Exmormon Foundation Conference

[_Dianne Ormond]

Ahhh, thank you, John. That means a lot to me.
Likewise, Sister Mary Lisa.
Also, thanks to the many people welcoming me to the board. I've read quite often on this site, especially enjoying those taking on DCP.

And yes, I get hostile thinking of the people defrauded of their tithing and time for a lie, especially my family members still entrapped.
Yet there is hope. Just a few days ago, a son I thought would be blinkered forever, started asking questions, and we know where questioning leads. (John, this is the son who was in North Carolina).
I now think I can get all my offspring out except one son. I'll have freed my husband and 6 of my 7 kids, with their generations to follow.

For anyone interested, my story is here, as well as other sites- http://www.mormonthink.com/itstartedwithscience.htm
My mantra: "Show me the evidence!"
Co-founder of CALM (Community After Leaving Mormonism) http://calm-ut.blogspot.com/
Treasurer, and Board Member of The Exmormon Foundation http://exmormonfoundation.org/node/2
Registrar for the Conference http://exmormonfoundation.org/2008Conference
Contributor of information to the guys at www.MormonThink.com , especially "Conflicts with Science" section

Yes, I admit I’m bragging, because I do a lot of freebie work for the cause, as do so many others.

[_LifeOnaPlate]

LifeonaPlate,

You have yet to say anything about the increasingly questioning members featured on your blog.

Instead of pontificating, show me evidence: archaeology, DNA, geology, anthropology, dendroclimatology, morphology, pollen, middens, fossils, linguistics, slag heaps, fossils, any Book of Mormon city, or any physical, scientific evidence. And oh yeah, tell me how the sun gets its light from Kolob, LOL.

I want credible, peer-reviewed evidence, and not the pathetic, apologetic EXCUSES for why there is NO evidence. It was the apologists’ pathetic excuses that got my son-in-law out.

Only true believers can swallow that horses mean tapir and deer, silk means rabbit fur, north by south means northwest by southeast, chariots mean sledges, steel swords mean macuahuitls, peepstone means Urim and Thummin, gold means tumbaga, Salamander is true (oops-forgery), DNA was swamped, and so on with all the word smithing (pun intended). How much does it take to get a clue from all the excuses? Pardon me while I laugh at the absurdity, along with the rest of the world.

Yes, I think it is irrational (or gullible) to believe in the Book of Mormon with no scientific evidence for it, and all the scientific evidence against it. Apologists play word games and fool themselves, obscuring reality with verbal fog, as they continue dancing around their dissonance.

Until you show me something more substantial than rhetoric, I’m moving on.

Perhaps the reading I should have first recommended are:
http://mormonthink.com/testimonyweb.htm
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)- by Carol Tavris, on cognitive dissonance, and why people cling to their opinions when evidence clearly shows they are in error.
Don’t Believe Everything You Think- by Thomas Kida, on the weirdness of peoples’ thinking.

As for people on my blog, I presume you refer to people commenting on Bushman's intro. That post is one of over a hundred, so by and large those who doubt the Church spend comparatively less time there than others. I regret when anyone loses their faith, especially if the process is painful for them.

I'm sorry you feel my responses were nothing but rhetoric. I do not agree, and wish you would respond to my points. As it stands, I don't expect such, and that is alright. I wish you the best.

[_moksha]

So do most of the ex-mormons in this group go straight to being atheists?

[_Dianne Ormond]

Their paths are as individual as they were leaving Mormonism. Some are agnostic, some atheist, some Christian, some Buddhist, I know of one turning Muslim, some spiritual but not religious, and more paths.

[_John Larsen]

So do most of the ex-mormons in this group go straight to being atheists?

Just the smart ones.










I'm kidding.

[_Equality]

I regret when anyone loses their faith

Loap, do you regret it when a Scientologist loses his faith? A Jehovah's Witness? A Branch Davidian? A Moonie? If so, why? If not, why do you regret it when a Mormon "loses" his or her faith? The Ex-Mormons I know are happy to be free from believing in falsehoods, even if the process of leaving behind magical thinking for rational thinking is a difficult one emotionally.

I know of one turning Muslim

Me, too. Sigh...

[_LifeOnaPlate]

I regret when anyone loses their faith

Loap, do you regret it when a Scientologist loses his faith? A Jehovah's Witness? A Branch Davidian? A Moonie? If so, why?

It depends on what the process is like for them and what it leads from and towards, actually. So you raise a good point; my comment deserves more nuance than I gave it in haste.

If not, why do you regret it when a Mormon "loses" his or her faith?

Again it depends on the process, effects and results.

The Ex-Mormons I know are happy to be free from believing in falsehoods, even if the process of leaving behind magical thinking for rational thinking is a difficult one emotionally.

I don't know if this is supposed to be a veiled insult or an explicit one, but I do, in fact, personally know people who experienced, and still experience pain over their loss of faith in the gospel. For you to paint all the former Mormons you know as happy, etc. is fine, but it doesn't take into account those who feel otherwise. I don't claim that all Mormons I know are much happier as Mormons than they might otherwise be, for example.

I know of one turning Muslim

Me, too. Sigh...[/quote]

In studying Islam I have found some wonderful things therein.

[_moksha]

In studying Islam I have found some wonderful things therein.

Good for you LOaP. My guess is that there is some good to be found in all religions including Scientology and the Unification Church.

[_WideOpenSpaces]

Hi,

I'm new to this discussion group, and probably will not be here often as I post mostly on exmormon@yahoogroups.com. Someone alerted me to the discussion here about RFM and The Exmormon Foundation. Since I've been on the Board of the Foundation almost from the beginning, and also the chair of the conference for the past 7 years, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents about what appears to be a continuing misunderstanding about the difference between RFM and the Foundation.

We are NOT the same organization, and never have been. Yes, some of us "met" years and years ago when the Exmormon yahoo list and the BB were about the only game in town. And it was people from those discussion lists that originally got together for the first time in Vegas. BUT......when the Foundation was organized, it was at that time primarily for the purposes of sponsoring the conferences, and having a clear record of monies and processes that would be open to one and all. We have NEVER owned or run the exmormon@yahoogroups.com list OR the RFM list, commonly known as the RFM Bulletin Board. I personally agree with a lot of the criticism of that BB, and the policies there -- and it's mainly why I never go there except to post announcements about the conference.

The Exmormon Foundation does not have any kind of discussion list, but does have a website: www.exmormonfoundation.org. Totally and completely separate and "non-affiliated" with RFM, and sometimes it's a puzzle to us as to why it continues to be confused, as we have explained this many times in the past. It seems to come up every year around conference time, and it's probably because I post announcements at the BB, and RFM does put up a banner ad for us each year on their site. Simply a courtesy -- it does not mean that they are the sponsor or owner of the conference or our website. Several other websites do the same.

Hope this clears it up. And hope that now I've cleared it up, some of you might not be so reluctant to join us at our conferences. They really are an informative, super fun place to be for a weekend!

Sue
V.P. Exmormon Foundation
Conf. Chair

[_collegeterrace]

So do most of the ex-mormons in this group go straight to being atheists?

Just the smart ones.

Moksha must find relief in this.