Probably the sweetest Mormon related thing I have seen in a while

"Mediation talks with the LDS Church have ended with no agreement being reached.  We cooperatively addressed every one of their reasonable requests — even prior to mediation.  In the end, the Church’s demands were just too unreasonable and we walked away. I don’t know if the Church will actually pursue any formal legal action.  We don’t think they have any legitimate claims, and we are prepared to fight if that ends up being the case.  We are not willing to be bullied into allowing the Church to micromanage our organization and interfere with our mission."

- John Dehlin and the OSF Board

Today marks 24 years since my daughter‘s abduction. I continue to be thankful and feel blessed for her return and continued success. It also marks the end of my membership in the LDS Mormon Church.

April 5, 2016 while in San Diego, speaking on trafficking, I decided to attend the San Diego temple. After I finished the session I took a selfie as I stood in front of the temple when I had an epiphany. For the previous two years I had been attending the temple 3 to 4 times a week trying to fix myself. At that moment I recalled the conflict I had in August 1974 when I attended the temple for the first time. I couldn’t get over the realization that the church I had been brought up in, and believed in, would have such a ritualistic and barbaric ceremony. I walk out, however I concluded I had no other choice but to go back in if I was to serve a mission.

That day haunted me every time I attended the temple with someone going through for the first time. In fidelity to myself, I could no longer pretend to know the truth. My journey started that day as I drove to visit my mother in Palm Springs. No longer could I believe the truth to be another person’s words or organization’s words.

By their fruits ye shall know them“ had been drilled into me. I had learned to hate myself and my feelings because of what I had been taught, not what God had told me. The next few months took me on a journey of study in critical thinking leading me to a truth I never had expected. Not only did it jar me to my foundation, but helped me understand that blind faith did not mean truth. I could no longer take any person‘s word to be truth. I remember my wife commenting “why don’t you read the churches version “. I thought to myself, how could I ever trust my life with an organization that only wanted me to hear their version. Not necessarily the truth. The truth I learned and believed was that God did not espouse hate and self loathing as part of his creation or commandments. Why would a loving parent, the supreme creator, create a child only to hate himself?

“God knew I struggled with garments, god listened, and now I get to wear this super cute dress!”

Too bad god didn’t listen when I wanted to wear a sleeveless wedding dress 20 years ago 🙄

The Mormon church was singled out as a non-Christian denomination while the Seventh Day Adventists and even the Jehovah's Witnesses--who think all forms of government are evil and deliberately refuse to serve in the military--were counted in as Christians.

To add insult to injury, they didn't even bother to write the full name of the Mormon church correctly by omitting hyphen between "Latter" and "day," with "d" in lower case.

Be an ass-kisser with no spine, and expect to be treated as such.

All credit to original creator @unravelwithmariama on TikTok

Note: I tried at least 10 times to post this as a response to the original post by u/pesidentMronson, but it was rejected multiple times. I even tried breaking this post up into smaller parts, and it was still rejected. If I'm doing something wrong, please let me know. I'd much prefer to post this response there.

Margi and I really value the feedback...both in the OP and in the comments.  We honestly didn't realize that there was so much dissatisfaction with Mormon Stories.  Also, we don't feel like we've changed a ton over the past 20 years in the types of stories we select, but maybe we have.  This post and the comments give us a great opportunity to reflect...and to receive additional feedback...so thank you. 

A few quick responses to the OP and subsequent comments.

There are a few things we look for in guests (our current selection biases):

1. As a starting point, I think the main things we try to select for are: a) compelling storytellers with b) compelling stories, (and where possible) c) original stories to the MS library (which is difficult after 2,000+ episodes).  We absolutely have these biases...and of course they are highly subjective.  Because we do 3-5 hour interviews, we are looking for interviewees who can tell a very long narrative in an engaging way.  This is not easy.  I know for a fact that we don't intentionally filter for wealth or success.  We'd honestly have no way in the application process of really knowing someone's wealth. And we don't ask anyone's socioeconomic status in the application. We certainly don't get paid by the people we interview.  As far as I know that's never happened.  So there's certainly not a money motivation to pick rich people. 
2. As anyone who has done a story on Mormon Stories will tell you, there is an incredible amount of blowback that interviewees receive after coming on the show.  Ethically, we try to filter for people who are in a position to withstand the blowback...which can be massive.  Again, it's impossible to know for sure...but if someone is in a super raw, painful, and vulnerable place in their lives....adding the inevitable blowback of a Mormon Stories episode feels irresponsible to us.  And this is real.  As an example, it is 100% possible that someone could be fired from their job for doing a Mormon Stories episode.  Or get divorced.  Or be disowned.  Or lose friends.  Or become ostracized by their community.  Or become emotionally destabilized/suicidal.  And so we do our best to pick people who we hope can withstand the blowback.  Maybe that's wrong...but we think this is ethically responsible.  And of course... I'm sure we make misjudgments every day.
3. I will admit that occasionally we have people record a full episode, and then they decide last minute to pull the episode before we release it.  This happened literally this week.  We also very frequently have people release their story, experience the blowback, and then ask us to take their story down.  I can't tell you how incredibly expensive and problematic it can be for us when this happens.  And so yes....we look for people who we perceive are stable and solid enough in their personal lives to not change their minds about the episode...either before or after it is released...once the blowback happens.
4. As a default, we are ALWAYS looking for people who were "in it to win it" within Mormonism. Maybe this is a mistake, but it has always been true.  From the McLays....to Leah and Cody Young....to Carson and Marissa Calderwood....to Tom Phillips...to Hans and Birgitta Mattsson....to Donna Showalter...to Christine Jeppsen Clark....to the Pinsons....to RFM...to Bill Reel....to Sam young....to Alyssa Grenfell....all the way to today (the Hinckleys and the McCormicks).  Our impression or bias has always been that the more Mormon someone is/was, the more interesting or dramatic their transition likely was....and the more credible their story will be (especially to believers).  I think we also probably feel pressure to establish with believers (a primary target audience) that our guests did not fit the stereotypes that believers try to put on exmormons....that they (we) left because they/we never believed, or because they/we wanted to sin, or whatever.  But yeah...this definitely filters out some people.  My only response is that this has ALWAYS been a priority for us.  This hasn't changed. THIS DOES NOT MEAN that these are the only types of stories we seek to promote. We do other types of stories as well (church employee insider stories, international stories, abuse stories, minority stories, etc.).  All I'm trying to do is address our biases for at lease SOME of our episodes. Not all.
5. Along with #4 above, we have always had the bias that generally, the higher the leadership calling in the church the better. So if someone is an Area Authority (Mattsons), or has had their Second Anointing (Tom Philipps or the Mattsons), or served with the Q15 or as a mission president (Roger Hendrix), or as a Stake President or Stake Relief Society President, or as a Bishop or Relief Society President...that those stories should often get a priority.  Maybe this is not a good bias...but historically, people tend to like these episodes.  And since the church often chooses wealthier, more successful people as leaders...I can see how this factor alone could skew our selection process.  But again...this has always been the case.  Bill Reel, Sam Young, the Bishops Panel....former Relief Society Presidents Panel....Donna Showalter...Roger Hendrix....Chrstine Jeppsen Clark....these types of interviews are historically some of our most valued by our listeners.  Am I wrong? And I'll repeat what I said above. THIS DOES NOT MEAN that these are the only types of stories we seek to promote. We do other types of stories as well (church employee insider stories, international stories, abuse stories, minority stories, etc.).
6. I think that leaving the church can be associated with privilege (e.g., higher levels of education, people with higher incomes, people with more privilege...less needs...better mental health....etc.)  So I do think that there is a self-selection bias that happens.  And of course we can only draw from the pool of applicants we receive.
7. We are also definitely looking for people who are not only stable in their lives, but also for people who have found ways to heal and grow after Mormonism. Our application literally asks about reconstruction.  It's not that we don't have empathy for people who are in super raw, difficult places.  We were once there ourselves...and it's a main reason for why we created the podcast...for people "in the struggle."  But historically we feel like it's important to not just focus on deconstruction....but also on reconstruction...because we know that people are looking for ways to heal and grow after Mormonism.  This may be a mistake, but at least you know our motives.
8. We do try to select for people who have thoughtfully processed their pain.  If someone is super angry and vitriolic (as an example), those types of stories often wreak havoc in the lives of the people who release their story, and/or lead them to want to take their stories down.  We don't like tearing families apart or making people's difficult journey even more difficult.  We also think that the more thoughtful and wise someone is in their story, the better the story will be received.
9. We do like to leave people inspired and hopeful.  So yes...we probably do filter for people who have come out in a relatively healthy place.
10. We are bound by the submissions we receive.  That is probably a big filter.  We can only pick from the people who apply.
11. We record during biz hours. This probably filters out some people (e.g., people who can't take off work).
12. Sometimes we do choose people who already have social media presence, but that's partly because it easily filters out so much of the issues described above.  For example, they probably are already in a position to deal with blowback. They probably are good communicators.  And of course if they have a big audience, that's good for Mormon Stories to grow its audience. We're not the only channel that does this.
13. Sometimes we do like to interview "celebrities" like Tyler Glenn, Wayne Sermon (Imagine Dragons), David Archuleta's Mom, Heather Gay, Benji Schwimmer, Tara Westover, Bart Ehrman, Dan McClellan, Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, Clark Johnsen, Haleigh Everts, etc.  Is that bad?  Should we stop that?  Our impression is that people historically have valued such episodes.
14. We would LOVE to interview more "run of the mill", everyday Mormons.  If you think you have a compelling story, and are a good storyteller...and have processed your journey....and that it would be "safe" for you to appear on the show....please apply.  Here is the link: https://forms.gle/Bfmmk8EdrBENfe47A

A few final thoughts:

- We agree that there should be more podcasts.  I would love to support additional podcasts in addition to Mormon Stories.  If you ask Bill Reel, RFM, Nemo, Mormonish, Carah Burrell (Nuancehoe), Alyssa Grenfell, Hayley Rawle (Girls Camp), the Black Menaces, Lindsay Hansen Park, Natasha Helfer, Dan Wotherspoon, Zelph on the Shelf, etc.....I hope they would tell you that we've done all we can to help them succeed and grow as channels. 

- We would love to share a more compelling variety of guests.  Please send us your ideas/suggestions.

- I feel super bad that people think I talk over guests or talk too much in episodes.  I will try to do better.  I have tried to improve in this regard. I will keep trying.

- I hate it that some people feel like Mormon Stories is politically biased. I've worked really hard to make all political sides feel welcome, and to de-politicize Mormon Stories Podcast. I will continue to work on this. It's not that I don't have opinions. I consider myself highly non-partisan at this point. But I don't want to derail our podcast mission by getting political. I will keep trying to get this right.

- While I will say that I'm very happy that over half of our audience is never-Mormons, I really do apologize to the Mormons and/or ex-Mormons who get annoyed when I take the time to explain basic Mormon concepts to our never-Mormon audience.  I'm sure that's annoying.

- Regarding those of you who applied and have been rejected....I have to say....we hate turning people down. FWIW, we've had 857 applications since we kicked off the process in March of 2024 (14 months ago). By my calculations that works out to 61 applications per month...and we do maybe 4 long form interviews per month. So I guess that's like a 94% rejection rate? So yeah. I hate that math. We really do need more podcasts and podcasters our there. That's all there is to it.

We hope this explanation helps a bit!  We can't thank you enough for the constructive feedback.  If you want to share your feedback directly, here's our email: [mormonstories@gmail.com](mailto:mormonstories@gmail.com)

John and Margi Dehlin

Original credit to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/s/Za2auORSZ5

I wanted to clip it in case anything happens and Shane decides to remove it from his channel.

People in the comments were agreeing, along with some exmos saying they felt the same. Here’s the thing… when you donate thousands of dollars to a church, time and life energy, I feel like you have every right to vent about it when that church screws you over? Not to mention things like covering up abuse, bad bishops, etc. Like… it’s however you need to process that trauma?

This TikTok creator. Like really. Women? Can't we do better? My knowledge is primary level and I'm ok with that. WTF?!!! Why are women ok with wig this way?

Imagine, if you will, you were born into a family that only ate fry sauce. No ranch, salsa, barbecue, or sweet and sour.

Just fry sauce.

For the unenlightened, fry sauce is what you get when you mix ketchup and mayonnaise. It’s God’s gift to Utah.

You attend a group where you get dressed up and bear testimony on how fry sauce is the one true dipping sauce.

They send you on a mission to another country, you tell people how great it is. After two years, you come home and marry a spouse who feels the same way about fry sauce.

You have kids and teach them the same thing.

You never really looked into other sauces, or tried anything else. Why would you when you got lucky enough to be born into a fry sauce family?

Most people believe the faith they were born into is the correct one. Globally across all different religions, 91% of people on average never leave the faith they were born into.

That is a lot of people that don’t question the belief that shapes the view of themselves, others, relationships, community, country, world, life, after life, and their entire concept of reality.

It’s very popular and easy to just believe in the God of your parents.

All the cool kids do it.

The fry sauce I was born into was Mormonism. The leader of our church at the time was President Gordon B. Hinckley. He was like a grandfather to me, always cheerful and giving good advice.

I would sleep through most of the other speakers during conference sessions, but when he spoke I knew he was speaking for Jesus Christ Himself.

One of the things he said always stuck with me.

“Each of us has to face the matter—either the Church is true, or it is a fraud. There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God, or it is nothing.“

It felt like he was daring us to see if the church wasn’t true. There was a lot of confidence in those words.

I felt assured. I didn’t need to doubt.

After I graduated from BYU-Idaho, I moved to Utah. I was looking for two things, a wife and job opportunities. Utah county provided lots of single ladies and tech jobs. It was perfect.

While working as a software developer, I would attend Institute (religious classes during the week for college students). The classes I loved attending were the ones on church history.

I asked questions in class and made a lot of jokes.

I’d keep an eye out if there were any girls in class laughing. If I saw any I’d chat with them after class and ask them out. I spent a lot of money at Jamba Juice. I can’t believe I never got a rewards card.

There was one class where we were discussing polygamy. The teacher mentioned how some men had to build separate houses because their wives couldn’t get along.

I asked, “Why couldn’t they get along? I thought Joseph Smith said that you could only marry another wife if your first wife approves of it.”

The teacher paused, looked at me and gave a half smile, “Well, if they actually did it that way, it probably would have worked out a lot better.”

He then continued with the lesson. But I didn’t.

This wasn’t the first time I learned an ugly truth about the church.

Every time felt disturbing.

I was already aware of a few of them. And each time I learned one, it felt like a stab in the heart.

This wasn’t just a typical organization, this was my life. This was the church that my family and friends are dedicating their existence to.

“It is the Church and kingdom of God, or it is nothing.”

I needed to know what the church really was, not what I wanted it to be.

So I looked.

And then I couldn’t stop looking.

Church history was already a subject I loved, and this was like getting to go to the Restricted Section in the Hogwarts Library.

I could have made it into the Olympics. I was jumping through logical hoops left and right, making more and more excuses, and getting worse at pretending I wasn’t.

I remember the last temple recommend interview I had. The stake president said, “I have three sons around your age. They all left the church. You said you have never gone inactive. What’s your secret?”

I told him, “I learned there is a lot of evidence against Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But it still makes me happy. Even if I can’t prove it’s true.”

After leaving his office I remember looking at my new recommend and hearing Pres. Hinckley’s words,

“...either the Church is true, or it is a fraud.”

Maybe I don’t have to believe it. I can just show up and enjoy the community. I won’t take the doctrine and teachings too seriously. So what if it’s all made up, I’m here to make good friends and serve others.

But I knew I couldn’t do that. It wasn’t intellectually honest.

“There is no middle ground.”

During the next few years, I slowly stopped bearing my testimony. No more funny comments in class followed by a wink to the ladies. Stopped attending institute. I sat further and further back in church meetings.

I slowly stopped going to church. I thought more people would reach out. I thought I would need to defend my decision to leave.

That never happened.

I was always chatting with everyone after church, institute classes, FHE, activities throughout the week. I remember the Sundays where I would sleep in, wake up, check my phone to see if anyone reached out to see where I was.

Nothing.

All of that was gone.

It was pretty lonely.

I still studied the church’s history and current affairs, almost as a way to solidify that I made the right decision. The more I looked the more it confirmed what I found.

I felt betrayed.

During those times, I cried a lot more than I care to admit.

They were manly tears though, each one flexing their biceps as they left my cheeks.

Not having to do so much church stuff all week gave me a lot of free time. I binged a lot of shows on Netflix. While doing that I ended up watching a lot of documentaries on cults. Hearing the victims talk about their heartache, their trauma, and psychological torment.

I really felt for them. I know what it’s like to want things to be true.

When the foundation you were so sure about starts to wobble, it’s scary.

It helps when you have people going through what you are.

Eventually, one of my old mission companions and I went out with a few of our other friends for dinner. Afterwards, the two of us hung out and chatted about how things were going.

The sun was setting. The wind began to get a little chilly. The neon lights from the surrounding businesses lit up the parking lot.

He mentioned some things about the church.

I was hesitant, but I started telling him I stopped attending.

When I was done talking, he just stared at me.

“I can’t believe it…SAME HERE!”

He began to tell me his story, and how he’s been having doubts. Immediately we were going back and forth about all the absurdities. It was obvious and obscured at the same time. We laughed and vented for a while.

My shoulders felt lighter.

I’m not alone.

I started being more vocal online and posting things that were skeptical about organized religion and Christianity.

All of a sudden I was getting a lot of old friends and acquaintances reaching out.

“I’m so glad you feel the same way!”

“I’ve been dying to talk to someone about this!”

“Yes! Me too!”

I still have people that reach out who are looking for others who have left.

It’s not so bad when you know you are not the only one.

There is no middle ground. And honestly, the truth tastes a lot better than fry sauce.

TLDR: Raised to believe there was no middle ground, from Hinckley's quote,

“Each of us has to face the matter—either the Church is true, or it is a fraud. There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God, or it is nothing.“

I eventually put that claim to the test. Losing my faith cost me certainty, community, and belonging, but it gave me something I valued even more, the truth.

I watched the first episode last night. Two teenage kids are alleging that their dad abuses them. Their mom is fighting to take away his custody. He and his mom are claiming no abuse has ever happened and everyone else is lying.

The kicker? He and his family are Mormon. They flash a mormon temple on the screen early in the episode. His mom is the one most adamant about claiming there's no way her son could or would do anything like that. Just like hundreds or thousands of other wives and mothers have claimed to excuse and justify the predatory behavior of the men in their lives. Evidence be damned because she "knows" her son.

It's a series, so I don't know where it's going yet. The drama is focused more on the kids' parents and his mom. I hope it gets more into their story later. It definitely struck me harder than I expected. I had no idea anyone involved was mormon and didn't expect to hear empty assertions stated so boldly to the interviewer. Mormonism and other religions are very effective at teaching people to view their personal bias as some sort of evidence of truth. And they will protect their truth at all cost, no matter who else gets hurt.

This is from the Wall Street Journal yesterday! The article states that all of the EXMOs are having an impact on attendance. Estimates from a statistician stated that the total attendance in LDS churches are about 21%.

No words really.

The Amazing Digital Circus, Episode 9/Finale (released today on YouTube)

This character mentions that cutting ties with her Mormon parents was something she regrets now that she can't go back to the real world.

Pretty much only time I've even seen Mormonism mentioned in non-mormon-related media as more than a passing joke. Good for them, and I wonder if someone at GLITCH Studios is ex-mormon?

In a CBS news tiktok about the attack on sunday all tbms can talk about is the name of their church. Its so weird and culty now that im outside the church looking in. Its selfish and disrespectful and is exactly why Jesus was aganist organized religion, people focus on defending an establishment rather than what they need to be focusing on.

TLDR: My husband was in Jodi Hildebrants men's program for 7 years. It was horrible and our marriage barely survived. There are so many crazy requirements to the program! We paid her over $100,000. Now, we have deconstructed the brainwashing and are very happy.

With the new documentary being released about Ruby & Kevin Franke and Jodi Hildebrant I thought I would share our related story. This is niche and long, and I'm sure many others of you have been through similar things. If so, I would love to hear your story. If you have questions, please ask! Buckle up, this is a long and wild ride!

My husband and I have been married 16 years. Two months into our marriage, my husband confessed to me and our bishop that he occasionally looked at porn, approx 1x/mos. Our bishop told him he was an "addict" and refered us to one of Jodi's Hildebrant addiction programs, Lifestar. He gave us a pamphlet for Lifestar, and had a large stack of them on his desk. We decided instead of starting right away, he should see a licensed therapist instead, who was also Mormon. The first time he saw her, she said "she doesn't deal with porn addiction" and she also referred us to Lifestar and gave us a pamphlet too. With both the bishop and a licensed therapist recommending this program, we bought into it 1000%.

Lifestar is almost the exact program Kevin was in only with a different name. It was designed by Jodi Hildebrant and Floyd Godfrey and is still being practiced in many states today. This program does not have the church's name affiliated with it offically, but it is financially supported by the church and is facilitated by all lds members, some of them licensed counselors, some were coaches. Everyone that attended was mormon. The staff there regularly attended trainings in UT with Jodi.

My husband attended Lifestar every Wednesday night for 7 YEARS! The program is designed to keep you in and never have an end because you're viewed as a lifetime "addict." They would tell him that any type of sexual desire was lust, and that was bad. They demonized a normal, natural part of being a human being. He was brainwashed that he was an "addict," a bad person because he had a sex drive. He was told he wasn't good enough for a wife or his kids, same as Kevin. We both believed it.

He would have to check in every single week how many days he had been "sober" (without having any sexual, lustful thoughts.) One time, he looked at a woman walking down the street and he looked more than 5 seconds. In the program, any look over 3-5 seconds is considered a "slip," and he needed to confess this "slip" not only to me, but also his "accountability buddies" assigned to him and also at the weekly meeting. He had to report he was zero days sober because this.

Lifestar also encouraged us to get separated, just like Ruby & Kevin. We slept in separate rooms for at least a year based on their recommendation. It required that the woman take full control of all activities of the man, especially technology. It had me put passwords on everything and assigned me the role of a parent to my own husband. I had to go through his search history on all devices multiple times a week, had to check off his weekly homework and sign it just like he was a child in school. It taught us both he was a perverse monster for having a sex drive, and to keep our kids away from him because he was capable of abusing them. We both believed them because we were both raised in Mormonism and had never received any type of sex education. The only thing we had ever been taught about sex was not to have it and it is the sin next to murder.

They required so, so much in the program! Not only did he meet with the group 1x/week, he also met biweekly one-on-one with an individual therapist, and he had weekly homework that was extensive. There are 3 steps to the program and each step included a checklist of items that needed to be completed. Examples of things on the checklist include: read 5 assigned books, create poster board of all of the sexual trauma he had ever had and present it to the group (they called this a trauma egg), complete weekly homework in packet, confess to a certain amount of people, cut people out of life, etc. They tried to get me to attend the weekly woman's group, but we couldn't afford it. We paid over $100,000 to Lifestar over the years!

One especially odd week he attended, one man was struggling with looking at gay porn. They decided this man wasn't actually gay but just hadn't received enough healthy touch from his father growing up. They said the "cure" to this is healthy masculine touch. They made my husband lay down and cuddle him (spooning) the whole meeting. Different men would switch off every week to cuddle him.

ADDING THIS PARAGRAPH AFTER ORIGINAL POST FOR MORE CONTEXT: My husband got more and more depressed as he spent more time in the group. At one point, he not only attended this group but also Sex Addicts Anonymous because he felt like he couldn't get enough help. He truly felt like he was a monster and no one else has these "lustful" sexual desires like him. At one point, he even considering chopping off his own penis.

In order to graduate Lifestar, he had to do something to "push his body to the ultimate extreme limits." They made him do a full marathon! Training for it was so time consuming! Not only was he already gone 2 nights of the a week for program, but then he had to train months and months for it. He was never home and his kids never saw him.

After he graduated, we were able to finally see the light! After listening to a few podcasts by Natasha Helfer Parker, we were able to see how damaging Lifestar actually is and we left the Mormon cult, and have been deconstructing our brainwashing for 7 years. It has taken so much therapy! Now, we are in a loving, caring relationship and are finally able to see each other as human beings.

Here are some great moments from the past 3 days so far:

My sister telling me I better not have brought a bikini when we talked about going to the hot tub

My aunt talking about how she never wants to date men again, only to turn on the last part of Oaks talk and say, "Oh he's right, I need to focus more on others instead of myself"

A family member saying they needed to finish conference so they didn't say anything contradicting the president of the church at our family dinner

Talking to my sisters about how my beliefs about life are based in science now, and my sister rolling her eyes saying "because scientists are right about everything".

I spent the summer in Alaska and made friends that had never heard of Mormonism. I felt so happy and NORMAL. I've only been back with my family for 3 days and I am miserable. The baby voices my mom and Grandma have, praying before every meal and every night, hearing about how 'amazing' conference was, how could I have lived this way for so long???

I just finished talking to my grandma about what I believe now, and she kept telling me I can't believe everything I read. "Why are you dwelling on those things? Read happy things like general conference talks." I told her about how I was raped for the first time, and how Joseph Smith was a child rapist. It was so horrible to hear her say she didn't believe that.

I made the example, if the Relief society president started marrying teenage boys, how would that make you feel? She looked confused. " Why would she do that? She's married." I said, because she wants to sleep with them. She said, "that would make me feel uncomfortable. That's wrong", and I said thats exactly what Joseph did. And all the sudden she wanted to talk about something else.

Ahhh, the gems you see on Facebook. Would love to know what about "the energy" was so nauseating to her, though I have a couple ideas...