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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Mass Resignation at Ensign Peak!

Out of The Shadows and Into the Light March and Rally

Where: Meeting at Ensign Downs Park (at the base of Ensign Peak)
When: 10:00am Saturday, June 30, 2012

If you are ready to resign from Mormonism, this event would be a great way to make sure your voice gets heard! If you have already resigned, you are also welcome to participate in the event and sign the Declaration of Independence from Mormonism document. If you're not LDS or not ready to resign, but just want to show your support to those who are resigning, you are also invited. Families are encouraged to attend together. Please be aware that the press will be invited, too.

We will meet at Ensign Downs Park (just below the trail head to Ensign Peak) between 9:30 and 10:00am. If you are resigning, bring copies of your resignation letter in a stamped envelope. We will have some unsigned letters available for people who haven't had the time or know-how to create their own resignation letters. All of the letters will be collected to be mailed together after the event. We will also have the "short version" of the Declaration of Independence from Mormonism (see this at the bottom of this blog entry) for everyone who wants to sign it.

We'll be marching to the top of Ensign Peak as a group carrying banners and flags. Our group should be visible from a good portion of the Salt Lake Valley. After the Ensign Peak march, we will celebrate and chat in the park. Bring a picnic for your family if you'd like to, and some chairs or a blanket to sit on (there are no pavilions or tables at this park). After the event winds down, an entourage will take our pile of resignation letters to the SLC post office.

We ask each family to try to create or purchase some kind of flag, banner, or poster for maximum visibility when we're on Ensign Peak. Even a piece of cloth on a stick would work for this. And, of course, the bigger the better. This is NOT a requirement, but is simply highly encouraged.

We will have a "base camp" in Ensign Downs Park where people who aren't up to making the hike up the mountain (about a 20 min. hike uphill) can hang out. This is also where we will be meeting initially, sometime between 9:30-10:00am. Base camp will be the letter-gathering place and we'll have water and shade there for those who need it.

Declaration of Independence from Mormonism (short version)
We the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, find it necessary to publicly and formally dissolve the bands which have connected us to the Mormon Church. We hereby declare our independence from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and resign our status as members. We demand that the LDS Church no longer count us in its numbers and immediately remove our names from all Church records and databases.


Note: We have a SLC Permit for our event. Please read through the city's guidelines (below) and come to the resignation event prepared to behave accordingly.

First Amendment Petition Guidelines
Salt Lake City Corporation
1. Any signs must be carried by hand or supported by lathe-type sticks only.
2. You may not interfere with pedestrians or vehicular traffic. If people do not stop to
listen to you, you may not insist that they do so. Specifically, you may not grab or
attempt to physically restrain or touch visitors of the businesses or residences in the area
or any person on public or private property.
3. You may not block or attempt to block any entrance or driveway.
4. The petitioner has agreed that the group leader will be the group coordinator.
5. The petitioner shall use its best efforts to notify all participants of these rules before the
start of the event.
6. The petitioner acknowledges that the event is for nonviolent purposes.
7. The petitioner agrees to be responsible to leave the areas of the event clean, and that
all objects such as: signs, sticks, leaflets, or candles will be removed by the petitioner's
group.
8. The petitioner acknowledges the constitutional right of anyone to ignore or not listen to
your group and ignore or not read any information literature that your group may be
passing out.
9. Your group may not obstruct the free passage of pedestrians, vehicles, block driveways,
entrances, or exits to any business or building, and may not enter onto private property
without the permission of the property owner.
10. The group shall abide by all pertinent local, state, and federal ordinances and laws while
conducting the activity. 11. Violent acts will NOT be tolerated in any manner.

Click link to see map for event location: Ensign Downs Park, Salt Lake City

47 comments:

  1. I don't know if this is the best place to ask this, but I am a member of Atheists of Utah and would like to get a group of our members together to join in support of your mass resignation. Is there anything we can do to help in coordinating the event?

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    1. We would love to have you guys' support for the event. What you could do is simply help get the word out to your group. I will post a flyer in my blog that can be passed out. The more people who come and show their support, the better!

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    2. This is a bogus event. There is no such thing as a group of active members of anything who all become enlightened and decide to change their mind about their beliefs just because someone says let's meet at the park. lol Just more bogus frustration by ex-Mormons needing attention because they just can't leave the Mormon church alone. They are haunted by what they have done and need comfort in numbers, no doubt.

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    3. JTR - there are three reasons that people support this sham of a blog:

      1. they are gay. have a gay spouse, have gay children or are just really gay.
      2. someone in the church offended them and they don't have a thick enough skin to address it any other way.
      3. they are insane.

      I can promise you that everyone that supports this nonsense fits in one of these categories.

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  2. Make sure you have a rich smuggler be the first to sign his "John Hancock" on the Declaration!

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  3. Awesome event. I wish I were close enough to join up with you guys.

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    1. If this is what you consider an "awesome event" I would love to hear how you normally spend your time. lol

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  4. What will this 'letter of resignation' do?

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    1. Theoretically, the letter of resignation will remove our names from the Church's membership records. They will no longer be able to count us in their numbers legitimately. Another thing it does is it makes it clear to the Church that we are making a conscious effort to leave. We are not merely drifting out of activity. We want them to feel some kind of impact. If everyone who stops believing retains their membership, the Church feels an impact from their inactivity, but not in their number count. Their numbers tell them that they have more followers than they actually do.

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    2. The Corporation of The President always makes such a big deal out being the "fastest growing Church". A careful sifting of the numbers indicates that in the US, for everyone who comes in the front door at least one goes out the back. And counting people they have not heard of since their "baseball" baptism until they are over a hundred years old?

      According to Pew Research, the Mormons inflate their numbers, the Jehovah Witnesses are pretty much right on and the 7th. Day Adventists under report their numbers. The 7th. Day Adventists with 1/10th. the number of missionaries baptist about 10 times the number people the missionaries do.

      I work with a guy who is the first counselor in his Bishopric, He admits the attendance in his ward is only about 20-30% of the members on the roles. And most of the Men (read priesthood) have their heads down because the are playing on their smart phones.

      How about some truth, instead of all the Lies, Deceit and Spin.

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    3. Hint: your "impact" will be felt as much as a fly buzzing around an elephant. You have zero understanding of the church, its leaders, the depth of what they understand and know about you, and on and on. Why not apply to be on the Bachelor next time around? You are in obvious need of attention and trust me, this is not going to get it for you. You are dealing with the powers of Heaven and Heaven has seen the likes of you since the beginning of time. You may want to check out the Bible to see how much impact folks like you have had on God's plan for thousands of years. Not much.

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  5. This is great, I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than support my fellow reformed!

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    1. Yay! It will be an amazing day!

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    2. Are all ex Mormons this hard up for fun? lol Very very odd. (Hey Unknown, you may want to consider a 3 mile run.....I promise it will make you feel better afterwards.)

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  6. Whoo Hooo!!

    Am trying to fill a minivan with people. We are thinking of symbolically chaining ourselves together, armed with bolt cutters labelled "The Truth", we can set ourselves free.

    Love you.

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    1. Psssst.....Hey David, I can assure you, with this mentality, you are quite "free" from all covenant blessings and promises made when you were baptized (if you ever were) whether you attend this event or not. All ordinances and even activity are completely null and void if our spirits and hearts are not in alignment with the gospel of Jesus Christ as it really is (not as you understand it to be.) Your name on the records of the church is completely meaningless if it means nothing to you.

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    2. Riley has raised a pertinent point -- and it illustrates one of the most cultish aspects of Mormonism.

      The Mormon Church teaches that the only marriage that counts is the "sealing" performed in the temples (read D&C 132). This message is drummed into the heads of Mormons from the time they are little children.

      Fast forward to a couple that have been "sealed" in the temple. The Church makes clear that if either of the spouses leaves the church, the church will automatically, and without exception, cancel the "sealing" -- thus literally and unilaterally (from a doctrinal POV) divorcing the couple.

      The Church does this even if one spouse chooses to remain active in the church.

      This is just one example of the dreadful anti-family policies used by the church to coerce people into staying in the cult. They use this policy as a very effective way of using families as leverage in keeping people in the church, against their will.

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    3. Yes Riley, You sound like you have been totally brainwashed! The shunning by family and friends of anyone taking over their own life is real. The control and manipulation of the church is mind boggling, so leaving is not easy.
      Read "Standing for Something more by Lyndon Lamborn. A heart wrenching tale of a very good Mormon who found the truth.

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  7. Have you advised the Q-Salt Lake publication of the event so that you get all the former ward pianists, organists, Mo-Tab male voices, and Orchestra players (in other words, all the gay Mormons) to show up in support? Wish I could be there!

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  8. I read through the list of rules for the protesters. I thought this one was rather interesting:

    "9. Your group may not obstruct the free passage of pedestrians, vehicles, block driveways,"

    It's interesting, of course, because of the way the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes around the rule -- they just buy the public street! They can do it, obviously, because they are filthy rich and they own the state/city governments. So they "obstruct the free passage of pedestrians," etc. by simply purchasing the public property, turning it into "private property," and then asserting their right to interfere with the "agency of man" on "their" land.

    Having loads of cash, for the purposes of buying public property, helps. It also helps to have loads of lawyers, too.

    Anyway, I wish I could be at the organization. I think it's a great idea to have a mass resignation, and wish you all the best. I'd drive down, all the way from Oregon, to join in the fun, but I have other commitments that have already been scheduled.

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    1. You are overlooking the fact that the agency of man is also.... if you have enough wealth, you get to buy whatever you want that you can afford and when you do, it becomes yours. Agency is for everyone, not just the poor and uninfluential.

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    2. That may be your view of "agency," but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Jesus' view. Jesus had nothing but disdain for wealthy people -- it's inconceivable that the Jesus of the NT would sanction a system where mass agency would be suspended simply because a "rich man" bought up the property and suspended free speech.

      Having said that, it should be noted that whether or not it's legal, if the church was *true* they would not *want* to suspend agency. The fact that the church *wants* to suspend agency, and that they *do* suspend agency, exposes them as the followers of Satan's plan (at least, according to Mormon mythology).

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    3. I agree! Every time I pass the new City Creek Mall, I want to purge my insides! Ugh!

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  9. Why go to the post office? Wouldn't it be more satisfying to hand-deliver the resignations to the Church Office Building?

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    1. And hand the letters to a Church Security dude? Doesn't sound very satisfying to me! The real reason, though, is that this event is not about "sticking it" to the Church as much as it is about trying to break some of the taboos associated with leaving the Church. Although resigning may impact the Church, our Mass Resignation Event is more about showing each other support during a difficult transition and breaking out of our secretive closets of disaffection.

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  10. I'll try to be there. I'll try to bring my daughters too. However whether we make it or not. You have been the catalyst I needed. I just finished a resignation letter and have done one for my daughter that also requested one.

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  11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlS9xmWOE08

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  12. I probably only speak for a few of us, but will you give directions on how to get there. It's crazy because I have lived here my whole life and have never been there.

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  13. My husband and I will be there!

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  14. lolol This is pretty funny. As an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from California, I am amused to see this (yawn) effort at making some "big statement" (har har) about leaving the church. No one ever made you be "a Mormon" against your wishes....certainly not the church anyway...your parents maybe? What is it about free agency that you do not understand? You were free "to leave" the church whenever you felt like it. A big grand exit? Maybe you are in need of a reality show all about you? You are not in a cult, believe it or not, and you were free to go anytime. Adult thinkers know they can attend, or not attend, a church of their choice any time they want and have no false illusions about any church making them "be members against their will." Even if you didn't take your name off the records of the church, you obviously don't "get it" and are therefore in no harm of being counted as a true covenant member of the church of Jesus Christ. FYI, getting baptized opened up some possibilities for you. Just possibilities. It didn't "make" you anything other than wet....oh yeah, and a covenant breaker when you broke your part of the covenants that you made when you got baptized.

    Grandstanding about how you feel, when most people you know already know? How utterly dramatic and immature. Like I always say, those who leave the Mormon church were never in it far enough to even know what it was about. Satan got 1/3 of Heavenly Father's children to fall for his lies which got them all cast out of Heaven...a good lesson that it makes no difference if one shows up or one million were to show up at your silly event. It has zero impact on eternal truth. Eternal truth, aka the doctrines of which are only found on earth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is not compromised in the least by how many people embrace it, or not. What you believe and do has zero, absolutely zero, impact on God, light, truth and the few enlightened ones who desire to live by His every word. By the way, I suspect most who show up at your silly display will be frustrated ex-Mormons and anti-Mormons who simply cannot seem to get rid of their own personal guilt about being covenant breakers. Deep down, your spirit, which knows the truth, grieves.

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    1. Hey Riley, I have no idea why you feel intent on spuing your bull shit here. You must very lonely. If you are truly a member, shouldn't you have better things to do than to waste your time here. It's fucked up attitudes like yours that give the chuch a bad name. I'm sure you think your a Christen, and if so, you may need to reevaluate just what you think it means. You speak of free agency. It's obvious to me you really have a hard time letting people be who they are. You have no right to stand in judgement here and tell us how we should feel and what we should do. I'm sure you will have yet another snide comment to make about what I have said here, but if you are trying to convert or make anyone feel bad here, It won't work. Just go peddle your goods else where.

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    4. And let the Trolls start trolling..

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    5. According to the church, a "covenant" is not simply a promise, but a two-sided agreement. Whenever one makes a "covenant" in the church, it automatically includes the presumption that the church is covenanting that they are the only "true" church, and that they actually speak for god.

      To the extent that the church lies about being the "true" church, the "covenant" never got off the ground; the only covenant breaker is the church, itself.

      The fact that the church lies is well established. I'd love to engage you in a debate on that topic. The church lied about the practice of polygamy. They lied about the "Adam God Theory," they lied about Mountain Meadows, they lied about the church's involvement in violence. And, most recently, they have engaged in lying about their past doctrines regarding Blacks having been non-valiant in the preexistence. The church also funds professional liars at FARMS and FAIR -- both apologetic organizations deliberately (and with church funding) spread false information and innuendo about the scientific evidence as it relates to the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, etc.

      Given the church's history of lying, no "covenant" with the church is ever a true "covenant" for the simple reason that the church is not what it claims to be, and that the church violates the covenant before it can even go into effect.

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    6. I think the most damaging teaching, which you illustrate so well in your post, is that you think you are part of the only true church of Jesus Christ.

      I left Mormonism, and worship now faithfully at a United Methodist church. When I resigned from Mormonism, I made it quite clear that I still believed wholly in Jesus. Despite my making this quite clear, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not I, said my baptism was completely nullified along with any other ordinances, and that if I were to come back, it would have to be "through the waters of baptism."

      So, let me ask you these two questions --

      (1) Who broke the covenant? I still keep my life solidly rooted in Jesus. Mormonism decided to distort baptism to be something that they feel is exclusively a commitment to them, not to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

      (2) What are you *really* saying when you are baptized in the Mormon church? Apparently, you can still covenant to follow the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and yet Mormonism doesn't consider that sufficient to keep your baptism. Fortunately, though, God is the judge, not Mormons.

      IMHO, Mormonism takes something good (pure Christianity) and mingles it with the philosophies of Joseph Smith and others who have followed, to an unhealthy degree.

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  15. Covenant breakers? Most LDS who have resigned or who have contemplated resignation are part of a group who were absolutely astounded by the cultish (and for most of LDS temple history--gruesome) ceremonies and pantomimes foisted upon the usually young men and women with no notice and no real time to contemplate or even understand the 'covenants' which they were asked to make. Even secular law allows those who contract to read the agreement before signing--not so with the Mormonism--its method of manipulating new converts is to catch them ignorant and unaware--and keep them there.

    Eternal Truth? Real TRUTH sets us free. Mormonism, full of lies and nonsense, creates only bondage. Obeisance to a patriarchal posse of poseurs is all that the LDS Church has created and all that it will ever do. Real TRUTH survives through the centuries; it is not created in the mind of a deluded criminal. It is sought and found by those who read and pray and meditate--those who seek the TRUTH from whatever source it can be found. Mormonism is a distortion of real TRUTH and ultimately causes only depression and desperation to those who have relied, sometimes for most of a lifetime, on Mormonism's duplicitous leaders for spiritual guidance. Mormonism is corrupt. The evidence of its corruption continues to spread throughout the world by earnest and honest people. God bless those who have had the courage to resign from this farce and God bless those who are about to resign. May they have the courage and fortitude to break the psycho-social bonds that have bound them to this archaic institution for too many years.

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  16. I just want to tell you guys that I think what you are doing is great, I wish I could be at the event you guys have planned but I'll be out of town. You have my wholehearted support! Reading through these comments I see a lot of hate coming from active Mormons. I'll never understand these Mormon folks, I was forced into being at Mormon at birth and it took me 45 years to figure out just how much I've been deceived. You have a lot of people rooting for you guys. Reading over these comments I guess its not just ex-Mormons and soon to be ex-Mormons that are supporting you. I've never heard the name "Kose" but it seems like this kid and his group mean business lol; how in the hell did he get that information. Jan must be crapping herself, it serves her right. Peopel claim they want freedom,but then they try to take it away from you. Anyway, Good Luck!

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  17. Administrator's note: I deleted the comment about JTaylorRiley that was posted by Kose Kosmou since I feel that sharing her personal information such as phone number and children's names is just going way too far.

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  18. Is there anyway you can do an RSVP (maybe you already have one and I just dont know about it) so you know that this thing will be a success and not a bust? Just a suggestion. It would be counter-productive if only a few dozen people showed up and KSL got a hold of it and the church will laugh at it--but if a few thousand people show up--then that would be a different story altogether!

    P.S. my 18 year old son is coming with me. He will resign.

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  19. I am not able to attend but could someone please inform of who I need to send my resignation letter to? I am not sure how to go about this. Thanks for the help.

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  20. I am totally impartial here, but I know enough about LDS to understand why anyone would want to distance themselves from "The Church." The only thing I want to say on this thread is that some of the posters really seem excited about this endeavor and JTaylorRiley's comments have been so cynical and negative that it must put a damper on these people's delight. Geez, talk about raining on someone's parade!

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  22. Just listened to a few of John and Zilpha's podcasts....and something just speaks to me from your objectivity, honesty and sincerity. Your intellectual understanding of evolution and masturbation really struck me! You sound like normal , well adjusted, cool people that I could just have a beer with and shoot the $hit about Mormons and how effed up they are! I love how obsessed you are about the LDS church - if I quit an institution that I did not believe in I would start blogging and podcasting about them like crazy! The other day I returned a defective DVD to Walmart........I loved that DVD but it just didn't work. It didn't work dammit!!!! So I brought it back to Walmart. I DECLARED MY INDEPENDANCE from Walmart and it's defective DVD's!!! So now I like to blog and podcast about the DVD and how effed up Walmart is and how DVD's just didn't happen...they evolved ...from VHS tapes!!!! My sunday school teachers that told me DVD's "just happened" were wrong!!!! I Hate them!!!! I with I could just drink beer and masturbate like Zilpha!!!! I love you guys! Keep up the good work!!! and OBAMA in '12!!!!!!! Let's have another campout and obsess and why mormons hair is so perfect and their teeth are so white. I wish I were a gay atheist woman!

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  23. Check out Beyond Mormon on Facebook... click "Like" to connect

    https://www.facebook.com/beyondmormon

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  24. After being raised LDS and never attending again, after turning 18, I finally went to a sacrament service in 2013 and figured out how to be excommunicated, wrote a formal letter to the bishop and he sent me back my official excommunication. I was tempted to cling to another dogma, that being pastafarianism (the church of the flying spaghetti monster)...but have decided to simply pray to a gender-neutral 'energy source' and I hope I get it right. Bottom line, religions are usually spiritual gangs...and I don't want to be a gang member.

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