There have been so many posts about soaking and BYU lately that I thought you might have questions. Burner account to not dox myself
How many “closeted,” for lack of a better word, ex-Mormons do you think there are? Like not hard numbers, but is that very common due to the difficulty of leaving and ostracism?
Related, how many Mormons who aren’t complete chuds do you know? Like I know that mainline Christianity (protestantism and western catholicism, I mean, I don’t know much of anything about Orthodox Christians) has a few strains that are trying to push for more, you know, anti-racist, pro-LGBT+, pro-working class forms of Christianity. I can tell as an outsider that to the extent that they exist at all they’re obviously not dominant, but is it a thing at all for Mormons?
When I was growing up I genuinely felt like the only “closeted” ex-Mormon in my community. It was very alienating. I tried reaching out quietly to a few friends and family about it at the time, but they all freaked and started lecturing me about apostates. I think it’s becoming easier and easier to leave the church via knowledge and communities on the internet, though. Membership growth is falling, which I think is telling given the huge families they typically have.
As for non-chuds, there are some Mormons whose hearts are in the right place. There’s a small movement of Mormons in Utah who attend Pride and advocate for LGBTQ+ acceptance. They’re usually quashed by the church pretty quickly though, sometimes they’re excommunicated for their efforts.
