Mormons are resigning from their church, officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, citing the Mormon Church's involvement in California's Proposition 8 and other similar measures as "the last straw." Many have posted heart-wrenching letters to the Signing for Something website, some involving abuse and suicide in their families. Some who post specifically refer to intolerance and bigotry by the leadership of the Mormon Church.
Late Thursday Signing for Something website owner Andrew Callahan began seeing blog posts on many different blogs about people resigning from the Mormon Church over this issue. Friday a page was added to the Signing for Something website in an attempt to begin to get an idea of how many people were actually resigning over this issue. Within just a few hours, several dozen had responded and said they were resigning over this issue. Within less than a day it was more than 100, and as of this morning (Monday) the number stands at approximately 250 and growing.
Many of the people resigning have had strong ties to the Mormon Church and been very active in its programs and activities. Many, for example, served as Mormon missionaries in their youth, taught Mormon Sunday School, or held leadership positions, but are now resigning from a church they see as intolerant, harmful, vitriolic, and mean-spirited. Soem feel the Mormon Church lied to them. Several have also been essentially out of the church for a long while, but remained on the rosters of the Mormon Church even though they have not attended in many years, but now no longer wish to maintain even that very tenuous link to the Mormon Church.
Below are a few quotes from the resignation letters posted at Signing for Something.
I was born and raised a Utah Mormon. I loved this Church and was a devout and model member. I was baptized at the age of 8, served an honorable mission in Argentina, graduated from BYU, performed with the Mormon Youth Chorus, held leadership positions in the Church, and even worked in the Church Administration and Office Buildings for five years. My father has been Bishop and served on Stake High Councils. My mother has served as Stake Relief Society President and has worked as a secretary for many of the Brethren. My entire extended family are active members, as they have been for over four generations. However, the hatred and intolerance fostered and supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a hypocrisy I can no longer accept. Therefore, I announce today, that after nearly 40 years, I have resigned my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Read more of this letter here: http://signingforsomething.org/...
As a woman who was born and raised mormon, with no choice in the matter (8 years old is NOT old enough to make any serious decision, especially not about your spiritual future), I grew up resenting the restrictions your church placed on me. No matter how you spin it, women have a lesser role in the mormon church and in the mormon afterlife, too. That really used to bother me, when I was trying to justify my second-rate status in the church of my ancestors. My mother died at 45 years old in an abusive relationship all because she believed, thanks to her brainwashing by the mormon church, that she had to be "sealed for time and all eternity" to her violent husband (my step-dad) so she could be with her children in the afterlife. That’s because women aren’t allowed to be sealed directly to their own children. There has to be a man involved, because of the priesthood, I assume. Possibly if women could hold the priesthood and be sealed to their children without needing a man to make it work my mom might be alive today. I blame YOU, the mormon church, for my mom’s murder by her husband who used YOUR religious teachings and priesthood revelations to enslave her to him in the name of your god. Read more of this letter at: http://signingforsomething.org/...
It positively pains my heart to be writing this letter at all. I joined the church Easter of 08 and was SO very excited to be a part of the church that I reached out and right away had a calling, reached out to sisters in need by bringing meals and home teaching, as well as I had plans to attend the temple . . . . The most hurtful thing I have experienced thus far is the realization that the promises I was made about the church being non-political is a lie. The church had a moral stance of homosexuality being wrong, and I understood and respectfully disagreed with that belief. But now, the church has truthfully embraced and almost completely sponsored a political proposition to deny gay people rights to marry.
If we really are brothers and sisters- why are you denying your brothers and sisters the same rights that you have? They didn’t ask to get married in the temple, it had to do with the law of the land. Not only this, the peer pressure that went into bullying people in the church who otherwise would have voted no on prop 8 to let them know they are evil was foul.
I thought I had finally found the right church for me after searching for my whole life, and since prop 8 has occurred- I now realize that I was wrong. I cannot show anything less than love to my fellow men and women and I believe ALL people should have the legal right to marry whether homosexuality is moral or not. Read more of this letter at: http://signingforsomething.org/...
I served a two-year mission in Cali, Colombia beginning in 1984. Upon my return to the states, I came out as a gay man and fell away from the church after feeling (not unlike many other gay men and women) utterly rejected by LDS church doctrine, its membership and its leadership.
Unfortunately, since that time I have watched with increasing horror as the church of my childhood has lead vitriolic attacks against the relationships my gay brothers and sisters have chosen to develop with the partners they love. . . . My partner and I are productive members of society, but we are proscribed from many legal protections granted to heterosexual married couples because of the indefensible prejudice of groups such as the Mormons. I am ashamed and embarrassed to be listed amongst your ranks, and have decided no longer to be.
Therefore, this letter is my formal resignation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . . . . Read more of this letter at: http://signingforsomething.org/...
I fundamentally disagree with the church’s stance and policies relating to homosexuality and gender identity. I have personally suffered a great deal as a result of these policies. It is my firm belief that the policies the church has towards its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members are fundamentally harmful, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. I can no longer consent to be a part of a church that has such disregard for the well-being of any of its members.
The church leaders in official capacity have done and said things that have been incredibly harmful to thousands of people. This is a fact. It is also a fact that the church has changed its stance radically on many of these issues – such as whether homosexuality is an inborn trait, or whether getting heterosexually married will "fix" and eliminate homosexual feelings. That the church leadership refuses to apologise for or even acknowledge the mistakes made in judgement and policy leads me to believe that the leadership has little regard for the truth, and is more concerned with protecting its image. I can no longer lend my name to an organisation that behaves with such lack of consideration and such overweening pride and self-righteousness.
I wish to point out that I believe strongly in God and in Jesus Christ and his teachings. In fact, this very belief is a main reason why I cannot be a member any longer. The way I and many of my brothers and sisters have been treated by the church we put our trust in has shown me that Christ’s teachings and the basic doctrines of his Gospel are not being followed. I believe that the policies relating to homosexuality are not doctrinally sound and not based in real truth, but in cultural bias. Because of this, I cannot, in good conscience, do anything but leave this church. My belief in the supreme importance of true Christ-like love and in God’s wish for all of his children, gay or straight, to be happy, leads me to choose to leave this church, and no longer be bound by the un-Christ-like actions and teachings of its leaders. Read more of this letter at: http://signingforsomething.org/...
There are many, many more resignation letters and other letters of protest at the Signing for Something website: http://www.signingforsomething.org