Jeff Lindsey had an interesting post on his blog, Mormanity.  Jeff Lindsey may not know it, he was influential when I made my decision to finally rescind my membership in the Mormon church, but I do have some respect for the man although I disagree with him.  When I first encountered the website that he runs I was amused by his proud display of some of the awards he's won.  Quite  few of these came from groups that are decidedly Anti-Mormon.  Clearly, the man does have a sense of humor, albeit a sarcastic and sometimes subtle one.  (Blogger, if you're really going to edit me for this, can you at least try to keep the rhythm I'm going for here?  Don't think I've forgotten your little faux pas changing LDS church to the Church of Jesus Christ elsewhere on my blog.)

    He even acknowledges there may be valid reasons for leaving, but he wants us to search for the divine.  I must disagree strongly with Mr. Lindsey that there is evidence of the divine in the Mormon scriptures, and the things that may be considered evidence of the divine aren't at all unique to the Mormon church.  When it comes to writing, I consider showing what beauty a language is capable of or expressing your thoughts clearly to be evidence of the divine -- if that was the writer's purpose.   What parts of the Book of Mormon do show this come from elsewhere, either plagiarized from the new testament by the hand of Joseph Smith, or plagiarized by the Nephites from the Old Testament they took with them to America.

     Writing is not the only evidence of the divine though.  Given the deceptions that were carried out by Joseph Smith and leaders of the church, I find I must ask myself, is there really any evidence of the divine within the church as an organization?  It often goes on about how much charity work it does, but at least in the United States, those figures are hidden from its members.

    While it may be true I have a blind spot where Mormonism is concerned because it has not always have had a positive effect on me, I've been thinking more or less lately about whether the organization is good or evil.  I suppose some of this comes from a report of a family member having an argument with my father.   I did not think the argument was necessary, but on the other hand my father should have no better to say "Mormonism is an easy religion for women. You only have to obey your husband" in front of that particular family member.  (I hope she doesn't mind this.  We all at times say things before we start to think.  To some of us it happens far more often than others.)   I suppose she could have brought up the high use of anti-depressants among Mormon women, but I was not privy to the conversation, and I do not know if she did.   She also brought up electroshock therapy used as late as the 70's at BYU -- which he did not believe.

     Often the intents of people trying to good or noble, but would the saying "The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions" have become a clich�� were it not for the tendency to do evil things while believing you're serving the greater good?

    I will not deny that the church produces good people, but those who Robert Kirby calls genuine Mormons are few and far between.  It is highly likely these people would have been good whether or not they were members of the church.  However, while this is the case, there are many people for whom religion is a tool to make them a better person and this is where I think religion is most beneficial to a society, if we do not carry it so far that we're willing to harm others for our belief.  A good example is the 12-step program favored by AA.  I'd rather have a harmless evangelical proselytizing me than a heroin addict who's trying to take my wallet.  At least the first person is far less likely to use violence.

     The question is, does the Mormon church do this as a whole? I'm tempted to say no, but in this case, I must be cautious of my bias.  I think it could be, but as an organization it is largely immature, although it could have learned from its predecessors and avoided many of the pitfalls other churches soon fell into.


    Perhaps it is time we re-evaluated all our religions to see if this is the purpose that they're serving?  After all, evidence of the divine can be found in someone being a better human being more easily than such evidence can be found by translating golden plates you found buried in a hillside.