The Da Vinci Code for Mormons

2016-02-19

So somehow I missed this 2013 New York Times article exposing a bunch of issues in the Mormon Church. It was brought up by this really good episode of Reply All.

I'm an ex−Mormon and this episode really resonated in a lot of ways. In particular I guess personally, even though I'm now 100% atheist I've defended the Mormon church in the past. I guess I would say as an atheist I believe all churches and all religions are wrong and so I've defended the Mormon church has being no different than any other church. By defending I mean when someone makes fun of the Mormon church for whatever (believing the nearest planet to God's residence is the planet Kolab) I point out how that is no more a strange belief than any other religion's beliefs (God lives in some alternate dimension we can't see until we die).

What I find really fascinating though is that people can continue to want to believe even AFTER accepting the evidence their church is founded on lies. Religion isn't decided by committee by definition. If it was it would no longer be a religion. So for example, at least according to that podcast, some people asked for priesthood for women in the Mormon church or acceptance of LGBT. Doing either of those makes the church no longer the church. It proves even harder the church was never true to begin with.

Let me make it clear. I'm 100% pro LGBT and women's rights. That's not my point and is one of the many reasons I'm atheist. My point is if a church has been saying for for hundreds or thousands of years that X is evil because God says so and then changes that to X is not evil they've just proven the previous hundreds or thousands of years were bullshit. At that point there's no reason for the church to exist. Everyone should just leave. If you want a social club with emotional support fine, organize one. But asking a church to change it's stance makes zero sense. If you succeed you've just proven your church is false.

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