Why I resigned

 

My grandmother was born in Salt Lake City in the 1920s. She has never been a Mormon either before or after, but when she was 8 years old, she went to a friend’s birthday party and was baptized in the pool. She didn’t know what had happened or that it had any significance. I am certain that her parents were never informed.

She lived her normal life, and married another non-Mormon, my grandfather. Fast-forward to my mother, 16 years old, living in Utah. The local ward came around to bother my grandmother, a “member” of the LDS Church. She was not, to put it mildly, interested. However, one young woman in the ward became best friends with my mother, and my mom became the only member on her side of the family. She still is.

When I found out that Maude may be pregnant, I decided right then and there that I would resign my membership. I think the whole process of resigning is faintly ridiculous and overdramatic. Who goes to the trouble of formally renouncing their membership in a voluntary organization like a church?

I would prefer to just drift away, never go back to church, never again consider myself a Mormon. Unfortunately, that’s not the way the Church works. As long as you’re on their list, they have the God-given duty to bring you back. Your soul is at stake! You’ll thank them for it, just as soon as you come back into the fold.

Even that I could deal with for the rest of my life, but the thought of the name of my son or daughter on their rolls chills me. Sure, it would only be as a “child of record” but who knows how long they really keep that information.

Unlike my parents, I am not going to raise my child in a religion. Unlike my parents, I am not going to pressure my child to follow a specific religion. If Rod or Todd wants to become a Mormon and go on a mission, he is free to do so. But he will do so with his eyes open, an option that I did not have.

Any organization that I’m voluntarily affiliated with reflects on me. The Mormon Church has a history and a present filled with racism, sexism, and homophobia. It is an organization filled with rot, from the top down. When I think about sheer amounts of time, effort, and goodwill expended on behalf of the Church by good men and women, it makes me queasy. These are people, trying to do what’s right, serving an organization that does not respect them and will use up every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears only to shamelessly ask for more.

People often say that going after tobacco companies is wrong since the adults who smoke and get cancer knew exactly what they were getting into. I disagree. Something like 80% of smokers start when they were under 18. I wonder what percentage of Mormons were baptized before they were 18.

I made a promise (that I didn’t know I was going to be making five seconds before I made it) that I would sacrifice everything I had to this Church. Unfortunately, that was before I found out that they had lied to me, lied to my parents, and expected me not to care. My parents told me this church was good, and I trusted them. My parents may love me, but they don’t always know best.

Today, I refuse to be part of this organization; I refuse to have my name associated with an entity that causes so much pain and heartache. It is full of good people and bad people, but the organization is fundamentally rotten, and has been from Fanny Alger to the Fancher Party, from Mark E. Peterson to Mark Hoffman. Goodbye.