previous: Introduction
"Why are you so opposed to Mormonism? It does a lot of good for a lot of people, and it certainly doesn't hurt anybody."
True, Mormonism does seem to work fine for a lot of people. But one of the most insidious fallacies of Mormonism—and of most religions, to be honest—is the idea that because it's good for some people, it must necessarily be good for all people. This just isn't so. Religion is never a one-size-fits-all commodity.
Let me take just one small example from which we can generalize: tithing. I can't tell you how many families I met in my years as Mormon who could not afford to pay the one tenth of their income that the church demands from them in order to enjoy the "blessings" of the temple. Some of them paid their ten percent anyway, and trusted that somehow God would help them get through. Others forewent their tithing obligations, agonizing over the choice of shoes for their children over gelt for God's coffers.
How can you argue that no harm is done in either of these cases? If you can afford it, by all means pay your tithing, but listen to me—this idea that feeding one's children is less important than building a church somewhere on the other side of the world for people who were getting along just fine before the Mormons showed up . . . well, that's not only harmful, it's just plain evil. And it's a choice the Mormon church asks its less affluent members to make every day. (Even those not pinching pennies would be better off in the long run putting their ten percent into a tax-deferred retirement account. I mean, how much tribute money does Salt Lake City need?)
And that's only one example. For many people, Mormonism is a philosophy that simply reinforces a negative and degrading self-image by erecting a standard of behavior that's impossible to live up to. How else do you explain the fact that Utah leads the nation in per-capita use of antidepressants? How many people are trapped in misery in the Mormon church because they're afraid to look less than righteous by bringing up their doubts and hurts with any of the people around them? How many women silently suffer in their conviction that they have no value in the absence of husbands or babies? They may no longer be treated with electroshock at BYU, but how many gays are still oppressed within a worldview that teaches them they're somehow broken by nature, and can hope for no love in this life? How many simply don't fit in, and can't contort themselves to the demeaning demands of a hierarchy that tells them the thinking has been done for them?
Let me tell you, there are plenty—they send me email all the time. Some of them have gotten themselves out of the church already, some are still in the process, and some might never manage it. But most of them could have been spared ages of pain if only they'd known earlier there were other people who'd gone through the same thing—and emerged happier and stronger at the other side.
So don't tell me Mormonism does no harm, or I might have to hurt you.
next: Question 2
