Mormon Idealism Analysis

Growing up in Mormon Utah, Atheists where hard to come by. In Salt Lake City, you will find a few scattered about college campuses and various coffee shops but in the suburbs of Layton where I grew up, it was almost impossible. In elementary school I believed in god, for me it was obvious. Why would so many people believe in a deity if he wasn’t there? He was as apparent in my life as my hero’s Santa Claws, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. My family was a part of a subcategory of Mormonism referred to as “Jack Mormons” Mormons who didn’t go to church or participate in family home evenings. I can see now my mom only used the church, for my security and to pay an occasional bill. The more my family used the church, the more the church

I also began to realize my parents only used the church. I remember asking my mom if she believed in Mormonism she replied, “I believe in teachings of Christ, but I am Spiritual, not religious.” After that my world shattered, and I began to contemplate what I had read. The things I learned seemed to be contradicting, evolution didn’t match up with Mormon Idealism. I realized to some extent the lie I was brought up into, and after that I stopped attending. After this the push got stronger; my friends, my neighbors, teachers and even my friends parents would scold me for not attending church with my parents. Going to church meant fake smiles and obligation, I began to realize my friends where not actually there for me, their parents where just using them to convert me and my family. Yet, they didn’t understand what they were doing, they thought they were doing a service. My best friend handed me her book of Mormon smiled and said,” I want you to come with me, because if you don’t we can’t hang out anymore.” To Mormons, living by the book is there ticket to God, and to them, convincing me was the difference between my damnation. I said no, and that lead to my 86 from my friends and parts of my