oh no you fucking did NOT

[ysobel]

... um. any Mormons probably should not read this.

So I have a kind of multifaith stream of visitors; people from my own church that come by my apartment sometimes, and some very nice little old Jehovah's Witness ladies, ...and a pair of Mormon boys.

I like talking to people about religion stuff.

I don't like being pressured to change my religion. "I testify that if you read the Book of Mormon and pray with enough faith, you will know that it is true." You are a big fat fucking LIAR. (I have no problems with people believing the BoM is truth *for them*. But the moment they get into saying what's truth for *me*, nuh-uh.)

I really fucking don't like people who tell me that there is some Grand Plan where our purpose in life is to Overcome Obstacles And Thereby Learn, and if we Persevere To The End we will run around in perfect fucking bodies. And that Joseph Smith surviving eight months of jail for being a religious nutcase is equivalent to being disabled your whole life. And...

*froths at mouth*

I am too fucking upset to even recapitulate all of what they were saying to me. Fuckers.

I did ask why, if God was perfect and this was all part of his Plan, he gave bodies like mine. (their 'answer' was along the lines of: because if we had a perfect life we wouldn't learn and grow.) So then I asked them why, if Overcoming Trials and Tribulations is so awesome and makes us better in the end, why they didn't just chop off their arms and legs and go through life with *that* Tribulation to Overcome. (they didn't really answer that one, just stammered something about how everyone has different T&T.)

They also tried asking me, well, don't you *wish* you had a perfect body?

(because I really want to trade a religious belief that gives me strength in daily living for one that tells me that if I'm a good little girl and overcome the Trials and Tribulations I have been given, I may someday not be miserable. right.)

Dear Mormon boys:

Fuck you.

Fuck you and your oblivious smarmy insensitive (cisgendered etc) ableist white male privilege. Fuck you sideways. In the ear. With a rusty screwdriver.

And fuck your religion, too, with its ableism and its sexism (the elders, the priesthood, is all male; women go off and do their own thing) and its general intolerance.

Fuck. You.

And then try walking a mile in my shoes body. Go on. I dare you. I dare you to live the restrictions I have, to overcome the fucking tribulations (that are, I might add, not something I have *deserved*), and then come back and look me in the eyes and apologize.

In the meantime, fuck the fuck off or I might accidentally lose control of my chair and give you a fun sort of trial to overcome.

Sincerely,
Ysa.

p.s. to any mormons that happened to read this despite the warning: please believe that I have no problems with you as individuals, and I have no problems with you having the faith that you do. and please for the love of all things holy do not try to defend or explain the LDS church or its teachings, not here, not now.

Comments

[foxfirefey]

women go off and do their own thing

If only. Women get to be in nonautonomous organizations whose budgets and women leaders are decided by men. They are also excommunicated if they have the audacity to express that they think praying to Heavenly Mother alongside Heavenly Father is a good spiritual experience. If I remember correctly, I don't even think people are allowed to be in the chapel without a priesthood holder also present, so women can't even hold meetings in the chapel without dragging along some man.

[pne]

If I remember correctly, I don't even think people are allowed to be in the chapel without a priesthood holder also present, so women can't even hold meetings in the chapel without dragging along some man.

That's not the case IME.

[foxfirefey]

It's been a while since I've navigated the structures of LDSdom, so it's very possible I wasn't remembering correctly.