🎶freedom's just another word
for nothing left to lose🎶
#solarpunk #exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical #USPol #Antifa #resist #humanism #atheism
#exmo
There definitely seems to be a vibe shift. From powerlessness and helplessness to empowerment and determination
I'm not the only one. And it's not just here on Mastodon.
Nothing is forever. No trend continues ever upward. We're learning the skills and fortitude we need. We're self-organizing against the shape that collective trauma has forced us into.
This too shall pass.
Then imagine the world we'll be able to build with the momentum.
#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma #exvie #exvangelical #USPol #Antifa #resist #humanism #atheism
A study on how media coverage of cults affects the recovery of former cult members. Via the ICSA.
https://icsatoday.substack.com/p/cults-and-media-stereotypes-does
Wow. See here is why I love the Mormon people. When they end up cutting past the propaganda that keeps them hampered, they show up with the kind of energy and moral correctness that we were taught to have, that surpasses any modern church I've ever seen.
LDS Corp has left the ICE issue up to individual wards to decide. The wards that have decided to protect their own are *going hard*. This is a fantastic model for mutual aid. This is some City of Enoch level bravery and righteousness.
They're protesting detention centers, holding services online, locking down church entrances against potential ICE raids, planning escape routes, providing information about rights and how to handle ICE, feeding people, picking up kids,
“It is my divine obligation to … be politically aware and pass along information,” [Osorio Reyes] said, “to make sure the people in my ward are informed and safe.”
The Stake President is collecting extra fast offerings to help affected families with material needs.
This is the shit I was raised on. This is the shit I was told we were to be doing. And then... we simply never did. Our energies were redirected to useless time-wasters, and more priority was placed on "sexual" righteousness and whether or not someone drank Coke. Our minds were filled with barely coded racist interpretations of the world.
This is why, for my activism focus, I chose to work with exmormon populations. Because for all the dysfunctional ways we were conditioned to be, we were also instilled with a fire. Helping exmormons (and open-minded progressive Mormons) dump the dysfunctional baggage frees us up to be a real force for good in this world. We gave a majority of our time and money to the LDS Church, so when we stop doing that, our energies are free to go elsewhere.
One note on the geopolitics of the situation: unlike other brands of Christianity in the US, the LDS Church is interestingly torn on the immigration issue, because outside of the USA, their majority membership is in Latin America.
I've got one more thing to say about top-level leadership, next post.
Archive:
Original (paywalled still):
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/03/how-latter-day-saints-la-responded/
I'm listening to @sltrib's #MormonLand because I knew John Gustav-Wrathall in civil rights activism circles in #SaltLake.
I'm #exmo #ExMormon now, but I grew up and was Mormon most of my life, so I'm still culturally Mormon. My only question for #TaCOJCOLDS is, you have half of your adult members in an organization literally called the "Relief Society". Where is the relief for the society your immigrant and targeted-by-racists neighbors live in? They should have all the food/rent/gas they need to not need to leave their homes until this stops. You have hundreds of billions of dollars.
And about a year, (I'll have to do some birthday math) I will have been out of the Mormon church for as long as I was in.
I have finished my final draft of Sexcommunicated!
This is, oddly, within two days of my 25th anniversary of deciding to be done with the LDS Church for good, on Jan 26th 2001.
Natasha Helfer, my client, has lined up a publisher! Her and the publisher will do the final edits. It should be a printed book within a year or two. I will have co-byline.
That's about all the details I'm authorized to release.
Sexcommunicated tells the story of Natasha's life, her journey towards becoming a sex therapist, the splash she made in the Mormon world with her therapy blog in 2012, and the events that led to her excommunication in 2021.
I will keep you updated on publishing news as the manuscript rolls through the process.
If you get through Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, you might be tempted to think that Mormon men are disproportionately more likely to be controlling and abusive towards their wives.
And you'd be right.
The LDS Church is like, "Nooo, we never said the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon were Native Americans! How shocking and insensitive, and historically inaccurate and difficult to prove given the ample scientific evidence otherwise! Wherever did you get THAT idea??"
But then they still illustrate children's stories from the Book of Mormon like this.
#exmo #exmormon #ReligiousTrauma
(I don't typically go looking for this stuff. I just stumble upon it while looking up other things.)
The ICSA has been working hard to better support former cult members and those who have loved ones stuck in cults. Here's their newsletter recapping their updated website and revamped services.
I've been an ICSA member for many years. It's a very small academic organization that also welcome lay people who have had life experiences with cults. They've been around (under various names) for many decades, originally the publishers of Cultic Studies Journal, which is now split across several publications under various names. I've spoken about Mormonism at their conferences and met people with all kinds of backgrounds.
Their resources include: an academic journal, a magazine for lay people, conferences, a directory of helping professionals, and a back catalogue of all their past publications.
I'm glad to see them becoming more active and increasing their outreach.
#cults #ReligiousTrauma #ICSA #exmo #exmormon #exvie #exvangelical
@dgar
Mormons believe this. Right, @swilua.bsky.social?
D&C 25:12 For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.
#exmormon #exmo
The International Cultic Studies Association has an article this week with tips to help those who have families in cults, or who are affected by religious trauma over the holidays.
https://icsatoday.substack.com/p/a-message-for-those-affected-by-cults
Yay! The Salt Lake Tribune is lowering their paywalls starting in 2026!
Great news, and I will continue my subscription to help them make that possible.
Just another plug: This is one of the few independent news outlets reporting in Utah, and one of the few willing to openly criticize the LDS Church, which directly or indirectly runs most of the state.
I'm not surprised that most subscribers are willing to stay on as a donation. Many of them previously paid 10% of their monthly income into one of the largest investment funds in the USA, so we're happy to cough up $15 to help people know about stuff like that.
There's also some great news in this article about other independent Utah news outlets working together to change the Church's milieu control over the region's journalism, via the Utah News Collaborative.
(Pat Bagley's seagull there seems boggled and mildly irritated to be called out of retirement for this crap. 😂)
https://www.sltrib.com/footer/2025/11/21/tribunes-2025-annual-report/
The Mormon Church: Well, I mean I guess if you want to CHOOSE eternal death...
Here's the cover of the Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday.
Barbara Streisand herself couldn't pay for such publicity.
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