The “Why Mormons Leave” project is a production of the Open Stories Foundation and Mormon Stories Podcast.
Our goals are to:
- Promote awareness and encourage discussion around the main reasons why people are losing their belief in the LDS church, and to dispel inaccurate or damaging myths about their reasons for disbelieving or leaving.
- Help to minimize the alienation, ostracization and judgment of LDS church members who are unable to maintain traditional belief.
- Reduce the number of marriages and families that are damaged or divided over these issues.
To provide us with feedback, please email: whymormonsleave@gmail.com.
Hello my name is Herman and currently I am living in Germany. I am pleasently supprised by this website. A good friend of mine in Holland posted this link to me. The reason that I am writing is that I am an ex LDS member. I got excomminicated in April 2004 from the church after I personly went to my forme bisshop and told I have to get my life in order. I wanted to repent from the mistakes I have made. The stakepresident and the counsel decited still to excommunicate me for the “crimes” I made. One point all things what hurted myself not the church in anyway. Because it was the 2. time that this happend. They (the church in Holland) kept a record of my mistakes and the german church ordered this file to read it. So the german church decided because I did it for the second time to excommunicate me.
Yes I lost total trust in the church and it’s system. For me there was noway that it can be true for the reason that they can not accept repentance. Also the theme hardly spoken of that the blacks could not partake in church till 1978. I did believe this and it infected my life. For a long time I fellt not loved by the Almighty I fellt like dirt because of this. Now I know better. I am a human being just with a darker complex that’s all.
Now I have found peace and have the believe that everybody is responsable for them selfs to do good, follw the commandsments God has given us. I have learned a great deal about the human mind and how easy it is to manipilate it. I used to work as a consultant in advertisement.
Thank you that you are doing this for the ones who have left the church. Thank you for pointing out certain points. I hope it will help some of the members to give them a better understanding of what is going on in the minds of them who left the church.
Greets
Herman Gerrit
I’m so grateful for the work that you guys have done/are doing. This cannot help but have been some of the leaven that has moved the LDS church forward towards greater honesty about the troublesome aspects of their history and theology.
However, I wonder if the LDS church hierarchy will ever apologize to scholars and historians who were censured — through reprimand, disfellowshipment or excommunication — for bringing to light the very things church leaders once kept out of sight, but now feel they have to bring out into the open, rather than risk losing more members or potential converts? And will members who have left the church because of historical/theological “discrepancies” consider returning, now that the LDS church says that it will be more forthcoming?.