Decade of FAIRLDS.org.. has it been good or bad for LDS Inc?

[_Polygamy-Porter]

June 29, 2001. The domain name FairLDS.org was registered.

It wasn't until later the next year that content started appearing on the site.

http://web.archive.org/web/200210030235 ... irlds.org/

It has been nearly 10 years online.

Has it been for good or evil for LDS Inc?

I would venture to guess that there have been far more who have left due to FairLDS than those who have remained.

From the numbers, I'd say John Dehlin has probably done more to retain tithe payers than Fair.

Personally I used both the content and the then message boards to help get my brothers out.

They were befuddled by the apologetics and shocked at the defenders demeanor.

Lets hope for another 10 years of bleeding the LDS Inc beast of tithes with the wonderful support of FairLDS and MD&D!

[_Shulem]

The church is in real trouble as it bleeds of members. The youth are dropping out like flies and older men feel guilty because they look at porn. How can you cheerfully go to the temple with a smile on your face when you're a masturbator?

The church is in real trouble. FAIR helps advertise the controversies and it causes many to doubt who would prefer answers from their leaders and not apologists -- of which have zero authority to represent the church.

Keep up the good work FAIR! Bleed the church until it's dead.

Paul O

[_annie]

I think we have to be careful about saying that people leave because of FAIR, I'm not sure that it's quite as simple as that and I think such claims are easy for FAIR to dismiss. I can only speak for myself, but FAIR didn't cause me to leave the church. Several years ago (probably in 2004) I started to have doubts and I began to look for answers online. I had some interactions with Jeff Lindsay who was very kind and polite (although I found his answers unsatisfying) and then I found NOM and Mormon Stories and I settled for being a participating member (YW Pres at the time) with a lot of shelved doubts.

My husband wasn't at all happy that I was asking questions - he wanted me to find the answers (which he was certain were out there) and he wanted me to go back to being a 100% true believing member. I spent a lot of time looking for answers. During my online search there were two places where I felt very uncomfortable; one was RFM, the other place was the FAIR message board - they seemed like two sides of the same coin. I read posts by TBMs at RFM and posts by struggling members at FAIR and it seemed that the board responses were similar, there was a pack mentality and posters who didn't have the 'right' ideas were attacked. Maybe I was a big wuss, maybe I should have relished the conflict and got stuck right in, but I'd been taught my whole life that contention was of the devil and that the only reason to shout was if the house was on fire. Consequently the hostility didn't just surprise me, it made me feel very uncomfortable.

I read some apologetic articles on polygamy and I also read about horses/tapirs and versions of the first vision etc. I had imagined that the apologists would be more convincing - I was horribly disappointed with their justifications and explanations. I thought about registering at FAIR to ask more questions, but whenever I read the board, the tone made me feel very uncomfortable and I worried that I would be seen as a troll (I never registered at RFM either, just to make that clear). In the end, it was NOM and Mormon Stories that kept me in the church. John even found the time to email me and I exchanged private messages with people on the NOM board who were making church work for them.

After several years of questioning, I left the church. I didn't leave because of FAIR, but when I was searching for help and answers I found FAIR off-putting - it was clearly not a place for people like me and I think that's a big problem. Most chapel Mormons aren't confrontational and aggressive. Questioning members need to find online communities where they are treated with compassion and kindness - when I was questioning I found compassion and kindness at Mormon Stories and NOM.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

annie you make some good points.

I agree that Fair probably is not THE reason someone leave the Mormon church.

It does accelerate the realization for many that Mormon theology is made up BS.

To be fair, I will admit that regardless of how sweet and sugarcoated the apologetics could or should have been, the cold hard facts were too much for myself.

I did what my parents should have done and presented the facts to my children.

Happy atheist children is the result.