To Share an Experience
For the few people who actually read this, I doubt it will be offensive.
I know this because I lived in Utah (town called Layton, just north of SLC and in the county containing more Mormons per capita, Davis County). I was there for 10 years. My parents were in the Air Force and their orders took them to Hill AFB in Utah.
There's a slight difference between Utah Mormons and "out-of-state" Mormons. The OoS Mormons will hear you out and give you a chance; they're also nicer and not too hell-bent on converting you. The Utah Mormons.. that's all they do. They're mean. Here, I'll tell you about my experience when I was a child; this was when I learned the true meaning of prejudice.
We moved to Layton, Utah during my third grade year. The rest of that grade was fine; we were living in an apartment and everything was great. I put this with the fact that we lived pretty close to the base. When we moved into a house in an actual neighborhood, things were okay.. at first. Shortly after moving into that house, my dad left for a seven month deployment to Saudi Arabia; it was 1990/1991. The neighborhood we lived in was mostly Mormon; I think our house was the only non-Mormon home. I was about to start the fourth grade and didn't think about stuff like religion. I went to school and I played.
The school year starts and things are hunky-dory.. at first. A couple of weeks go by and the kids start asking my sister and me which ward we go to (a "ward" is in a large building, resembling that of a library, and there are several wards in one building; they're all on a rotating schedule so they don't impeded on another ward's time in a certain space). I said I didn't know what they were talking about. They came back a few days later asking what religion I was (4th graders in 1991) and I said I didn't know and that I'd never gone to church. I come home, ask my mom and she said to tell them Episcopalian (I found out later that was the church she was baptized in from high school). I went back the next day and tried to tell them (I couldn't remember what it was) and when they figured out that I wasn't Mormon, they said, "We can't play with you cuz you're not Mormon."
I was heartbroken. For the first time in my life, I didn't have any friends. My sister and I would come home crying from school because none of the kids would play with us. Looking back, I think it's ridiculous that their parents told them these things. The kids in the neighborhood apparently thought we didn't celebrate Christmas, so one year they decided to egg our house, shouting, "Christmas is for everybody!" or something like that.
I was banned from a [Mormon] friend's house because I asked a question. I think I was in the sixth grade. You see, from what I remember, Mormons believe that when a husband and wife die, the husband has to call the wife up to Heaven by a special name she's given while in the Temple (when they get married). The first thing that popped into my head was, "What if she died first?" I believe that was the question that got me banned.
Utah Mormon husbands (don't know about the rest of the world) believe their wife and children are their property. They also believe that when they die and are deemed worthy, they will be given their own planet to rule and they will have celestial sex with their wives to populate the planet.
Joseph Smith was a manipulator. He claimed that an angel from Heaven stood before him and handed him brass plates, straight from God. I don't remember what was on them (maybe the Book of Mormon). He was compelled to write the Book of Mormon, which tells tales of when Christ made his way to the Americas to spread the word of his Father. Unlike the stories from Egypt and Israel and other places Christ traveled to, there is no archaelogical proof that Christ was ever in the Americas. None. If I remember my Utah Studies class(es) (yep, we had to take that class more than once in school), the Mormons would shunned from a town in Illinois (don't remember which) and they moved West. There is a monument for the place he stood when he said, "This is place," meaning it would be the place where they would live and prosper.
The state icon is a bee hive, because they worked, worked, worked, like bees to make Utah a place to live. The crops flourished and towns were established. Then the locusts came and ate the majority of their crops. They prayed and prayed, looking for answers. Next thing they knew, seagulls were flying over the horizon, taking up and eating all of the locusts. For this reason, Utah's state bird is the seagull.
I don't remember the significance of Brigham Young, but a university was named after him.
If you're Mormon, but don't go, you're a Jack Mormon. If you're a Mormon and make Joseph Smith look like a sinner, you're a Molly Mormon.
There is also something in their Book of Mormon (I think) that says something to the effect of, "As you are, I was once and as I am, you will become." This is supposed to bea message to the Mormons from God (Heavenly Father, as he's referred to by them).
Mormons are very set on doing good deeds, no matter what. They feel the more good deeds they do, the better their chances are of being received into Heaven. In their book, Heaven has seven "kingdoms" with the Celestial Kingdom, I believe, being the best and highest of all the others. They also believe that they are the only ones going to Heaven; at least, this is what I gathered from the Utah Mormons I was with while living in Utah.
They also do "Baptisms for the Dead." In school, I always knew when one of my friends was doing this, as they would show up to school in church clothes. Speaking of school, they would have, in junior high and high school, something known as Seminary; on their schedules and in the school notebook, it was referred to as Released Time. This would be the same time-block as a regular class, but they wouldn't get any kind of credits toward graduation with it. For this reason, a lot of the non-Mormon kids graduated after the first semester of their senior year; I was in school for a semester and a half my senior year. This "released time" was just another form of church. "What about the separation of church and state?" you may ask. The schools and the church were smart enough to construct these buildings off of school property, though it was always in plain site.
From an early age, the little girls are told that they will marry and have lots and lots of babies; that their sole purpose in life is to be the loving, doting, SAHM with all of their 10+ children, with always one on the way. They are told to marry young, early (a lot of times, right after high school). Most of the time, about a year after graduation, they're pregnant and don't stop for several years.
For a long time, they did not allow blacks into their Elders society, nor in the Prophet's seat (as far as I know, the same guy is still there from 15 years ago). The Elders is a group of old men from the church who basically make the decisions for the church. They own stock in Coca-Cola so caffeine is now okay, but only in moderation (for a long time, caffeine was a big NO-NO). There was one Mormon man, a black man, who wanted a seat in the Elder Council. Whent hey told him no, he said he was going to sue for racial discrimination. The Prophet, not wanting the Mormons to get a repuation of being racist, "had a vision" that said it was okay for blacks to be on the Elder Council.
Women rarely hold powerful or high positions anywhere. They are not allowed in the Priesthood and are not required to go on missions, like the men are. The men have to go on a two year mission, shortly after high school graduation. The women may go if they want to and even then, they go for a year. It is ideal to marry a man who's freshly returned from a mission.
Also, in order for Utah to become a state (1858, I think), they had to do away with a common practice: polygamy. This is the practice of having more than one wife.
This is all I can remember for now, from my memory. I do apologize if any of this is offensive to the Mormon moms on here. Please keep in mind this is from another perspective; one that was shunned for 4-5 years of the 10 spent in Utah. This is not meant to be an attack on anyone here. This is what I was told, what I read and what I saw and heard.
I know this because I lived in Utah (town called Layton, just north of SLC and in the county containing more Mormons per capita, Davis County). I was there for 10 years. My parents were in the Air Force and their orders took them to Hill AFB in Utah.
There's a slight difference between Utah Mormons and "out-of-state" Mormons. The OoS Mormons will hear you out and give you a chance; they're also nicer and not too hell-bent on converting you. The Utah Mormons.. that's all they do. They're mean. Here, I'll tell you about my experience when I was a child; this was when I learned the true meaning of prejudice.
We moved to Layton, Utah during my third grade year. The rest of that grade was fine; we were living in an apartment and everything was great. I put this with the fact that we lived pretty close to the base. When we moved into a house in an actual neighborhood, things were okay.. at first. Shortly after moving into that house, my dad left for a seven month deployment to Saudi Arabia; it was 1990/1991. The neighborhood we lived in was mostly Mormon; I think our house was the only non-Mormon home. I was about to start the fourth grade and didn't think about stuff like religion. I went to school and I played.
The school year starts and things are hunky-dory.. at first. A couple of weeks go by and the kids start asking my sister and me which ward we go to (a "ward" is in a large building, resembling that of a library, and there are several wards in one building; they're all on a rotating schedule so they don't impeded on another ward's time in a certain space). I said I didn't know what they were talking about. They came back a few days later asking what religion I was (4th graders in 1991) and I said I didn't know and that I'd never gone to church. I come home, ask my mom and she said to tell them Episcopalian (I found out later that was the church she was baptized in from high school). I went back the next day and tried to tell them (I couldn't remember what it was) and when they figured out that I wasn't Mormon, they said, "We can't play with you cuz you're not Mormon."
I was heartbroken. For the first time in my life, I didn't have any friends. My sister and I would come home crying from school because none of the kids would play with us. Looking back, I think it's ridiculous that their parents told them these things. The kids in the neighborhood apparently thought we didn't celebrate Christmas, so one year they decided to egg our house, shouting, "Christmas is for everybody!" or something like that.
I was banned from a [Mormon] friend's house because I asked a question. I think I was in the sixth grade. You see, from what I remember, Mormons believe that when a husband and wife die, the husband has to call the wife up to Heaven by a special name she's given while in the Temple (when they get married). The first thing that popped into my head was, "What if she died first?" I believe that was the question that got me banned.
Utah Mormon husbands (don't know about the rest of the world) believe their wife and children are their property. They also believe that when they die and are deemed worthy, they will be given their own planet to rule and they will have celestial sex with their wives to populate the planet.
Joseph Smith was a manipulator. He claimed that an angel from Heaven stood before him and handed him brass plates, straight from God. I don't remember what was on them (maybe the Book of Mormon). He was compelled to write the Book of Mormon, which tells tales of when Christ made his way to the Americas to spread the word of his Father. Unlike the stories from Egypt and Israel and other places Christ traveled to, there is no archaelogical proof that Christ was ever in the Americas. None. If I remember my Utah Studies class(es) (yep, we had to take that class more than once in school), the Mormons would shunned from a town in Illinois (don't remember which) and they moved West. There is a monument for the place he stood when he said, "This is place," meaning it would be the place where they would live and prosper.
The state icon is a bee hive, because they worked, worked, worked, like bees to make Utah a place to live. The crops flourished and towns were established. Then the locusts came and ate the majority of their crops. They prayed and prayed, looking for answers. Next thing they knew, seagulls were flying over the horizon, taking up and eating all of the locusts. For this reason, Utah's state bird is the seagull.
I don't remember the significance of Brigham Young, but a university was named after him.
If you're Mormon, but don't go, you're a Jack Mormon. If you're a Mormon and make Joseph Smith look like a sinner, you're a Molly Mormon.
There is also something in their Book of Mormon (I think) that says something to the effect of, "As you are, I was once and as I am, you will become." This is supposed to bea message to the Mormons from God (Heavenly Father, as he's referred to by them).
Mormons are very set on doing good deeds, no matter what. They feel the more good deeds they do, the better their chances are of being received into Heaven. In their book, Heaven has seven "kingdoms" with the Celestial Kingdom, I believe, being the best and highest of all the others. They also believe that they are the only ones going to Heaven; at least, this is what I gathered from the Utah Mormons I was with while living in Utah.
They also do "Baptisms for the Dead." In school, I always knew when one of my friends was doing this, as they would show up to school in church clothes. Speaking of school, they would have, in junior high and high school, something known as Seminary; on their schedules and in the school notebook, it was referred to as Released Time. This would be the same time-block as a regular class, but they wouldn't get any kind of credits toward graduation with it. For this reason, a lot of the non-Mormon kids graduated after the first semester of their senior year; I was in school for a semester and a half my senior year. This "released time" was just another form of church. "What about the separation of church and state?" you may ask. The schools and the church were smart enough to construct these buildings off of school property, though it was always in plain site.
From an early age, the little girls are told that they will marry and have lots and lots of babies; that their sole purpose in life is to be the loving, doting, SAHM with all of their 10+ children, with always one on the way. They are told to marry young, early (a lot of times, right after high school). Most of the time, about a year after graduation, they're pregnant and don't stop for several years.
For a long time, they did not allow blacks into their Elders society, nor in the Prophet's seat (as far as I know, the same guy is still there from 15 years ago). The Elders is a group of old men from the church who basically make the decisions for the church. They own stock in Coca-Cola so caffeine is now okay, but only in moderation (for a long time, caffeine was a big NO-NO). There was one Mormon man, a black man, who wanted a seat in the Elder Council. Whent hey told him no, he said he was going to sue for racial discrimination. The Prophet, not wanting the Mormons to get a repuation of being racist, "had a vision" that said it was okay for blacks to be on the Elder Council.
Women rarely hold powerful or high positions anywhere. They are not allowed in the Priesthood and are not required to go on missions, like the men are. The men have to go on a two year mission, shortly after high school graduation. The women may go if they want to and even then, they go for a year. It is ideal to marry a man who's freshly returned from a mission.
Also, in order for Utah to become a state (1858, I think), they had to do away with a common practice: polygamy. This is the practice of having more than one wife.
This is all I can remember for now, from my memory. I do apologize if any of this is offensive to the Mormon moms on here. Please keep in mind this is from another perspective; one that was shunned for 4-5 years of the 10 spent in Utah. This is not meant to be an attack on anyone here. This is what I was told, what I read and what I saw and heard.
I like that you are sharing your opinion, and I do believe (because I have lived out of UT) that many mormons that live in Utah are different than those outside...but, they are not all that way...One thing, you only think you know what you are talking about. But, you don't. I don't understand why some people (not just mormons) don't allow themselves to be more open to other people whether its race, religion or whatever it is...Please don't allow yourself to pass judgement or spew info that you really don't know enough about. I think its great to have an opinion, but when you state what you have here, it causes others to unfairly judge for themselves...I was taught differently than the children you grew up with, and have taught my daughter differently, I hope you teach your children (if you ever have the chance) to not be prejudiced against mormons. There is good and bad in most any place...religion, and life in general.
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