I recently received this encouraging letter from a reader who asked that her name be withheld:
Dear Latayne,
I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy reading your ‘365 Reasons' on your website.
I was raised by extremely Mormon parents, in an all-Mormon family, in the all-Mormon town of Provo, Utah. While I was growing up, going to church was a simple way to keep my parents happy but I remember feeling guilty that I never could force myself to read my scriptures, that I never gained a testimony and that I could never get past the fact that my life purpose seamed to aimed around getting my “eternal companion” to fall in love with me so we could start repopulating the earth.
In the short two and a half years since graduating high school and moving away from Utah County, I have been exposed to so many new, thought-provoking ideas about mormonism, religion, philosophy, culture and society. My once closed, and sheltered mind has exploded with curiosity and questions and I'm glad I found your website to aid me on my journey of learning and exploration. Despite all the issues I have with believing in this church, the hardest part for me to understand about Mormons is how so many people blindly accept the gospel as the ultimate and only truth without ever questioning it. So many people in the religion are afraid of even just listening to an idea that conflicts with what they were taught because they are afraid it will allow satan to tempt them or whatever. I don't know what I believe in but I refuse to decide without first learning as much as possible because I'm not stupid enough to simply believe what I am told.
Once again, I appreciate your inspiration and resources on this topic and I wish you all the best in your work and life,
Sincerely, (name withheld)
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
