During my final 15 years within Mormonism I had questions about various aspects of the gospel. After taking social psychology and behavior modification some of the ways the church encouraged people to obtain and keep a testimony struck me as manipulation or brainwashing rather than a genuine way to find the truth.
A few years ago I went back to
school to earn a graduate degree and the questions really began in
earnest then. I had read some of the FARMS materials on the Book of
Abraham and several other topics. As I reflected on all of
these factors and material from a course that I had just taken covering
the history of psychology the weight of evidence against the church
became too much to ignore. I began staying away from church and
spending my Sundays thinking and reading.
My
searches turned to the internet and I ran into Zarahemla City Limits
and particularly the post "Why I No Longer Believe." It was encouraging
to read that others were having many of the same questions that I was.
It was through that site that I first heard of the DNA evidence against
the Book of Mormon. While digging into that issue I became engrossed in
the entire issue of the fraudulent claims of the church like never
before. Every spare moment I had I was either reading materials from
the library or searching on the internet. Within a few months I
realized that the foundation of the church did not exist and that it
was merely the work of a man.
The cognitive dissonance that was caused by trying to defend
things that did not make sense but that I wanted to believe was soon gone. Initially it was a little frightening thinking of the
prospects of a world without Mormonism and as I have drifted toward
atheism, dealing with a world without god. However, I have largely come
to terms with both issues and realize that life is wonderful without a
god and without an afterlife. There are valid reasons to be moral and
ethical without having the wrath of god hanging over our heads.
I
feel I did learn things from the church. Above all from the church I
learned how easy it is for humans to control other humans through false
information and manipulation tactics. I keep thinking of the studies
conducted by Milgram in the mid 1960's at Yale on obedience. It is
disconcerting to me that we as humans so readily obey and believe those
who we perceive to be in authority over us.
Following is a partial list of the issues that caused me to leave Mormonism:
1. Changing accounts regarding the first vision.
2.
Lack of reports in the local press about Joseph Smith prior to 1830
even though he claims that he was subjected to substantial pressure
from the church communities around him. Religious news was readily
reported in the local press meaning if there really had been a first
vision it would have been reported prior to 1830.
3. Joseph Smith's association with folk magic (i.e. divining rods).
4. Joseph Smith's "money digging" and attempts to avoid legitimate employment.
5. Similarities between Joseph Smith's accounts of uncovering the gold plates and the writings of Solomon Spaulding.
6. Similarities between the Book of Mormon and "View of the Hebrews" and several other books of the period.
7. Portions of the Book of Mormon that quote the New Testament prior to the writing of the KJV of the New Testament.
8.
Changes to the KJV by Joseph Smith that have not been supported by
documents that have been subsequently uncovered (i.e. The Dead Sea
Scrolls and biblical texts that are older than the sources utilized by
the KJV translators).
9. The Kinderhook plates and Joseph Smith's "translation" of the fraudulent characters.
10.
The changing locations of the supposed Hill Cumorah in spite of
recorded statements from Joseph Smith and others to the contrary. (i.e.
Zelph the white Lamanite and his participation in the last battle, and
the ancient Manti supposedly being located in Randolph County,
Missouri).
11. The Book of Abraham and the total lack of comparison to the papyrus.
12. Joseph Smith's "Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar" and it's proof of being bogus.
13. Joseph Smith's prophecy concerning the Civil War was predated by discussion in the popular press stating the same thing.
14. Unfulfilled prophecy concerning building of temple in Independence (the date for that has long since passed).
15. Unfulfilled prophecy regarding Second Coming in reference to Joseph Smiths age (the time frame for that is long passed).
16. Lack of DNA evidence concerning the Book of Mormon.
17. Book of Mormon denouncing polygamy and initially the Doctrine in Covenants. D & C changed to accommodate polygamy.
18.
Joseph Smith concealing polygamous marriages from Emma. In some
instances even performing a second ceremony so that Emma would not know
that he had already been married to certain individuals.
19. Joseph Smith putting time pressure on women to marry him.
20. Joseph Smith through the vehicle of "revelation" threatening Emma with destruction if she did not accept polygamy.
21.
Joseph Smith using the vehicle of "revelation" in the form of supposed
blessings for accepting and cursing for rejecting proposals for
polygamous marriages.
22. Joseph Smith marrying women that had husbands still living.
23. Joseph Smith sending individuals on missions that may have opposed plural marriages.
24. Brigham Young using manipulative tactics to obtain polygamous marriages.
25. Over 200 polygamous marriages being performed after 1890. One as late as 1907.
26.
The churches denial of post manifesto polygamous marriages until it was
revealed to the general public to a degree that they could not deny.
27. Joseph Smith denying that polygamy was being practiced until the 1840's.
28. FARMS and the church "spinning" evidence and the Book of Mormon account to fit the current evidence.
29. Gordon Hinckley and Dallin Oaks concealing evidence in the Hoffman case.
30.
Dallin Oaks stating that it is acceptable to not tell the truth when it
casts the church or its leaders in a bad light.
31. Church history being presented in a one-sided fashion and many times in a totally dishonest fashion.
32.
The church's censure of BYU faculty and other individuals who produce
works that are truthful, albeit casting the church in a bad light (i.e.
concerning church history, research concerning the Book of Mormon,
etc.).
33. Gordon Hinckley lying to the press about the church's doctrinal stands on polygamy and the divine potential of human kind.
34.
The temple endowments plagiarism from Masonic ceremonies, which by the
way have been shown to have originated from other places and times than
most members are led to believe (not the temple in Jerusalem).
35. The macabre penalties that were removed from the temple ceremony.
36. The changes to the Book of Mormon (i.e. "he was a going" hardly sounds like the work of an all knowing God).
37. Unfulfilled prophecy from Brigham Young concerning blacks and when they would receive the priesthood.
38.
When blacks and Lamanites repent they are supposed to become a white
(changed recently to "fair") and delightsome people. I have lived
around many, many church members who are either African-Americans or
Lamanites and there skin color does not change even after many years in
the faith. Their descendants skin does not change either. People living
closer to the equator have darker skin than those closer to the poles,
indicating an environmental cause for the pigmentation differences.
39. Reliance on circumstantial evidence in current members lives as "proof" the church is true.
40.
When faced with the crushing evidence against the Book of Mormon, we
are encouraged to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, both of which
can and in billions of cases have caused faulty conclusions, i.e.
Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam. If the answer is still in the
negative then it is our fault and we need to pray again.
41.
Treatment of members that is in line with the way that cults treat
members. Building your own testimony by bearing your own testimony
(this is brainwashing).
42. If you don't believe you need to
read more. Again brainwashing. For instance, we don't need to keep
rereading Boyle's gas laws to re-convince ourselves that they are true.
43.
Manipulating, trying to induce guilt, trying to induce fear of loss of
blessings, and trying to induce fear of being cursed within those who
no longer believe.
44. The church's paranoia
about the truth. The truth will stand for itself. If the truth is being
suppressed and twisted then you are dealing with a fraudulent
organization.
The Bible and the Judeo-Christian religions at large presented another set of very similar problems. The Old Testament presents a picture that does not hold together internally. It became apparant that the Old Testament contradicts itself so many times in so many ways that it could not be the work of anyone who was inspired by an omniscient being. At the same time it became evident that the Old Testament and all associated religions at their core are elitist, exclusionary, and parochial document. Some sects have advanced beyond that but that is in spite of, and in direct opposition to, the canonized texts.
Once that issue was opened then all of the other issues surfaced such DNA, the Kinderhook plates, the Book of Abraham, etc. The Bible suffers from very similar and just as blatant errors, lies, and distortions. A good starting place is, "The Bible Unearthed" or the related documentary. Link
The evidence is leaning in the direction of the first part of the Old Testament as myth. Everything up to the Battle of Jericho is devoid of archaeological support. It appears that the Israelites emerged from within the Canaanite society and perhaps from small groups from nearby regions. If King David existed he was a petty tribal chieftain as Jerusalem was merely a hamlet at the time of his supposed reign. By the time of King Josiah the Old Testament text aligns better with the archaeological record but there is a fair amount of exaggeration.
A few potentially useful comments:
“Archaeologists have discovered that a series of earthquakes swept through the Eastern Mediterranean, including where Jericho stood, in around 1250 BC, and certainly brought walls crumbling down. However, the dates don’t match with the time Joshua was supposedly conquering the land. Maybe the memory of the destruction of the towns inspired scribes to write about a great warrior who conquered cities with God’s will. Or perhaps the catastrophic collapse of the old world through the earthquakes gave way to opportunism and Israelite groups took advantage of the destruction of the existing Canaanite cities and began to settle in Israel.
There is a twist to the story. Recent DNA research shows that the Canaanites and Israelites were not just similar in their cultures, they were genetically identical. Perhaps the Israelites did not conquer the land at all - they were there all along.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/joshua.shtml
From "The Bible Unearthed..." by Finkelstein and Silberman
"the historical saga contained in the Bible . . . was not a miraculous revelation, but a brilliant product of human imagination" (p. 1)
"As far as we can see on the basis of the archaeological surveys, Judah remained relatively empty of permanent population, quite isolated, and very marginal right up to and past the presumed time of David and Solomon, with no major urban centers and with no pronounced hierarchy of hamlets, villages, and towns." -- p. 132
"There is no trace of written documents or inscriptions, nor of the Temple
or palace of Solomon, and buildings once identified with Solomon have
been shown to date from other periods. Current evidence refutes the existence
of a unified kingdom: "The glorious epic of united monarchy was --
like the stories of the patriarchs and the sagas of the Exodus and conquest
-- a brilliant composition that wove together ancient heroic tales and
legends into a coherent and persuasive prophecy for the people of Israel
in the seventh century BCE" (p. 144).
"...most of the Israelites did not come from outside Canaan - they emerged from within it. There was no mass Exodus from Egypt. There was no violent conquest of Canaan. Most of the people who formed early Israel were local people - the same people whom we see in the highlands throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. The early Israelites were - irony of ironies - themselves originally Canaanites!"—Finkelstein and Silberman
"For centuries...Jews, Christians, and Moslems have believed that events in their racial and religious history are recorded in the Old Testament. Even today many continue to believe that the biblical account is literally true, or at least basically accurate. Scholarly findings in archeology, textual analysis, history, and newly translated ancient documents all point to a reality which may be difficult for many traditional and fundamentalist believers to reconcile with a faith that depends on biblical events, promises, prophecies, and revelations being historical facts. Nonetheless, this knowledge represents a new dawning in our understanding of these religions and their ancient history." Sarah Dougherty
The Old Testament postulates some of the most outlandish myths on the planet. The first of these occurs on page one. The 6000-year-old earth/creation myth has been refuted so soundly by geological, biological, and archaeological evidence as to make this an absolutely ludicrous position to hold. The list of absurdities in the Old Testament is very long including:
1. A god who killed almost all of his children in a physically impossible
universal deluge.
2. Talking serpents
3. Magical fruit
4. People living for centuries
5. Rivers turning to blood
6. A god killing all of the first born in a nation
7. Pillars of fire
8. Parting seas
9. Stone tablets containing writing being hewn from a mountain by the finger of
a deity
10. Manna from the sky
11. Clothes that lasted for 40 years
12. A god that commanded the annihilation of all men, women, and children on
numerous occasions in many locations.
It will never be possible to prove that there is no god of any kind. However disproving the gods of Mormonism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is not even close to being equivalent to proving a negative. The Book of Mormon, Bible, Torah, and Koran specify the nature and interactions of these gods in more than sufficient detail to provide a falsifiable description of said gods. In fact these books go into excruciating detail on the nature of these interactions. None of the texts provide a description that "hangs together" or presents a coherent case for their supposed gods. Furthermore the historical and archaeological records provide sufficient evidence that these "gods" did not do the things claimed. In fact it is evident that the people and events in the Book of Mormon, Bible, Torah, and Koran are largely fictional renderings with no basis in reality. The reality of antiquity is VERY, VERY different than that indicated in these texts.
Prayer studies also indicate that prayers have no effect indicating that if there is a god he or she does not answer prayers. The prayer studies that indicated an effect suffered from methodological deficiencies. See for example the summary here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12082681/
Another factor that makes me question is the nature of ablation studies and studies with brain damaged patients. The resulting performance decrements when organic damage occurs in the brain are problematic if intellect supposedly resides in the spirit. This is by no means a definitive problem for a spirit as it can be argued that the human body requires an intact brain to fully utilize the capabilities enhanced, provided by, or supported by a spirit. However given Occam’s Razor it is an unnecessary complexity to require the brain to accomplish the same cognitive functions that the spirit supposedly achieves sans brain.
The evidence that indicates the universe formed as a result of the Big Bang 13.5 billion years ago, or earth 4.6 billion years ago, and that life on earth evolved from prokaryotic (cyanobacterial) beginnings 3.5 billion years ago does not require a god as an explanation. All of these concepts find support in scientific evidence and the related notions of self-organization, emergent properties, and complex dynamical systems.
See for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organization
In spite of my occasional wishes for the existence of a god I have found no compelling evidence to lead me to believe.