The Path of the Uncorrelated Mormon

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The Path of the Uncorrelated Mormon

• John Dehlin

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How do we create local and global communities of
support for uncorrelated Mormons?

• The only question (for me)

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(No Transcript)
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(Need help developing this presentation)
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(Not about word parsing, academic posturing)
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Some Common Stages

• True believer
• Traumatized believer
• Liberal believer
• Evaporation of traditional belief
• Pragmatic, non-believing participant
• Ex/Post-Mormon

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The True Believer
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To believe in God is impossible. To not believe
in Him is absurd.

• Voltaire

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If God did not exist it would be necessary to
invent him.

• Voltaire

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True Believer

• God lives and He loves us
• The scriptures are His word
• Jesus died that we may live with God someday
• Church leaders (GAs and local) speak for God
• LDS church members are chosen
• The LDS church is true
• Obey and be blessed

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Beautifully simple, Simply beautiful

• (Iron rod)

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16,000,000 reasons to love Mormonism
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If I could have stayed in this stage, I would
have
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The Traumatized Believer
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Love
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Studying Church History

• Multiple, varying first vision accounts
• Josephs use of folk magic/treasure digging
• Book of Mormon translation (stone/hat)
• Masonry / temple connection
• Polygamy/polyandry and deception

• Kinderhook plates
• Book of Abraham
• Churchs history with race
• Dis-empowerment of women
• Mountain Meadows Massacre
• General lack of candor by church

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Thinking about doctrine/theology

• Taking the Bible seriously
• God-sanctioned genocide, sexism, homophobia?
• The need for an atonement?
• One true church w/ exclusive authority?
• Apostasy?
• Historical Book of Mormon?
• Proxy work for the dead?
• Church led by God?

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Spiritual Issues

• Never receiving a spiritual witness
• Feeling unfulfilled in church activity
• Feeling spiritually led elsewhere
• Redefining your understanding of spiritual
  knowledge
• Disaffection of a loved-one

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Cultural Issues

• Developing racial sympathies
• Developing feminist sympathies
• Developing LGBTQ (gay) feelings or sympathies
• Developing liberal political sympathies
• Extensive exposure to non-Mormons

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Organizational Issues

• Corporate culture
• Culture of authority, rules, and unquestioning
  obedience
• Culture of patriarchy
• The billion mall

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Non-Sources of Trauma (Disaffection Myths)

• A desire to sin
• Being offended
• Caring too little

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No single smoking gun.instead a mosaic that
lacks credibility
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Credible concerns by credible people
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For many, its the Churchs credibility that
becomes the issue
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The Liberal Believer
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Liberal Believer

• The gospel is still mostly true, but the
  church/leaders arent perfect
• Buffet Mormon
• A shelf for doubts/concerns
• Lots of symbolic/metaphorical belief
• This is where God wants me.
• Patron saints Lowell Bennion, Eugene England,
  Richard Bushman

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Challenges to Liberal Phase

• The church is led in a somewhat authoritarian,
  literalistic way
• By nature, liberals question, dissect, disobey
• Open liberals are not generally appreciated in
  authoritarian organizations
• Hard to be authentic, and hard to not feel like
  an outlier
• Sometimes the trauma becomes too great

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Evaporation of Belief
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Evaporation of belief

• God, Christ, all religious beliefs often go out
  the window
• Hit rock bottom
• Very, very disturbing and unsettling for many
• Dark night of the soul

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Dark Night of the Soul

• No existential foundation
• Meaning, purpose, fear of death, loss of identity
  and values framework
• Fear of losing family, friends, social network,
  jobs
• Cant tell anyone. Desperately lonely
• Anxiety, depression, suicide

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At this point, some people circle back to a
previous stage
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Factors that Affect Circling Back

• What if my spouse leaves me?
• How will I raise my children?
• Concern about loss of respect from friends/family
• Concern about social isolation
• Desire to see a deceased loved one again
• Concern about death
• Concern about job security

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Pragmatic, Non-Believing Participant
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Pragmatic, Non-Believing Participant

• Enjoy it. Works for me.
• Cant find anything better

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Problems with the Pragmatic Perspective

• Usually involves staying silent
• Often leaves one feeling inauthentic
• Can lead to building internal pressure
• Can lead to bitterness/anger
• Can lead people to live a double-life

The eventual killer Integrity
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Ex/Post Mormon
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Ex/Post Mormon

• Often is an incredible act of courage
• Can lead to loss of family, friends, job, etc.
• Can leave a huge vacuum in life
• In early stages, can involve behaviors that are
  reactive to Mormonism
• Coffee, alcohol, etc.
• Involves establishing
• New identity
• New moral framework
• New social community
• Coping mechanisms for death, suffering

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1. There is a significant trend towards disbelief
and disengagement (uncorrelation) in the LDS
church

• (credibility and integrity are the 2 big issues)

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2. This trend is much bigger than just the LDS
church
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3. There is probably little to nothing
substantive that the church can do about it (and
stay strong)
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4. If you havent already become uncorrelated,
you likely will, and the majority of your
children or loved ones children most likely will
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5) Becoming uncorrelated causes a major
disruption and often leaves a significant vacuum
in an active LDS church members life
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The Biggest Gaps When People Become Uncorrelated

• Loss of spouse
• Loss of support for raising children and teens
• Loss of friends/family relationships
• Loss of moral framework
• Loss of identity
• Loss of spiritual framework/support
• Concern about job security

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Could We Create Together.

• Support for alternative approaches to a moral
  framework
• Support for alternative forms of spirituality
• A dating service for singles/divorced
• Local communities
• For children -- Local play groups
• For teens -- EFYs
• For college students -- College meet-up groups
• For couples/families Book clubs, study groups
• A new collective identity? (Reform Judaism)

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• NOT a church/religion
• Can co-exist with church/religion
• Positive, constructive approach
• Carry forward the good in what got us here
• Heavy emphasis on love/service
• Support of families (all types)
• Strong communities of support
• Encouraging healthy living

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• Leave behind the less desirable things
• Belief in harmful doctrine/theology
• Bigotry
• Sexism
• Authoritarianism
• Patriarchy
• Elitism
• Anti-intellectualism / anti-science
• Strong appreciation of science
• Rooted in common sense values/ethics

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How do we create local and global communities of
support in support of transcendence?

• The only question (for me)