MORE HATE MAIL: Princess Tinkle Winkle aka Lori, heard me on the radio the other morning. See, I was on 97.1 ZHT, with Frankie, Danger Boy and Jessica, and it was a lot of fun. They were very awesome and gracious hosts, and I had a blast. But, as is usually the case, someone took exception to my comments and my book.
See, if you are MORMON, you get to go around telling the world you have the ONLY TRUE RELIGION, and the rest of the masses are idiots. But if you are no LONGER A MORMON, you better just shut the hell up and never speak again.
Princess Tinkle Winkle thinks I’m just “horrible, like, totally horrible.” I think she is just “deluded, like, totally deluded.”
Here is what she had to say:
Email: princess7tink@xxxxxxxxx
Message: I just want you to know that I think you are horrible. I heard you on the radio the other day talking about your book and thought I would check out your site just to see what it was about. I just got through reading your story on leaving the Church and having your name still be on the directory. BIG DEAL!!! GET OVER IT!!! PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES AND STOP CRYING ABOUT IT!!!
Just because you don’t like the LDS church and the teachings you shouldn’t be discouraging others from having the missionaries come to their house or opening
their door to them. If others are discouraged because of reading what you had to say, I hope you are severely punished when you get to the other side and see
what you are missing and what others missed because of you.
This is a fun one. SO let’s dissect it section by section.
I just want you to know that I think you are horrible.
And I think you’re intellectually challenged and repressed. Does that make us even?
I heard you on the radio the other day talking about your book and thought I would check out your site just to see what it was about. I just got through reading your story on leaving the Church and having your name still be on the directory. BIG DEAL!!! GET OVER IT!!! PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES AND STOP CRYING ABOUT IT!!!
Big deal? Get over it? I have, silly girl. I’m so over it I get irate emails from people like you and instead of reacting with anger and venom, as you have done, I put them on my blog for fun and amusement. Loved the “big girl panties” comment. You are too, too witty. But relax. There are no tears on my pillow. Why, if the Mormons ever left me alone, what would I write about?
I do have a few questions for you, however. Can you explain why my wishes mean nothing, but the LDS Church should be able to do whatever they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want? And when they do that, why do I not have the right to WRITE about what they have done to me? How do you reconcile that?
Just because you don’t like the LDS church and the teachings you shouldn’t be discouraging others from having the missionaries come to their house or opening
their door to them.
Why shouldn’t I? I believe it to be an entirely false entity. Apparently, if YOU think someone is wrong, you don’t hesitate to tell them so. Just consider your above email. And if someone chooses to READ my Web site, or my blog, or buy my book and read it, that’s a choice they’ve made, isn’t it? As opposed to, say, GOING DOOR TO DOOR AND telling people it’s the only true religion in the world. Gee, who does that?
I can promise you right now that I have NEVER EVER gone door to door selling my book. And as for going on the radio, well, do you NOT have an off button?
The stories I tell are the stories of a lot of people, and just because SOME OF YOU have a good experience, it doesn’t mean that ALL OF YOU WILL.
If others are discouraged because of reading what you had to say, I hope you are severely punished when you get to the other side and see what you are missing and what others missed because of you.
Lori, Lori, Lori. I can tell you are strong in your faith, and I hope it helps you get through the rough times. But grow up. There are good Mormons and there are bad Mormons, just like there are good Catholics and bad Catholics. If you automatically decide someone is BAD because they don’t believe what you believe, and choose to write about it, then you live in a very narrow world and I pity you. There’s a lot you are missing out on. And no one could ever punish me as much as sitting through a dreadful fast and testimony meeting. That is the worst type of torture.
I wrote and told Lori she would be spotlighted on my blog today, and this was her response. (The botts typo is hers, not mine. I’m guessing she means boots, since I can’t see anyone shaking in their botts.)
Do you think it scares me that I’ll be on your stupid blog today? Wow, I’m shaking in my botts. Like I care if I’m “spotlighted” by someone like you. Really, readers from all over the world? There are so many other real authors that write wonderful LDS fiction: Anita Stansfield, MIchelle Ashman Bell, Rachel Ann Nunes. Women who live in Utah also and know the workings of the LDS church and faith. They are great authors and don’t need people like you ruining the name of women authors in Utah.
Apparently, these Mormon authors are REAL, and I am not. And she doesn’t believe I have readers from ALL over the world. So weigh in, people. Come on! Tell her where you are reading from.
UPDATE: Want your OWN big girl panties button or magnet? Just go here.
http://www.usillygoose.com/biggirlpanties.html
Or here:
http://www.stickergiant.com/page/sg/PROD/bz/y4296
And Tinkle Winkle wasn’t even original…..
Writer in a Bubble 
Natalie – we love your postings over here in Afghanistan! Although with the sand and religious fanatics one might mistake it for Utah… 😉
Oh and tinkle winkle Lori – grow up! If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen…meaning if you go door to door dishing it out, how can you be upset when it gets dished back?
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Yes, Lori.. grow up and discard THOSE BIG GIRL PANTIES… and wear women’s lingerie.
I am sitting here in Nevada… Hey we have sand too. 🙂
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Greetings from Oregon! Okay, so it isn’t halfway around the world. But hey, it’s a start…
To Lori:
I you think what Natalie is doing is discouraging people from truly giving Latter-day Saints a chance, the turn around and look in the mirror. “Oh my gosh and holy heck!” Thanks for reconfirming what I had suspected all along; the passive visitors-welcome-come-as-you-are-11th-article-of-faith appearance is simply a facade for a truly controlling and vindictive church.
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How pray tell did you ruin the names of women authors in Utah? That’s pretty good, if you did.
I am a Christian. (that is different than mormon, I know)I find no offense in your books. There are lots of books Christians find offensive, but this is America. (thank God) Read them or don’t read them. As I’ve said before…..If my faith can be shook by a book of fiction, I dare say my faith was not built on very solid ground to begin with. I know what I believe and why I believe it. Like you said about mormons , there are bad Chistians and “good’ Christians. Those bad Christians do not shake my faith. Church is a Hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.
I think you shed much needed light on a small segment of our world that would love nothing better than to be left in the dark. BAD IS BAD, wheather it is commited by christians, buddist, atheists, or LDS. If you destroy the lives of people, what your doing should be brought to other’s attention. Yours may not have been touched, but somebody somewhere was.
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Greetings Tinkle Winkle Lori from Oregon…no I’m not PD, we do have more than one person in the state, and we’ve loads of sand…a quite a few Mormons…
TW Lori, I wish you an open mind, so you can hear what others say with out judging them. And so that you can feel that they are not labeling you (although in your close mindedness you make that a bit difficult) just because their faith does not fit your religion and vice versa. Also T.W. Lori, would you please stand in testiment to my freverant desire TO NOT BE baptised Mormon after I die.
Sincerely,
Me the Quaker
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Oh, BTW, good commentary Desi
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Reading from Florida. Recovering Catholic. A firm believer that I have the right *not* to open the door to Mormon missionaries. Also convinced that I have the right not to stop and listen to the same Mormon missionaries when they accost me while I walk through my neighborhood.
And, more than anything, convinced that “by their works (good or bad), He shall know them”–so I’ll leave Him to it. I sure wish more people did, though…
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I am a recovering Mormon in Utah and not only are the missionaries coming door to door but now they stand in the Walmart and Kmart parking lots and attack shoppers as they walk to thier cars. Totally ridiculous and extremely lazy. Why are Mormons always looking for validation in thier religion . When I was going to church I always felt it was a personal choice and that should be all that mattered. Obviously it was the wrong choice but I was a little tweaked in the head for a few years.
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Princess 7tink,
You listened to the radio show. You read her blog. You responded to Natalie’s answer. Now you should buy one of her books and actually read it. Pry open that dust bin and let some light in.
This is coming from sunny Southern California. Where I can testify that the twin Flash Gordon spaceships (LDS Temple in La Jolla) are poised and ready for take off. If you push hard enough I bet you can catch the Heaven’s Gate cult. Hurry!
InthenameoftheOsmondsamen,
Howy
P.S.- Please take Sideon along for the ride.
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Hey Miss Twinkie Dinkie Morbot,
First of all the fact that you “LISTENED” to Natalie Collins Radio Interview which I will call her Testimony.. LOL says it all. If you were so offended why listen, consider it your free agency to turn off what it is you don’t want to hear. Isn’t that what they preach anyway in that church that you are so dearly defending?
I have chosen to have my own free agency away from the clutches of that church. I don’t go around preaching “my ideas” onto others. So my suggestion to you is to take off your little girl panties, and grow up.
Suzy in sunny California
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Wow, Clint, are you in the military? Glad you posted!! And thanks to everyone else for weighing in. Now where are the rest of you?
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I just had a HORRIFIC thought… What if my punishment when I get to the other side is…. ENDLESS MORMON CHURCH MEETINGS???? AUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I’ll never sleep again….
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Really quite amusing. I am here in Louisville, Kentucky and resigned from the Mormon Church on Smithmas day. December 23, 2005. I couldn’t take the worship of that pedophile any more.
Lori, there is a whole big world out there and your insignificant religion is a pimple on the butt of the world. Here is a little information about the “significance” of Mormonism.
In the world Christians are the largest group with approximately 33% of the total. This is over 2 Billion adherents. Mormonism is 12 Million if you believe their figures, and closer to 4 Million people that would consider themselves to be Mormon.
Translating this (using 2 Billion Christians and 6 Billion world population for simplicity), at 12 million members, Mormons are .6% of Christians and .2% of the world population. That means 6 in 1,000 Christians and 2 in 1,000 thousand world population. This is considered an insignificant sample by any standards.
If the 4 Million number is used, Mormons are .2% of Chrisitans and .067% of the world population. This means 2 in 1,000 call themselves Mormon and 6.7 in 10,000 world population.
People in the Corridor don’t seem to understand how truly insignificant they are. If we are all God’s children, and the Morg really has a corner on “TRUTH” wouldn’t he be trying to save more than 6.7 in 10,000?
Now Lori, wake up and go down to Victoria Secrets and buy some big girl panties instead of the Jesus Jammies you people like so much.
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Lurker here from Texas. Never been Mormon but I’ve known several. I once had an acquaintance who grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon (polyg) household. Yeah, I know, officially that isn’t Mormon. All I can say is that, if Mormons can call themselves Christian because they are the “Church of *Jesus Christ* of Latter-day Saints,” then polygs can call themselves Mormon because they read the Book of Mormon.
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Here in Hampton Roads, VA, the sight of those freshly-scrubbed Mormon boys gives me an unholy desire to corrupt them. Woe betide the missionary who tried to convert me. Religious education? Well, he’d be the one shouting “Oh God!” But as it is, I remain a good, grown-up Catholic girl. I restrain my baser instancts. I always answer the door politely and decline their religion as I have one of my own.
Sometimes, I show them Nat’s book.
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Hey, Mary,
In my current research, I’ve learned there are MORE than 100 offshoot sects of Mormonism. Even more interesting, the US Courts decided the REORGANIZED Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints actually had ownership rights to the Mormon temple in Nauvoo. Even though Brigham Young and HIS Saints fought them in court over it.
So you are right, the SL Church does NOT hold any kind of right to the name Mormon. If they read the BoM, they get to be called Mormon. No matter how many times the SL Church cries foul.
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Okay. Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are True Believers (and it isn’t just Mormon True Believers) so often so anxious to see people who don’t agree with them “severely punished”? It’s almost as if they get off on the idea.
Elaine
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That email just drips with Christian love. NOT!.
Sadly the natural instinct of fight or flight even effects LDS and other views. Either they flee and avoid it, or go on the attack. You got the attack part. Most likely just reset the radio dial.
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Sister Lori, guess you kinda’ stepped in it this time. S’okay. We’ll be glad to have you c’mon over to the sunny side. No secret names, no veils, no problem.
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Stay away from Howy, Tinkle. He’s DANGEROUS. A man with a mission… Convert you from the dark side….
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Elaine said, “Why are True Believers (and it isn’t just Mormon True Believers) so often so anxious to see people who don’t agree with them “severely punished”? It’s almost as if they get off on the idea.”
Bertrand Russell answered that a while back:
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists–that’s why they invented Hell.
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That’s right, Tink. I’m a bad boy. You like bad boys?
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Yep, Princess Tinkle-Pee-Pee, you lost me at “severly punished.”
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I’m from Ogden, Utah… but I wish I was in the Pacific North West, or Sweden or Denmark. 🙂
Natalie, this post cracked me up. I’m still giggling…
I have to go to a funeral tomorrow in a LDS chapel. I’m not pleased. Funny how you can be born and raised in the church, married in the temple and over time become so disenchanted with the church that the thought of spending even one hour in an LDS chapel is almost too much. Ugg…
Off to order me a “big girl panties” magnet. 😉
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I know I haven’t posted in a while…here’s what I don’t get. I don’t get people, I really don’t. I don’t get why people can’t just accept other people’s choices for how they live their lives. I don’t get why people can’t just get along. Yep, there are bad mormons and good mormons and bad catholics and good catholics and bad muslims and good muslims…etc. etc., so we know that, so why can’t we all just live our lives. I’m sorry Natalie, I really did enjoy your books and generally speaking your blog makes me think, but I don’t understand why you dedicate so much time to…oh I don’t even know how to put it…what is this blog…getting back at the evil mormon church? Letting the world know how horrible the mormons are? Trying to correct the mormon population in their beliefs? I don’t know. I have respect for your decision in your life…I hope that other people would have respect for me because of how I choose to live mine. It is really hurtful to know that there are people out there that would think I was deluded, awful, horrible, stupid or whatever for what I choose to believe. Maybe I am the exception to the LDS rule…I don’t know. I just want to live my life in the best way I think possible without ridicule and hurt. Isn’t that what everyone wants?
K.
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Hey greetings Kris. I am glad that you stuck around and found out we’re not nasty people. And the post up above do not mean we are nasty people, and Natalie definately isn’t (I’ve known her long enough to be very certain of that.) But you must admit that Tinkle went out of her way to be verbally combatant against Natalie and this blog.
Do we all think different? Why, of course we do. Do most of us not understand/or understand all too well the Mormon Church? Most defiantely. Do we all have an opinion? Most obviously, I think this is the most post I’ve seen to one blog. It accomplished more than most people will see on the surface.
1) It created a dialogue amongst even the lurkers
2) I hope it would make Tink see she is not in the majority (and by the way Jim, great arguement and stats.)
3) Az, Elaine, and Wendy all had great rebuttal. If a group of people, who apparently find Natalie appauling, an aberation, and whatever else they might deem her and her idiology, are going to speak out on Natalie’s own blog shouldn’t they carefully chose their platform, words, and slurs before slinging them? Also shouldn’t they find out who and what Natalie actually is before hunting HER DOWN to condemn and judge her?
Kris you were one of those who stayed despite the reason you originally came here and you are a nice person. Tink on the other hand is an outraged person who didn’t think before blogging. Maybe she is a nice person? I don’t know. What I do know is she brought the lurkers out of the wood work. Welcome lurkers.
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***I don’t get why people can’t just accept other people’s choices for how they live their lives.***
As far as Mormons go, they don’t really live by the creed: “Live and let live”. I wish they did. Recent example, their involvement in the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Kudos to you, Kris, if you don’t want any part of that.
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Natalie,
Greetings from England! Have to say that conversation about Big Girl Panties is second only to the World Cup over here and some of my co-workers are waiting for their badges.
I hope Lori also develops a wider reading repertoire than she currently ‘enjoys’!
Darque
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Kris,
You sound positively refreshing. Too bad you’re the exception. If more Mormons had your attitude then my chip would be a splinter.
I grew up in a Mormon ghetto in Salt Lake City and the residual anger, at the Mormons of my youth, is normally dormant. When I read about the Mormons that old anger is stirred. As an adult it was easy enough to just move away from all that garbage. As a child – you’re stuck. I won’t bore you with all the stuff I went through. There was enough crap that I was very angry for a number of developmental years. In a closed society, in my era, there was virtually no support for dissenting views. Natalie’s blog is a forum for a lot of people that are cheesed.
My new neighbors are mostly born-again Christians and they don’t bother me at all anymore. They’ve accepted my choices and treat me with respect and kindness now. They don’t knock on my door with recruitment in mind. They haven’t told me that I’m going to Hell in a long time. Odds are they believe I’ve earned a condo there but they’re respectful enough to keep it to themselves. There’s a mutual respect. Invitations to church events are still proffered but without an agenda or an all out campaign. Kinda nice.
Howy
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Kris, I am sorry you feel picked on by Natalie and/or the commenters. From where I read, it seems we are defending Natalies (and in a way ourselves and our own choices), from people going out of their way to attack her, and not in any way attacking anyone who, like you, respects her and her choices.
In my experience, people can get along only when those in opposite sides of *any* divide are equally willing to get along (i.e. respecting each other’s differences).
Wouldn’t you say thathose few/some/many Mormons who write hate mail to Natalie are not willing to get along with her? Most of them are telling her that:
a)She’s eeeeeeeeeevil and will consequently burn in hell
OR
b)She’s lying–her negative experiences are obviously not true
OR
c)If she’s not lying, she’s making too much of ‘nothing’ (such as having her names still in the rolls after so many years, Mormons accosting her and her daughters, writing hate mail to her, etc.)
OR
d)All of the above
Those who take the time to write to Natalie to condemn her could instead do what both my significant other and my best friend (both deeply religious) do about my own ‘recovering Catholic’ status: they understand that my personal experience with organized religion is quite negative and respect my choice to live as a decent, never-setting-foot-in-a-Church-again** human being without trying to convince me that I am evil, lying and/or making too much out of nothing.
**well, never unless my mother asks me, or there’s a wedding or a funeral.
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Kris,
I understand that it is hard for you to be here and listen to some of this stuff, but I want to point out a few things.
My blog is set up around the “Mormon” culture because that is where I live, it is my heritage, and it is what I write about. I write about what I know. Some of the Mormons I know are good, some are bad, and both get spotlighted. I write suspense fiction. Suspense fiction is rarely “warm and fuzzy.”
It is impossible for me NOT to spotlight Mormons as I write about this culture. And I’m going to say it again. It’s MY culture and MY heritage, too. However, I do NOT go on the attack. But I learned something when I very first wrote about events in this arena. I was GOING to get attacked by Mormons. And if I sat back and did nothing, the attacks got worse and worse. If I pussyfooted around the issues, or tried to be kind, they circled in even closer. It was almost as if they SENSED weakness, and thought they could harass me into shutting up.
So I changed my tactics. I will tell my experiences with Mormonism. I have that right. I’m sorry it makes you uncomfortable, because to me, you are a rare delight. I LOVE having you here, and exchanging thoughts and feelings with me. I don’t want to chase you off. But I have to be who I am, too.
Utah Mormons (and yes, for the most part they are the VERY worst of the worst) treat me as if I have NO right to tell my experiences, and yet they have EVERY right to tell me how awful I am. There is no two-way street here.
In short, I am expected to:
a) Shut up and never explain what it is like to be a non-believer in this Mormon world
b) Only talk about the good things that happen to Mormons and the people around them
c) Never state that my own beliefs, even though they shout theirs from every rooftop.
AS LONG as Mormons will not leave me alone, and as long as they will not respect me, I will return that offense. And you have to admit that I diffuse a lot of it with humor. I’m still chuckling over the “big girl panties” comment that Lori made.
The short of it is this: I do not believe Mormonism to be true. While I respect your right to believe it as truth, and I promise not to come stand on your doorstep and preach or picket, or even tell you how silly I think it all is, you have to respect my right to address it here and in my books.
There is no ONE side of any story. There are plenty of people telling the “Mormon” side. I just happen to be telling the “other” one.
I hope you will stay here, and I will NEVER censor your comments, because you always make me think. And I appreciate that.
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There is a really great conversation going on here and I appreciate the venue that Natalie provides. I was worried I would get hate mail of sorts myself for my commentary. I have to admit, what brought me here was a “get over it Natalie” attitude which certainly got me off on the wrong foot here…LOL ( I do understand her motivation here a little bit better, but in all honesty I still do feel somewhat of a move on with your life attitude which is probably directly related to my own upbringing in another church). Actually, I believe a whole post was dedicated to my commentary back then…it definately brought a lot of readers over to my own blog though, and I did get my share of hate mail then. What has come from me being a regular reader of Natalie’s blog is a great respect for those who HAVE had negative experiences in the LDS church and their ensuing problems associated with them. I understand more fully some of the negative feelings some people have associated with the LDS church. And, like I said before, I am sure I am the exception not the rule, although a great number of us Canadian LDS church members do think the same way…”live and let live” as Wendy so aptly put it. I am an educated woman who does not bury her head in the sand when it comes to the LDS church and its past and present doctrine and history, both positive and negative. I wish more people could agree to disagree but get along at the same time.
I do agree that Princess Tinkie Winkie or whatever it was she called herself should GET OVER IT. hehe
K.
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Well here in London England Europe the northern hemisphere the world, I have my Big Girl Panties on, manly because cheese cutter thongs really aren’t me. W e enjoy a good read – I just finished wives and sisters by the way – a jolly good page turner of a book. And I have to say that even though I am monomo I have never heard of those writers of whom she speaks. I have read some mormon *Novellas* and to be honest they are just mills and boon set in and LDS community with unbelievable characters. I mean tehy have home teachers who home teach – how believeable is that.
I was going to say carry on making your Hate mailers look stupid, but they actually don’t need any help do they.
Keep on blogging – I look forward to reading you.
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Cheese cutter thongs…oh I’m in hysterics here. Too funny Christine.
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Greetings from California! I enjoy reading the comments especially the cheese cutter thongs.Someone tell Lori that she’ll never earn any respect with a name like Tinkle Winkle.
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Hey Kris,
Truly I have moved on, but there are parts of me that Mormonism will not let go of, and that is why I am still “trapped.” You can only move on when things are resolved, and they won’t let it get resolved.
But, that said, everyday Utah gets more and more liberal. The junior high my daughter will attend was 9 percent non-LDS five years ago. Today it is 25 percent non-LDS, and although that’s still a Mormon majority, the figures mean dilution is happening. I believe with dilution comes diversity and acceptance.
Despite what Mormons think, I do accept them and their choices. I told my dad a few weeks ago, “I have NEVER come up to your house, and confronted you on your beliefs. EVER. I have never told you what I found, and why I don’t believe. I just don’t understand why YOU feel YOU have a right to press your beliefs on me, and tell me it’s just true. Why is that right?” I don’t want to disabuse my parents of their faith. It means too much to them. They only time I present what I believe to be true is when THEY confront me.
You can walk down the streets and see the changes even from five years ago. I know Mormons don’t hail this as progress, but I believe that whenever you have TOO MUCH of any one group together, things get bad. It is true for whatever religion you speak of.
I didn’t use to love living in Utah, but I have to admit that today I do. And I get to say when I don’t agree with what the majority are trying to do and say.
Ain’t America great?
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Here I am in Sahuayo, Michoacán, México, reading Natalie´s site in a stuffy Internet cafe. I think pretty much everything that needs to be said to Princess Tinkle Winkle has been said already, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to Natalie, and say that I love your blog. Keep telling it like it is.
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Thanks Andrea and ALL of you who have pledged your support. I love this diversity. I thrive on it. Even at 12:42 on a Friday night, when I SHOULD be in bed. I LOOOOOOVE YOUUUUUU MAN.
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Hellloooo from Canada!
I have to say, my complete apathy with LDS door-knockers has nothing to do with Natalie.. it has to do with *gasp* LDS door-knockers.
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Hi from sunny Sacramento,
After being born and raised in Oakland, Ca., I moved to Utah at age 12. I am now 50 years old and still recovering from MCSS or Mormon Cultural Shock Syndrome!
I’m so happy to be back in Cali now for 8 years. The Mormon Church hounded me and my family, persecuted us in public school, ‘those of you who are not Mormon, raise your hand’, and almost every single Mormon I’ve met have been hypocits!
Twinkle, you are brainwashed into believing in your religon, please educate yourself on the truth behind Joseph Smith and his so called work of fantasy and fiction called the Book of Mormon!
Thanks,
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Natalie, I’m a happy ex Mormon. I got no ex-Mormon angst. I was baptized a Mormon, mainly because my husband at the time wanted me to. I’m black. We were the only black Mormons around in a nth degree radius! After I divorced I no longer kept up with the Mormon stuff, but I got nothing against them. I like Mormons! I think some of the doctrine is strange though. I really had to try not to giggle when getting baptized over and over at the temple for dead folk (dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk). But Mormons are cool. A little weird, but that’s fine.
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Greetings from Las Vegas! Sadly, I once was a True Blue Utah Princess Tinkle Winkle. I would have never written to someone to tell them how awful they were, but I had that righteous indignation flowing through my veins, oh yes. I am now a happy, well-adjusted exmo (it is possible! wow!), finally living life.
Keep up the exellent work, Natalie! (PS, just started your book today!)
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Hi from Tennessee!
I think Lori is my sister–or maybe just her clone!
My sister is the same way. It’s ok for her to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to send her sons out for 2 years to annoy, harrass, and belittle people who don’t believe the same way they do, not to mention tell them they’re idiots. But she feels the same way Lori does–that I have no right to talk about my feelings about what SHE believes.
The “big girl panties” and “being severely punished” are some of her catch phrases too. Hmmmmm… curiouser and curiouser.
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Hello from a former Mormon in Las Vegas!! This is my first post, but I have been enjoying your blog for a few months now. Thanks!!
Just wanted to say be nice to the little Mormon Missionaries. My brother is out there right now. I think they send them out young because they are still young, brainwashed and haven’t been corrupted yet. I have lots to talk with my brother about when he gets home :o)
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Wow, so many comments! Thanks to all of you for weighing in on this. And Meri, I will always have a little soft spot for missionaries. I mean, just THINK what they go through, at a time in their lives when the only things they are thinking about are cars and sex.
They are just kids. And so I can never really be mean to them. I might be honest, but never mean.
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I, too, was trapped by the Mormons. I was required to live in Utah by a job move, and arrived (a “gentile”) totally unaware of the beliefs of this little “voodoo” subculture in the US (and I still am dumbstruck that a population is running loose in this country espousing some of the weird things that were presented to me—during constant efforts to “convert” me—-we just won’t go there, as this would require a novella’s worth of space).
Now, as for the “big girl pants”…they could come in handy. According to one of my friends in Utah whose whole family became ex-Mormons in one fell-swoop, the same thing happened to them that happened to you….they could never “get out’ of the church no matter what route they tried. Finally, they all dressed up and went to church one day…mom, dad, and several kids…and vocally, publicly stood up and “aposticized” in the middle of church meeting. They were never bothered again…even the kids as they grew into adults were never re-approached by the church. I think this would require the purchase of some really big girl pants. It seems like a big girl pants sort of thing to do.
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Greetings from Arizona! I don’t have an opinion about the LDS Church one way or the other, but I think that everyone should be free to express their opinions. You just have to be prepared to accept the backlash when you do.
Natalie ~ I truly enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.
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I have just discovered this site and say it is a great one! People who actually can open their eyes to Mormonism. Nancy, I enjoy your blog too and keep it up! This site is so informative and sure are quite a few wake up calls! I KNOW people who think the Osmonds are the mormon Gods and even have joined the church because of them. Osmonds have been through divorce, sexual abuse, PPD, money fraud etc, they actually sound Catholic to me! lol
Experience and open-mindedness is key! Thanks Nancy!
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Oops sorry I meant Natalie, not Nancy! Writing and answering phone messages at the same time.
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Who? I’ve never heard of any of these authors. Seems like they’re specialists.
Jake
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Hey,
I just found this site and really love it. I have been mormon all my life and have just recently decided that the religion is bogus. It is really nice to be able to hear of others who might have gone through the same things as I have.
Karah
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Hi Karah,
Welcome to Trapped, and life as an Exmo! We’re glad you joined us.
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Hey there!
Greetings from a recovering ex-mormon from Germany! I truely love your blog Natalie 🙂
I too was born into the mormon church. I left the church six years ago (when I was 16) and there are still members and missionaries who keep trying to talk/lure me into the the churches fold again. It’s very frustrating since I still live with my family who is (except of my brother) very truely deeply mormon and invites those people on a weekly base. Like invite them to my brithday without telling me and stuff like that. But I have to say that it got better through the last year.
My experience is that most mormons of those I had the questionable pleasure of knowing are very arrogant and/or creepy. I still have a scar from falling down some stairs when a member of the stake presidency (have really no idea what their titles are in english, sorry) scared the sh*t out of me by yelling at me while and because some friends and me were playing hide and seek in the church. On sunday! God forbid!
Another lively memory I have is being chased through the whole stake building by my parents and some other members because I refused to go to a class. Apperently I had no right to decide that until I’m old enough to decide that it is wrong not to go to a class on sundays. I was about 14 or 13 I think. I wasn’t forced to go to the class but I got preached of how wrong my behaviour is for about 30 minutes, until I started crying to tell the whole truth. But I still didn’t go, hehe.
Oh, and I still have nightmares that take place in this very stakebuilding or the Frankfurt temple. Not so funny.
I guess I never really embraced the churches ideas though I was born into it and raised that way. At one point I started to hate this people just like I always hated wearing skirts. Damn those skirts! They’re freaking cold in winter.
Things that drove me away from that church were e.g. the fact that men had such a high status and being a woman meant to be a lower being. Then the thing you wrote somewhere on your blog (I don’t quite recall where exactly…), that the Holy Ghost and the sweet voice of Satan talk to you and how any mormom or human being could tell the difference without any doubts, or something like that. Why does this particular church has the only truth?! And so on. I never believed something just because someone told me it is true (that’s why I touched a hot iron for example; my mom told me it was hot but it looked so damn cold I just had to had to test it for myself ^^). But no one understood that. I simply got told that it is written so it is true because the one who wrote that book said so.
After I left the church I was dealing with some heavy feelings of guilt and dirt. I didn’t understand why, but without the church I felt helpless and vile. I sure wasn’t prepared for that! I took me 4 hard years to get over that. I had countless fights with my parents and my sister, I started to cut myself and my grades got really bad. And of course I had to write hundreds of letters until I got my name removed form the churches books. At least I was told they removed it.
Anyway, as I said I got over it. The hardest part was when I dicovered that I am gay. That was qite the shock (which showed just how much mormonism had influenced my way of thinking). I was disgusted of myself, even more than after leaving the church. But with time I learned to accept myself and change some of my philosophys. But I guess I’ll burn in hell 😉 Hopefully hell means NOT endless church meetings! Now that would be torment!
Hope it’s okay that I shared my story with your comment box. Your blog made me do it 😛
Seriously, I doubt that too many will read this but your writing was so motivating that I had to tell how being born into a Mormon family influenced me and what my experiences are with Mormons, at least the ones in south of Germany. Maybe it will inspire someone else too. But maybe not. Who cares?!
In the end I wanted to say that I really love my family and I know my mother and my sister just want to “save my soul” because they love me too. I’m glad that they find strength in their faith. I respect that. But it’s jut not my way. And giving tithe to a church when you have barely enough for you and your family, well it sucks! It’s so very blind and unlogical it literally hurts my head. I can never understand that.
Good day to you all!
(please overlook my clumsy grammar and spelling…)
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