Conversations with my mom in my head

Me: Do you believe the inquisition was wrong?
My Mom: Yes.
Do you believe the holy wars were wrong?
Yes.
Is it wrong for ISIS to kill and suicide bomb based on religious belief?
Yes.
Do you think it is right for Arab men to force the women (by law) to cover up?
Yes.
Do you think it is right for some countries to deny their female children equal access to education?
Is it wrong for religions/governments to use propaganda?  Or control outside information?
Yes.
Is it wrong for Muslims to believe that if they kill themselves in Jihad that they will be given so many virgins in heaven?
Yes.
Did Warren Jeffs do bad things?
Yes.
Do you approve of any fundamentalist religion practicing polygamy today?
No.


Mom, I think it was wrong of Joseph Smith to lie to his wife.  I think it was wrong of Joseph Smith to practice polygamy, to approach married women or young converts and threaten them with spiritual destruction if they refused him. I call that manipulation, exploitation ... abuse.

I think it is wrong for Mormon women to constantly be haunted by the idea of polygamy, and Mormon men to entertain the idea that they may have many more wives if not in this life in the next.

I think it is wrong for us to say that we are the only ones who can or did practice polygamy righteously.  I believe it is probably a rotten practice when people choose to live that way without coercion, I believe when it is a practice undergone due to religious faith, that constitutes abuse.

I think it was wrong for Joseph Smith to destroy a printing press which was printing unflattering - but true - facts about his practices.

I think it is wrong for the LDS church to have tried for decades to control the flow of information to its members, editing out many important details that could have led to greater understanding and choice when it came to their belief.

I think it is wrong for us to believe that we are different and inherently better than all the other world religions.  We are the same.  I think our beliefs are typical in their self-centered and narcissistic nature.

I believe that we are no better and no worse than any other people in all the world.  I am tired of the impossible task of  calling ourselves sacred, and calling ourselves specifically sacred because we engage in the same self-centered, abusive, and wrong practices that all other religions engage in.