"bpnjensen" wrote:

Steve, this is the first I've heard of this kindly attitude. I've got
horror stories from more than one former Mormon who were persecuted for
what, in the greater world, would be considered nonissues. In a most
egregious case, I have a friend who was accused of being gay and
drug-addicted, and she was excommunicated by the church (with a great
deal of abuse and trumped up scandal) after disagreeing with her
husband about an issue related their children's schooling. Her husband,
being the fine Mormon that he is, got the church in on it, and in the
course of events she lost her job, was divorced and received no
alimony, and essentially had to leave Utah in order to begin again.
She is now married to another much kinder non-Mormon, her children from
her former marriage are happy to visit often because they understand
the crap she had to go through, and she has started a modestly
successful telescope-making business.

If this is a Mormon's idea of "Live-and-let-live", then I'll be dipped
in ****, rolled in peanuts, and sold as a Baby Ruth bar.

Bruce Jensen

Yeah, that would definitely void the rubric of "Live and let live."
Pretty incredible stuff -- I have a friend who lived in Utah for
awhile, and he said there's a caste system for Mormons vs.
non-Mormons. Believe it or not, Omaha is a significant Midwest
center for the Mormons, and they seemed like decent folks to me.

Of course, it's all anecdotal and empirical. You never know with
the human species; there could be a "prime ****ter" around every
corner (and there often is). I still think of that as a human problem,
not a religious one. I think religion can be abused in the same
way that politics or psychiatry can be abused.

Man is wolf to man...sometimes.

73,

Steve
--
Steve Lawrence
Burnsville, Minnesota

Every moment of a human life is an act
of worship.

Coincidence is God's way of being anonymous.