Mormonism: A Cult By Any Other Name Is Still A Cult

I wasn't always a Wiccan. For the first sixteen years of my life I was raised a Mormon. I went to church every Sunday, and on Temple trips every year. I asked to be baptized at the age of eight because I was told I was old enough at the time to make that choice. I was also baptized in the names of several dead people, all the while thinking I was doing Gods will. I was a good little Mormon too. I used to carry my Quad (That's all four of the Mormon holy books in one) to school and read it at lunch, I used to go on Missionary training visits too. I had even started saving up to pay for my Mission shortly before I left the church.

So why do I now call the Mormon church a cult?

The answer to that question isn't simple, I wish I could tell you it was. The following is my list of reasons why; hopefully this simplifies what I'm wanting to express here.


Reason #1. I was taught in that church that God was once a man on an alien planet who was made a God by his God and that I too could be a God one day if I was good enough. --- How fucked up is that? Why in the hell would you tell a child something this fucked up? This is just the tip of the iceberg

Reason #2. Baptism by proxy is Gods way of making sure everyone gets to Heaven regardless of what blasphemous church they belonged to in life.--- How completely arrogant can you get? How can you even fathom being so holier-than-thou that you think going against the choices of the dead and their chosen faiths going to get them closer to God? Come the fuck on!

Reason #3. Women cannot hold high office in the church because women would lead the church astray like Eve did to Adam.--- Are you kidding me? These idiots are just as bad as Southern Baptists.

Reason #4. Only the President of the church can talk directly to God, just like Joseph Smith did. You can pray, but the church President gets a verbal response.--- I'm sorry, but are you insane? Is that how you get to be the President of the Mormon church, you have to be worthy of a rubber room at Bellevue? Not only is it insane, but it's arrogant as hell to boot.

Reason #5. This is the incident that finally opened my eyes to how twisted the Mormon church really is.

     I was taught for sixteen years that if I had any questions that I was to talk to one of the elders of the church (no I don't mean missionaries), so that's exactly what I did. When I was half way through my sixteenth year of life I started having reoccurring nightmares. Horrific stuff that ended up coming true many years later. So because I always tried to do what the church told me to do, I went to talk with one of the heads of my branch. The response was so NOT at all what I had expected. I expected some reassurance that these where just nightmares and they would eventually go away, but what I got instead was a very harsh shaming. I was berated by a man I had though of as a friend. I was told that what I was saying was blasphemous, and told I was claiming to be a prophet. I couldn't even respond, I was shocked to say the least. There I was, a scared sixteen year old kid asking for help from the church that I was taught was my one saving grace and way to salvation and what I received was a verbal beating. I felt even more scared after I left that office then when I went in. So out of pain and anger I left the Mormon church never to return.

     After leaving the church I looked back on everything they had taught me over the years, but this time without the rose colored glasses. And I realized that I hadn't been attending a church, but rather a cult. A cult that requested that you testify about your love for the church first, it's founder second, and God last. What kind of a church does that? From what I've researched, NONE. What kind of a church teaches you that you too can become a God? NONE. What kind of a church asks you to go against a persons wishes after they're dead and be be baptized in that persons name? NONE. These are all indications of a cult.

     You know, I really should have gone back and thanked the guy who screamed at me all those years ago before he died. Because if it wasn't for him I'd still be drinking the Kool-aid.

To The People and School Board of Anoka County Minnesota

Dear Residents of Anoka County Minnesota,

     I just read a very disturbing article from 'Rolling Stone'. So disturbing in fact that I am now morally urged to write to you all as a whole. There are some in your community that have made it their life's mission to "hunt down" and "weed out" the "gay agenda" from your little corner of the country. They claim it's the "Christian" thing to do. Really? The CHRISTian thing to do? Feel free to try and prove me wrong here, but Christ did not come to Earth to give these members of your community a free pass to hate, torture and bully those in the LGBTQ community who happen to share your little corner of the world. Christ did say however not to judge others unless you wish to be judged in the same way (Mathew 7:1). Christ also said that it's better to worry about your own sin than to point out and judge the sin of others (Mathew 7:3). 

     So why is it that some in your community feel they are doing the will of Christ? And why are those of you in the community who know better staying silent? The most vile things that have ever happened in recent history have been in the name of God, and these horrible acts could have been stopped if those who knew in their souls that what was happening was wrong would have stood up instead of cowering down. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men and women to do nothing. Do not support these actions that have lead so many children in your community to kill themselves with indifference and cowardice. Do what you know is right in your soul and stand up for these children and the rest LGBTQ community in Anoka County. Just do what you honestly know in your heart to be right.

Sincerely,

Mr. Liberal

Enough is Enough!!!!

I have tried my best not to go completely off in my blogging, but tonight I'm throwing caution to the wind and saying Fuck It!


For a long time now this country has been assaulted by the religious right and their campaign to turn this Representative Democracy into a total fucking Theocracy. I, as a conscientious American and reader of the Constitution cannot sit by the way-side and stay politely silent any longer.


The First Amendment of The Constitution Of the United States says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". Pretty damned cut-n-dry. Then why in the fucking hell can't these right wing theological nut jobs just fucking get it? It's not that damn hard. Fifth graders can understand it!


If you're a sci-fi fan you might have seen the film Escape from L.A.. In that movie the country was in the hands of a Life-Term Religious Zealot President who, among other things, out-lawed any religion other than Christianity. The citizenry of the nation who did not follow the religious mandate were either executed or deported. This is the kind of nation that the Tea Party and the rest of the religious right will, with-out-a-doubt, force on this nation should they continue to gain foot hold after foot hold in our political process. Is that the kind of country you want to live in, for your children to grow up in? I should fucking hope not.


"Oh, that's just a movie. That's not real life. That can't happen here."


It's the "It can't happen here" mentality that we had before Oklahoma City and 9/11. It can, and will happen here if we do not rise up as a free nation and put a stop to the forcing of one religion on the people of this entire nation. 


The founders of this country had the wisdom and fore-thought to keep religion and state separate. Those same founders came from a country where religion and state were one in the same, and did NOT want that in this new nation they were building. It was our ancestors who, after years of religious persecution, fled to the North American continent for the express purpose of religious freedom! Why would we, as a nation, want to revert to a time were if you don't follow the state religion you can be jailed or even killed for believing differently?! WE FUCKING WOULDN'T!


Then why in the fuck do most of us just sit by and continue to let it happen? Why is there not more outrage? For Christ sake, what in the holy hell is wrong with this fucking country?! Yes, I'm swearing. Of coarse I'm swearing, I pissed off at the lack of common sense the American people are showing when it comes to religion.


I'm not anti-religion by any means. I'm a Wiccan, I have faith in my religion. But, I do not go against the Rede and force my religious views on others. To do so would cause harm, something I've found all the religions I've studied teaches against; this includes Christianity. So, why then are these Zealots trying to force their extremist views on the rest of us? More importantly, why in the hell is it being allowed? 


If people like Michele "Bat-shit-crazy" Bachmann or Rick "This country needs Christianity" Perry continue to be elected to office after office, including the Presidency, the old proverb will prove true. Those who do not learn from their history are truly doomed to repeat it. But, this time it is the nation as a whole, that will suffer from the forgetfulness of those too blind to see the mistakes of the past.

A Message to America

     With The Fourth of July upon us I would like to thank the Men, Women, and Families of the United Sates Military for all the do and have done from 1775 to today. I would also like to thank our nations teacher's for educating our nation's children, also our nations work force (or what's left of it), and thanks to the countless former American workers for not giving up hope. And, let us not forget every American who has done his or her civic duty by voting in our local, state and national elections.

                  Thank You My Fellow Americans For All You Do To Improve This Nation.

          (Except you teabaggers out there; you're the ones trying to choke the life from this nation.)

Don't ask me where Jose is.

This morning five well armed federal agents decended on my neighborhood. Why where they here; were they looking for drug dealers, rapists, murderers? No. They were looking for an out of work father of three who had committed none of the above crimes. Why? Why were five armed government agents looking for this stay at home dad? The answer is, because he wasn't born in this country.
Jose, not his real name, is an illegal alien. He came to this country looking for a better life, much the same way some of our great great grandparents did. He doesn't have a Green Card, but neither did our ancestors. This, and this alone, is his only crime.
Jose keeps to himself mostly, spending his time raising three adorable kids who are always laughing. Every other weekend he'll have friends over and spend the afternoon playing mariachi music, and they're pretty damn good.
So why are our tax dollars being spent to hunt down a loving husband and father? It's not like Jose and his family don't pay into the tax system. His wife works for a well known poultry producer in NW Arkansas and pays income taxes, not to mention the sales taxes they pay when the spend that taxed income. So why then is Jose being treated like a criminal?
The reason is sickening and simple; he wasn't born here. And, it is that one fact that scares the hell out of "Real Americans".
People say illegal immigrants steal jobs from those of us who were born here. Bull s***! These hard working people do the jobs that we don't want. They mow our yards, clean our pools, pick our fruit, build our homes, etc. I haven't had a single one of those jobs stolen from me; I don't want them.
So when one of the armed agents asked me where Jose was I answered, "I don't know." It was true enough. I didn't know exactly where Jose was. I just refused to share that with the ICE agent. And if the agents come back and ask me again they'll get the same answer whether I know or not.
"I don't know."

What's so damn bad about 'Judas'?

(First off let me say that I am NOT a Lady Gaga fan.)

 Ever since Lady Gaga released the track 'Judas', Christians have been going absolutely nuts. People have been calling Gaga Anti-Semitic, Anti-Christian and a few other choice words since the songs pre-Easter release/leak.

Dave Bohon of the Right-Wing site 'The New American' said "...Lady Gaga’s Judas appears to be motivated mainly by a demonic impulse to sully the symbols and stories that millions of Christians hold precious — in this case the legacy of a woman from whom Jesus cast seven demons...". 


Even people who are supposed to be open-minded have taken aim at the song. A former Facebook friend went so far as to say this shortly after the song was released/leaked:

Demand Equality

I have been saying for a week now that this song is about the blood libel, about the Jews killing Jesus, and that Lady Gag is a Jew hater, and here's the quote to prove that what I have been saying is correct: "I believe in the gospel" and in the Gospel the Jew Judas betrays the Jew Jesus, and that's the beginning of the blood libel that Jews killed Jesus. Lady Gag hates Jews and that's what the song is about.


I was immediately unfriended when I asked how she came to that conclusion, and stated I didn't get that from the lyrics at  all. 


I started wondering, "Why is this song causing so much outrage and making seemingly sane people go nuts?" So, I reread the lyrics, and I still didn't understand how people were getting all these Anti-Jewish/Christian vibes out of a song that seemed to me to be about Gagas' own inner religious struggle. 


I just don't get what is so bad about 'Judas'. I see nothing anti-anything about the song or the video. BUT, if you do you'll find links to the lyrics and the Youtube video for 'Judas' below. Please read the lyrics and watch the video and give me your opinions on this song, and whether you find the song offensive or not and why.


http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/lady_gaga/judas.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc

Learning From Our Pasts

I didn't realize it at the time, but in sixth grade I did something so cruel that I can't believe I was ever that kind of person.

In the middle of my sixth grade year a new girl came to my school. She was a sweet girl, but she seemed a little odd to me at the time. After a few weeks she voiced to a friend that she had a crush on me and word spread through the grapevine at supersonic speed. Being the least popular kid in school I was thrilled with the prospect that a girl might actually like me. So we started what I call kid dating a few days later. We ate lunch together we talked through study hall and a few of the other classes that we shared over the following couple of weeks. I'm not 100% sure how the subject came up, though I think it was a classmate who asked her what church she went to. She said she didn't go to church and that she was Wiccan. None of us semi-small town kids had a clue what that meant, so she put it into layman's terms for us; she told us she was a Witch. We all kind of shook our heads at that. None of us had ever thought that witches were real, let alone that a cute girl in our class could even be one.

I didn't think much of her declaration at first, but the more the other kids started calling her names and saying she was a devil worshiper the more I became fearful and uneasy. Like any good Mormon I asked my Sunday School teacher about witches and he told me pretty much what the kids in school were saying, that witches worship the devil and are evil. That was all my little closed mind needed to hear. When I got to school the following Monday I told her our kid dating was over. But, that was not the worst of my religious intolerance. I joined in with the other kids in harassing and tormenting her; I called her names, i knocked her books out of her hands in the hallway. I was as cruel as one kid could ever be to another.

About a week of this torment went on, until that is I actually made her cry. We were in art class and I was giving her hell along with everyone else. I can't for the life of me remember what I said, but it cut her deep. She started to cry then looked me in the eye and said, that one day I would be made to feel as horrible as I made her feel; then she ran out of the class and never came back.

She was right. Karma did return to me three fold the misery I put that poor girl through. It wasn't until many years later when I became a Wiccan that I understood just how cruel and hurtful I had been to such a kind sweet girl that had crushed on me, the least popular kid in school. 

Although I cannot for the life of me remember the girls name, I will always be indebted to her for teaching me the kind of person I never want to be again.