newsweek!

In our biggest media attention yet, we have been in Newsweek.

Just take a look at the comments -- the article is controversial among Mormons and Exmormons alike.  The existence of the groups that it talks about moreso.  There are five sections in the article:

1) Becky and Timmy do "Exmormon missionary work".
2) Utah therapists have to handle exmormon issues, because large numbers of people leave due to google
3) Timmy, a lifelong member, couldn't stay in the church, after a SL Tribune article and spending years researching the subjects
4) Coverage of "Liquor 101"
5) A brief history of Postmormon groups
6) The fun that Exmormons have together

The criticisms are that many exmormons feel that 1) and 4) misrepresent them.  Some feel that it presents exmormons as leaving the religion to drink.  The exmormons who do "missionary work" are a very small minority, and most feel like they want to just move on with their lives.  Those who do missionary work, do it because they feel royally screwed by the LDS church, and don't want others to feel the same.  However, those are the hooks for an international audience, for sensationalization.  No one outside of Utah has any idea that there would be people who do that.

Despite that criticism, points 2) and 3) are fantastic.  It points to there being real reasons that people are leaving the religion.  It tells the story about places that exmormons can go.  It points to resources to help people overcome their fears.  It makes leaving the religion a little less scary, for people who want to do so.

And, at the end of the day, it shows the weirdness of it all. Because mormons consider themselves "a peculiar people", leaving mormonism is also very, "peculiar".

The Additions to the LDS.org website

Over the past year, the LDS.org website on church doctrines has had controversial (among believing LDS people) material added to it.  This includes,

Commission:
Multiple First Vision Accounts:
This details the changes in the first vision stories told by Joseph Smith.  You can see the story evolve, to become grander.  Why didn't Joseph mention all the details at first?  He had plenty of followers at that point.  Soon, I'll go over the contradictions with this and the details given by other prophets about the first vision.


Details of the Translation of the Book of Mormon:
This indicates that Joseph Smith used a "seer stone" and not the Urim and Thummim for parts of the translation.  This would be the same seer stone that he used unsuccessfully for "money-digging".  So, we can only assume that the Book of Mormon is as accurate as his use of a seer stone.

Omission:
The Changes to Priesthood Doctrines:
As most of us know, the ability to be sealed in the temple for people of African descent was only begun in 1978 by the LDS church.  In this, they seem to ignore that the church believed that people who weren't white were cursed.  In fact, the Book of Mormon had a recent rewrite to remove all the references of "white" and skin color changes in it.  The Book of Abraham bans blacks from having the Priesthood, according to standard LDS interpretation of that scripture.  For being "the most correct book[s] on earth", the scriptures sure seem to be wrong.

Polygamy in Early Utah:
This article seems to try to justify polygamy in early Utah.  It points out a scripture from Jacob in the Book of Mormon, without citing the prior scripture about how polygamy "was abominable" for the mormon god.  It puts the start/end dates to polygamous marriages later than they started and earlier than they began.  For example, Joseph's relationship with 16-year old Fanny Alger began around 1833.  The article downplays Joseph's role in polygamy, by stating "in some cases blah blah blah occurred", without mentioning that those cases happened with the early church leaders.  In addition, the article gives no solution as to why women were taken from men who were already married.  (Poor Henry Jacobs.. he had his wife taken twice!  By both Joseph and Brigham!)