A major concern in most religions is faith. I just saw a FB post saying "faith kills doubt and vice-versa." OK, but what the hell is faith? It tends to be defined in circular terms and/or with so much vagueness that there is no way to formalize or even really understand the concept (e.g. that "evidence of things not seen..." scripture).

Different religions have different definitions of faith. The LDS church (a.k.a. Mormons), established in New York in the 19th century, tends a bit more toward concrete definitions of terms than some other Christian flavors. I learned that faith was more or less (in my words) a response to an information signal about the reality of God, the truth of the church, Jesus' love, etc. received via channels placed in our minds for this purpose. I always found the LDS church's pragmatism and groundedness (in many things) both comforting and boring. But in this case it provided an operational definition.

And now I'm not religious.

(My father, the origin of my rational approach to spirituality, did not appreciate this explanation of my faith transition)

#religion #faith #lds #mormon #exmormon #operationaldefinition #DefineYourTerms

Hype for the Future 133LDS: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2026/03/13/hype-for-the-future-133lds-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints/

“Eve fell, that women might be; and women are, that they might have joy."

also has legs. others can assume they are included /half joke. (obvi the "humankind" version is most inclusive)

i definetly write happy notes to my sisters that say "women are, that they might have joy." so this would be the full verse behind it.

me: valid
eve: valid
the fall: fortunate

#mormon

2 Nephi 1:115 (RAV) “Adam fell, that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

Excuse you. EVE made that choice. Adam is a follower.

"Eve (and Adam ig...) fell that humankind might be; and humankind is, that they might have joy."

#Mormon #LatterDaySaint #BookOfMormon

RE: https://mastodon.online/@xankarn/116120793504340920

#Utahns, it is our responsibility to press #GovCox #GovernorCox and #TaCOJCOLDS #LDS #Mormon church about this potential concentration camp. It is our shame that #Utah lobbied for the Topaz concentration camp in 1942, and we can't condone our state repetiting that shame again with a new concentration camp for #ICE.

Wow. See here is why I love the Mormon people. When they end up cutting past the propaganda that keeps them hampered, they show up with the kind of energy and moral correctness that we were taught to have, that surpasses any modern church I've ever seen.

LDS Corp has left the ICE issue up to individual wards to decide. The wards that have decided to protect their own are *going hard*. This is a fantastic model for mutual aid. This is some City of Enoch level bravery and righteousness.

They're protesting detention centers, holding services online, locking down church entrances against potential ICE raids, planning escape routes, providing information about rights and how to handle ICE, feeding people, picking up kids,

“It is my divine obligation to … be politically aware and pass along information,” [Osorio Reyes] said, “to make sure the people in my ward are informed and safe.”

The Stake President is collecting extra fast offerings to help affected families with material needs.

This is the shit I was raised on. This is the shit I was told we were to be doing. And then... we simply never did. Our energies were redirected to useless time-wasters, and more priority was placed on "sexual" righteousness and whether or not someone drank Coke. Our minds were filled with barely coded racist interpretations of the world.

This is why, for my activism focus, I chose to work with exmormon populations. Because for all the dysfunctional ways we were conditioned to be, we were also instilled with a fire. Helping exmormons (and open-minded progressive Mormons) dump the dysfunctional baggage frees us up to be a real force for good in this world. We gave a majority of our time and money to the LDS Church, so when we stop doing that, our energies are free to go elsewhere.

One note on the geopolitics of the situation: unlike other brands of Christianity in the US, the LDS Church is interestingly torn on the immigration issue, because outside of the USA, their majority membership is in Latin America.

I've got one more thing to say about top-level leadership, next post.

Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20260205222627/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/03/how-latter-day-saints-la-responded/

Original (paywalled still):

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/03/how-latter-day-saints-la-responded/

#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #MutualAid #LDS #Mormon

i'm a part of a discord server for reform mormons, and we have our own family home evening every monday and i look forward to it every week <3.

we did a crossword puzzle from 1962 together and that was a lot of fun. also nerded out over queer comicbooks. after religious dicussion ofc.

refmo is like, a community of mormons with shared progressive, non-heirarchical values. we don't all believe the same thing (tho we do all share beliefs and are all some form of #mormon) and that's a good thing.