It's all about the journey ...right? 'Reason' seems to be a noun, a place to which I am attempting to journey. 'Reason' more accurately represents my reality as a verb - my journey is something that I am relentlessly trying to reason in a world confounded by human emotion and ruled by illogical judgments. Through documenting my thoughts on science, philosophy, religion, politics, and day-to-day life I can infer some meaning from this journey and find like-minded humans with which to share it.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Glad to be an Ex
This is one of my favorite shorts from a new website called I am an Ex-Mormon:
I would love to see something like this expanded to more than just ex-Mormons. The world could use more examples of how happy (and moral) people are without religion.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
While I appreciate and even agree with the sentiment about wishing to extend this project to other faiths, I think other faiths may not need it as much as the Mormon religion does. When I talk with others who grew up religious, none of them seem--to me--to have really experienced the way being Mormon consumes your entire life.
In the US, Utah is pretty much the only area that's extremely religiously homogeneous. In the South, if you find a town with two families, there'll be three churches. That's just not how it works where I'm from. I think people from Islamic countries might better understand, or even pre-Protestant Reformation Europe.
Being Mormon--especially in Utah--really is a lifestyle. It's not just going to church or praying at times. It's an identity. It defines which friends you can have, and, especially for young men, what you'll be doing with your young adult life. This isn't the Southern Baptist religion where people go on "missions" for the summer with their friends. Mormon missions are 2-year stints of social isolation.
I get that I can't evaluate this objectively, but really, I think this project is needed, and I think that Mormons need it most.
Yeah - I think that's a very good point. This is probably more meaningful to Ex-Mormons than Ex-Protestants because of the points your make.
However, I was thinking about the effects it has, not on the individual, but on the public who sees it. In that regard, it would be nice to see "Ex-Pentecostal", "Ex-Baptist", "Ex-Lutheran", etc. to demonstrate (if nothing else) a shifting zeitgeist and the diversity of people who are non-believers - also, it's great to see that you can escape any faith (I think).
Btw - why is your name showing up as a really long number?
2 comments:
While I appreciate and even agree with the sentiment about wishing to extend this project to other faiths, I think other faiths may not need it as much as the Mormon religion does. When I talk with others who grew up religious, none of them seem--to me--to have really experienced the way being Mormon consumes your entire life.
In the US, Utah is pretty much the only area that's extremely religiously homogeneous. In the South, if you find a town with two families, there'll be three churches. That's just not how it works where I'm from. I think people from Islamic countries might better understand, or even pre-Protestant Reformation Europe.
Being Mormon--especially in Utah--really is a lifestyle. It's not just going to church or praying at times. It's an identity. It defines which friends you can have, and, especially for young men, what you'll be doing with your young adult life. This isn't the Southern Baptist religion where people go on "missions" for the summer with their friends. Mormon missions are 2-year stints of social isolation.
I get that I can't evaluate this objectively, but really, I think this project is needed, and I think that Mormons need it most.
Yeah - I think that's a very good point. This is probably more meaningful to Ex-Mormons than Ex-Protestants because of the points your make.
However, I was thinking about the effects it has, not on the individual, but on the public who sees it. In that regard, it would be nice to see "Ex-Pentecostal", "Ex-Baptist", "Ex-Lutheran", etc. to demonstrate (if nothing else) a shifting zeitgeist and the diversity of people who are non-believers - also, it's great to see that you can escape any faith (I think).
Btw - why is your name showing up as a really long number?
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