Father Disowned Me Because I'm Still Atheist

[Clueless Morgan]

I hope your family members find there way out of that abusive religion. It's terrible for the rest of the family too because they're always sending mormon literature to your mail. Well, I hope they don't do that to you. haha

That's why I will never order a BOM online even though I really want a free copy - I will not give them my address. I'll go to one of the wards and ask for one eventually.

But I won't drive my car - I don't want them looking me up through my license plate.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, though.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

I hope your family members find there way out of that abusive religion. It's terrible for the rest of the family too because they're always sending mormon literature to your mail. Well, I hope they don't do that to you. haha

That's why I will never order a BOM online even though I really want a free copy - I will not give them my address. I'll go to one of the wards and ask for one eventually.

But I won't drive my car - I don't want them looking me up through my license plate.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, though.

haha! fortunately they cant run your tags. haha. but yeah, just stop by and pick one up.

for fairy tale reasons, I still think its a pretty bad ass story. skip to the book of alma and read from there. it is all about wars! and captain moroni is a total badass. haha. other than that...its complete bullshit. haha.

go to lds.org and you can access all mormon readings on there without a log in.

[Bad Writer]

I hope your family members find there way out of that abusive religion. It's terrible for the rest of the family too because they're always sending mormon literature to your mail. Well, I hope they don't do that to you. haha

That's why I will never order a BOM online even though I really want a free copy - I will not give them my address. I'll go to one of the wards and ask for one eventually.

But I won't drive my car - I don't want them looking me up through my license plate.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, though.

I bet you could find a free copy for your Kindle or similar e-reader, or you can skip that and go straight into reading the "Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon".

[Minimalist]

Easily resolved problem.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm

Good for some laughs.

[Mystical]

Elconquistador? Where abouts were you living as part of the Lds? Rural town, city, settlements? What kind of schooling did you get?
If I start a lady friendly thread would you invite the wifey over for a chat with us girls? Y'know, after you're all settled in and whatnot

Glad to have you around, btw. I feel a kinship with ex cultists.

[Clueless Morgan]

That's why I will never order a BOM online even though I really want a free copy - I will not give them my address. I'll go to one of the wards and ask for one eventually.

But I won't drive my car - I don't want them looking me up through my license plate.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, though.

haha! fortunately they cant run your tags. haha. but yeah, just stop by and pick one up.

You never know...

Easily resolved problem.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm

Good for some laughs.

I don't like reading things like books from a computer screen - and I always end up distracted by email, facebook or computer games anyway. And for a first reading of a book, I'm still something of a purist and prefer paper. I am trying to get more books on my kindle so I don't have to buy another bookshelf. :p

With that said, though, my amazon wishlist has over 200 worthwhile books on it. I'm gonna read those before I have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for the BOM. :p (Which is why I haven't gone to a local ward to get one yet)

[Minimalist]

You probably wouldn't have to worry about distractions because much like all other holy horseshit you can only take this shit in small bits anyway.

From the SABoM, page 1:

(1:2) The language of the Egyptians
Nephi wrote in "the language of his father" -- Egyptian, a strange language for an Israelite of 600 BCE to write in. But, then, we must get used to strange things if we are to read the Book of Mormon.

Looks like Joey Smith was just a con artist!

[Bad Writer]

So many anachronisms too, like books, horses in America, steel, certain crops, you name it. Seeing these things can bring a person to one of two conclusions about what's in the BoM: either Joseph was a liar liar pants on fire, or the Ancient Americans knew the secret of time travel.

[LivingNumbers6.626]

Elconquistador? Where abouts were you living as part of the Lds? Rural town, city, settlements? What kind of schooling did you get?
If I start a lady friendly thread would you invite the wifey over for a chat with us girls? Y'know, after you're all settled in and whatnot

Glad to have you around, btw. I feel a kinship with ex cultists.

Haha! I keep trying to convince her to join the forum but she wont yet. But perhaps if I let her know you plan to start a lady thread, she might just do it. haha

And well, I was raised in a small town in Riverside County, California called Anza. I lived there from ages 6-18. I attended a small public school there where I was one of 5 mormons attending, not of which were my friends. I enjoyed being friends with the students with no mormon affiliation. haha. Well, two of them are now skeptics, one is on a mission, and the other is still active. haha.

Upon turning 18 I moved to San Diego, CA and attended college and got heavily involved with the Church out here.

I would have to say I was quite lucky living were I lived and having the friends I had, and even the family I had. Growing up, my family wasn't super crazy mormon. My family uses bad words, puts alcohol in cooking recipes, watches rated R movies, play violent video games, and drinks green tea occasionally. It wasn't until I started having sex with my GF (now wife) and calling out crazy stuff in the church that they started going super mormon. Then having the friends I had ensured that I wasn't a total complete naive mormon boy. It is much more easy to grow up in California as a mormon, it ensures that you are not completely socially awkward. haha

[Hoopington]

You've done an amazing and difficult thing. You've escaped utter indoctrination. Many people can't, and it sounds like your dad is among those. For now, it sounds like you're going to have to live as though he is dead to you. There is no common ground at this point.

I don't know where you live, but it sounds like you need a network of support, and fast. I know I found a fantastic group of atheist friends through a Meet Up group. Ours is affiliated with Center for Inquiry - Skeptics. You might do a search for something similar through Meet Up and learn if there is a group near you. I know the biggest thing the formerly-religious folks who belong to my group miss is a sense of community that a church provides. The difference is, the Skeptic group comes with no strings attached. As you pointed out, they like you just because you're you. They may also be able to help you network for a new job and/or housing.

I'm sorry your dad is not going to be there for you at a time of your great need, but he obviously can't. His help comes with some pretty big strings attached. I don't think you can go back.

Best to you, and please keep us posted going forward.

You see, this is the kind of bullsh1t advice I'd been talking about.

You've taken one heated email conversation between father and son and then taken it upon yourself to advise he cuts of all ties with his father, because his father doesn't share the same beliefs as you?

Utterly incredible........if this advice was taken the world over, there would be literally millions of us with no family.