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| Doesn't anybody read my book? |
It's supposed to be a place of peace and worship.
But on Sunday, a man was arrested at an LDS Church meetinghouse after a fight broke out over saved seats in the chapel.
On Sunday, the Meadows Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a full house during sacrament meeting because of a missionary farewell and a baby blessing.
A family that normally does not attend that ward but was there Sunday for the blessing had sat down in a pew and was reserving seats for other family members, said Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther.
When 51-year-old Wayne Dodge, a regular member of the ward, sat down in one of the seats being reserved, angry words were exchanged between the two parties.
After the meeting, more words were exchanged, Lowther said. And after church was done for the day, the two sides ran into each other in the parking lot and the argument continued. The fight became even more heated between Dodge and a male member of the other family.
But wait, there's more!
"(Dodge) ended up throwing a couple of punches and striking this individual. He had some blood coming from his face, so he went inside the church to clean up. And when he exited the church, (Dodge) was in his car. I guess there was another confrontation," Lowther said.
Investigators say Dodge then hit the man with his vehicle.
Well I am sure his magic underwear protected him.
I just love how these religious folks spread the love of Jesus among their fellow man. In this case using the grill of their automobile.
But here's the thing, and I know this from experience, Mormons may appear to be all put together and in control of their emotions, but if you take something away from them, that they think is theirs, that is when the shit from Planet Kolob really hits the proverbial fan.
I mean remember how Mitt Romney handled losing an election?
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| No don't look at me, I'm hideous! |
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| But she'll never leave me. NO, you'll NEVER take her away from me!. |
That kitchen picture makes me want to take a shower every time I see it. Ick!
ReplyDeleteThere is not a speck of genuine behavior in that photo. He looks desperate to show that he feels affection for her and she looks like she can't wait for him to stop touching her.
DeleteJust creepy.
Hmmmmm, perhaps when I'm in San Diego this summer, I can find out which ward the Romneys honor with their presence.
DeleteAnd then find out where they sit.
And then sit there.
Nahhh, too much trouble when we can have fun playing the ponies at Del Mar.
Hmmmmm, perhaps when I'm in San Diego this summer, I can find out which ward the Romneys honor with their presence.
DeleteAnd then find out where they sit.
And then sit there.
Nahhh, too much trouble when we can have fun playing the ponies at Del Mar.
Not sure what your point is as I'm pretty sure that atheists have the good, the bad, the mediocre, and the ugly just like every religion has. I don't think any religion claims to have perfect congregations.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what your point is … I don't think any religion claims to have perfect congregations.
DeleteThey claim that their faith makes them better. They claim that atheists—for various reasons—are less moral than they are. These claims may or may not be valid, but the described incident is not supportive. I suggest that this may have been the point of the article. HTH!
Obviously, you missed Gryphen's posting a few days back about atheists committing (or at least getting caught at) the least number of crimes.
DeleteGo back a few days here and find it. You can't miss it. You'll know it when you see it.
There sure is a sweet irony at running someone over in a place of worship right after you were probably told to love one another, forgive, or something like that.
DeleteMormons are all about keeping it inside, keeping it behind closed doors. It was only a matter of time before they went nutzo. (ex-mo speaking)
ReplyDeleteSaving seats over souls -- I bet the guy who doesn't attend regularly won't be trying to be part of their group any more.
ReplyDeleteThis is true of all religions - it's the furniture, it's the rules, it is the human power of place and material that infects and destroys humanity under the aegis of "righteousness". This is EXACTLY what Jesus Christ railed against. And exactly what killed him and what he warned what would kill us, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm an apostate Mormon. I don't believe a word of it. I rebelled and went my own way. But I know a lot of Mormons and am related to a lot of Mormons who are good, decent, people and are nothing at all like the stereotype you lay on them. Same with Christians and other people of religious faith in general. You seek out the worst examples and then hold that up as typical of all.
ReplyDeleteIn the 30 years from birth until the day I could not take it any more and walked away from the Mormon church, I never once witnessed an incident such as the one reported here. It is not typical. It is an anomaly.
Mormons are like any other group of people. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are tolerant and decent. Some are judgmental and condemning. Some are honest and sincere. Some are devious and cynical. Some are self-righteous. Some are humble. Some condemn people who do not believe as they do. Some accept others who believe differently and try to understand their viewpoints.
This is true of other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and other religions and sects.
It is true of atheists.
And you, Gryphen are among the self-righteous atheists. You are arrogant. You judge and ridicule those who you do not see as being so intelligent and enlightened as yourself. Just like a right-wing demagogue, you are a left-wing demagogue. You throw red meat to your mob. You incite and foment hatred.
You are not the tolerant progressive you claim to be.
You once said "Fuck you, Mormons." When you said that, you said "Fuck You" to my Mom. You said "Fuck you" to my Dad - a scientist, war veteran, college professor, much more educated, smarter and more tolerant and understanding of his fellow humans than you...
He reads Scientific American, cover to cover and understands it all. Could you do that?
I was going to say "than you will ever be..."
But I don't know. Humans can learn, grow and improve themselves. I am not confident you will, but you might, so I can't say that.
And trust me, although I am not going to do it in this comment, I can and do take on and challenge Mormon doctrine much more concisely, intelligently and effectively than you ever have. What I don't do is judge and hate all Mormons, all Muslims, all Jews, all atheists or any other group.
I don't say, "two atheist got in a fight today. Look how bad those atheists are!" That is the nature of your thought process and stated logic.
I don't care if you post this or not. Just read it and think about it. You have a great deal of talent. You work incredibly hard. You can do so much better than you do.
You disappoint the hell out of me, your fellow liberal atheist. You could do so much better.
This incident is the equivalent of two atheists getting into a fight after attending a meeting where it was discussed how atheists should be nice to each other and turn the other cheek. It's like seeing doctors smoking outside a conference on lung cancer. These two Mormons just left a place where they were supposedly reminded of how their God commands them to behave and they behaved in the exact opposite way.
DeleteThis isn't about religion. It's about hypocrisy. The fact that religion and hypocrisy often go hand-in-hand isn't Gryphen's fault.
Anon 12:58am, you make some excellent points. That said, this is Gryphen's blog, and I think he has a fun, irreverent sense of humor that I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteFor the first 25 years of my life, I was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and when I found out that I had been piously lied to all of those years, it was a tremendous personal betrayal.
As an ex-mormon, I find posts like these cathartic.
After years of being hit over the head with "Only WE have the TRUTH and PRIESTHOOD and FAVOR of GOD and the rest of mankind labor in darkness until they accept our faith" it feels enormously liberating to laugh at their delusions of fake superiority.
So I say HAHAHAHA!! Smug, self-righteous bastards - why don't you set your own house in order, instead of trying to tell the rest of us how to live.
Also, I found Romney so unbearably phoney, that I think that all the votes over 27% were probably rigged.
I am grateful every morning that clueless, entitled, Ann Romney is not in the WH pretending to be Jackie O.
One of the "Oh brother! How can people not be laughing at the plastic Ken & Barbie act of those two" was the interview they did when Ann wore her $900 bird-head T-Shirt.
Mittens had been cold and wooden as a candidate and she was supposed to "humanize" him. "He is a wild and crazy guy!" Ann said, and tried to reach over and hug him. HAHAHA! He had a grimace on his face when she said the word "crazy" and submitted to her hug like a resentful child pretending to be a sack of potatoes.
I think their relationship with one another is very strange. The photo of them in the kitchen does not look warm or intimate to me.
To 12:58, obviously there are good people and imperfect people everywhere. However, many of us are fearing the "in your face" religious fanaticism that is creeping into our government. People aren't satisfied to just worship the way they prefer to, they feel the need to knock on people's doors and harass them in their own homes. Mormons get criticized often because they are actively trying to convert others to their way of beliefs. The religious zealots force their beliefs into our government, and enforce their beliefs onto everybody else. In Utah, public swimming pools are closed on Sundays by law, however Lagoon (owned by a Mormon with clout) can remain open. In Utah, car dealers cannot chose to be open on Sunday due to the fear of the huge and powerful Mormon car dealers who are afraid that the smaller car lots would be unfairly competing against them for business (what about let businesses keep whatever hours that they wanted to, and let the customers decide where to shop?)
ReplyDeleteI like to judge people for how they are as individuals. I prefer people not to include in their first sentence to me what their religious beliefs are. I try to connect to my neighbors as humans first, I'll welcome them to the neighborhood, bring over some food when they move in, I'll suggest the best places to shop in the neighborhood, help them with their shoveling snow, even cutting their grass if they have trouble keeping up; but if/when they try to begin every conversation about "The" church, or to put church invites on my door, I no longer what to have any conversation with them.
This past winter, my husband and I had shoveled the 20 neighbor's homes in our little community (hand shovel not snow blower)after every big snowfall, even before the neighbors woke up. We just do it because we can. We know that some are to old/frail to do it themselves, and others are very busy. Our kids are grown, and we are in good health, and we just want to do what we can to be a little considerate to others. We give presents when babies are born, we give out bike helmets to kids who don't have any, and we gladly pick up the litter in our neighborhood and at the school yard while walking our dog (and clean up any dog litter left behind by other dogs). All we want in return is to be left alone with the church talk. I would never try to convert people away from their religious beliefs, why should anyone be so rude to make it their mission to convert others towards theirs? (unless a person makes a specific request to learn about it). Sadly, there are many people living in Utah who cannot relate to another person without making it about religion. The first thing known about a person is are they a member or a non member. A nonmember is a non Mormon. Doesn't matter if the person has other religious beliefs or none at all -- if they are non LDS, they are non members in the community. I personally believe that a person's religious belief is the least interesting thing to know about them. It drives me nuts, that it is the one thing that people believe is a requirement to run for office - they have to announce that they are a man or woman of a certain faith. I have a dream that one day men, women and children would be judge on their character and actions and not on their church membership.
Utah is #1 in scams. Most of them are affinity scams, people trust and do business with people they know (mostly from church). If Brother so and so says this is a good investment, then investors will flock to it. If a good and decent businessman is known to be a "nonmember" he will be mostly ignored by the "members" to favor the church going Brothers and Sisters. And they mostly get ripped off by them.
Like you, I find missionaries to be obnoxious--who are they to barge into other people's lives and insist they're "doing religion wrong" ? Thank you for the good work you do.
DeleteAnon 12:10, for a number of years, Mormon missionaries would come every August to my neighborhood in Washington, D.C., and they would be astounded by two things: how few people were home in the daytime, and the humidity!
DeleteI admit to having rehydrated ("Ginger ale? Lemonade? Cold water?") a few young LDSers, and let them use my guest bathroom, and sent them on their way with water bottles. But I tell them straight out, I'm Jewish, I see no need to change. Thirsty?
For some reason, the Mormons appear to have given up on the Cleveland Park neighborhood. August is still to come; I might be wrong.