When I was excommunicated from r/Exmormon, I was very upset. If you check through my history, almost everything I’ve posted or commented on is in that sub. I felt the mods freaked out and I wasn’t given a fair chance.
I was ready to call it quits with all of Mormon related topics. I’ve been deciding where I want to spend my time, if not at r/Exmormon. I recently started a Buddhist ministry course and easily could dive into all of that. However, the mormon culture is the one I’ve been raised in and deeply care about (I’ll get more into that in a minute). I’ve been overwhelmed with how many people have been asking me to keep generating content, including people I deeply respect. I wasn’t expecting so many would people be upset at my loss to the community. I thought I was just a 20-something who spent too much time and the internet, pushed boundaries, and likes to debate. It’s really tipped the scales of me deciding to create more content.
I’ve been invited to moderate a couple of subs that are rather alternative r/Exmormon or more history/doctrine based. I’m truly flattered. However, I think r/Mormon is the place to be.
I mention here how I believe there is a Secular Mormon movement emerging. Belief and unbelief are 2 sides of the same Mormon coin. The best place that exemplifies that viewpoint? The belief-neutral r/Mormon. I am shifting my content over to here instead in hopes that both secular and religious Mormons can build bridges and respect our common ancestry, understand each other’s differences and struggles, and make Mormon culture better for everyone.
In addition I was very impressed with how the r/Mormon mods handled my post yesterday. They balanced justice with understanding and compassion, which is what I expected from the r/Exmormon mods. Whereas the r/Exmormon mods seem to not be unified in their decision, and can’t even give a unified response, and r/Exmormon is pissed because of it.
Some of the projects I have planned are:
- Adding several more pages of the brutally honest Mormon coloring book, finish redoing the artwork, and get it published. Summers are busier at work for me, but now I have some time.
- read Michael Quinn’s finances book and point out neat things in it
- read the council of 50 notes and point out crazy things in it
- maybe pick back up my GAEL project
- rewrite a bunch of hymns to be belief-neutral but preserve the Mormon cultural overtones
- A whole bunch of projects I haven’t thought of, but inevitably will do.
We are in charge of our community. If we don’t like how our community is being ran, we have an obligation to change how the leaders run it. If they don’t, then we can choose to organize somewhere else. I hope others will be able to see r/Mormon the same way I have and will enjoy the stuff I create on this sub.