I stumbled across a couple of new blogs recently and both of them belong to ex-Mormons. I know several ex-Mormons and I was starting to wonder why we find recovering Mormons so fascinating. Is it the magic underwear they have to wear all the time? The secret handshakes? The marrying and baptizing of the dead? Is it the endless proselytizing they do in their ever familiar clothes on their ever familiar bicycles, and their little name tags, Hello, I’m Brother Jones?
I’m not an expert on these subjects, but I’d venture to guess that the more weird things a religion makes its adherents do, the greater the fascination for those who used to practice it. It’s because they seem cultish that we’re fascinated by the Mormons, and even more so with the Christian Scientists. I mean, aliens? As a basis for a religion? Doesn’t that sound crazy? And how do you get a mass group of people to behave identically if you’re not brainwashing them just a little?!
No one bats an eye when they find out I’m an ex-Christian. No one asks me questions; no one wants to hear stories. We non-denominational Christians have no rituals and it’s the rituals we’re fascinated with. The ritualistic underwear, the ritualized ceremonies. Secret handshakes are a sign of elite access. So is being granted priesthood, or entry to the temple. It’s so seductive. That kind of access. One step closer to enlightenment.
Maybe religion is just another form of brainwashing — some religions milder than others. Doesn’t brainwashing just mean that one learns to not think for oneself anymore? That you think what you’re told to think? God is your saviour; you shall not want. And heaven awaits you behind pearly gates, above the softest of clouds.
I was thinking about my mom recently. Wondering where she was, then wondering why the hell would I phrase it that way? She’s gone. Decomposing in the ground. And I was wondering is there an epiphany at the end for believers? Do they see death for what it is before they die, or are they spared that horror?
Tags: religion