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I love your site! I have referred my brothers and sisters to it, though I wouldn't dare tell my parents. I left the church many years ago, and hate what it did to my family, and what it took from my childhood.
We were poor. I always had hand-me-down clothes and my parents struggled to pay for food. Yet every week the tithing went out - money that could have been used for our family. When I became a teenager I questioned this, and was told simply that "the lord will provide", and "The lord looks after those who pay their tithing", pointing out that we always had food on our table as an example of this (overlooking that the food might have been higher quality and more abundant if it weren't for the tithes!)
I'm a New Zealander, and it beggers belief how many native maoris are attracted into the church. I can't understand this, and hated the 'Americanisation' of my family. Suddenly my mother was saying "diapers" instead of "nappies", and "trash can" instead of "rubbish bin". Nothing against Americans at all, but we were New Zealanders, and I resented what this American religion had done to our lives.
Now I live in Brisbane. I'm 36 years old. I'm divorced with three lovely children. Recently I watched in the news the opening of the new mormon temple, here in Brisbane at Kangaroo Point. I feel so angry about that. Kangaroo point is a geographical area of beauty. The cliff face over the river is lit up from below with lights, and Brisbane is known for the beauty of this area. The erection of a Mormon temple in such a prominent land mark makes my blood boil. I don't want to look at my beautiful city of Brisbane and see that monstrosity, which is a reminder of all that was wrong in my life, and what has destroyed my parents lives. The casino-like tackiness of it repulses me. It was my parents who helped pay for the imported Austrian chandeliers, the marble floors, the gold plated baptisimal fonts. It was money meant for my school shoes and books. It was meant to put buscuits (not "cookies", mind) in with our meague school lunches. It's disgusting and I hate it.
I prefer to call mormonism a "cult", I think the word is much better suited. It's all I can do sometimes not to stop and shake the missionaries I see around. Brisbane is hot. In summer the temperature can reach 40 degrees celcius, yet you see those poor boys, barely out of puberty, cycling red-faced around the suburbs in their suits, about to have a heat stroke. They should be down at the beach in a pair of board shorts looking at the bikini clad girls, and deciding what to study at uni next semester.
When my mother came over to help me after the birth of my first child she could only stay three weeks to my great disappointment. This was because she was struggling to keep comfortable in the heat, what with her sacred undergarment raising her temperature a few extra degrees.
I resent that my mother can't now enjoy the cup of tea she once loved so much, or unwind with a chardonnay at the end of a hard day. I resent that she pops guarana pills to stay alert when she'd probably really enjoy a nice cup of coffee. I hate what they've taken from her. My parents will retire in just a few years, with still owing money on their mortgage. My siblings and I will chip in to help them out and see them through their old age. They could have paid their house off and had a nest egg ready for their retirement, but now they will be our responsibility, thanks to the greedy mormon church. I hate what the church has done to me and my family. If you can prevent even one person from the same pain, then you are doing a wonderful job.
I'm sorry, got a bit carried away. Obviously I'm still carrying a lot of anger about Mormonism. The point of this email was to thank you for doing something with the anger you must obviously feel toward this awful religion.
Kind regards,
Page Modified: July 8, 2003