When I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2007, the real estate prices kept getting higher and higher, way out of proportion to the local wage rate. Even though I loved living in Flagstaff, I couldn’t afford to live there much longer, I wasn’t making enough money to keep up with the cost of living.

I began trying to figure out where I could move to, that had the same climate, geography, terrain, and small-town lifestyle as Flagstaff, but didn’t cost so much. Several people who were older, more experienced, and more travelled than me, told me that I would like Idaho, that I would do well there, that there were a lot of Mormons there, that I would fit in.

I was not a Mormon, and I didn’t know very much about Mormonism. What I thought that I knew, was that Mormons didn’t smoke, drink alcohol, use drugs, and that they were very family oriented. What’s wrong with that? Who could argue against that?

When I arrived in Idaho, one of the very first things that I was surprised with, was how beautiful, healthy, and friendly the women were. The women really did look different, they had much healthier looking hair, very clear skin complexions, straight white teeth, strong erect posture, and unashamed, direct, friendliness.

As I began living in Idaho, I started to learn more and more about Mormons, Mormonism, The Book Of Mormon, their culture, values, and lifestyle. I was invited to attend Mormon Church services. I began to see that the Mormon Church required a complete commitment, unlike some of the other religions that I had previously been exposed to in the past.

Just off the top of my head, some of the things that I recall about the Mormon Church: Monday was “Family Day” for staying home and doing things with family; Tuesday might have been women’s day to volunteer with food processing, food storage, food distribution in order to maintain a six-month supply of food; Wednesday was something like Bible Study or Church Work Groups; Thursday? Friday? Saturday?; But Sunday was the big day where all Mormons attended their specifically assigned “Ward”, had a general meeting of the congregation with everyone present, then broke up into several different study-groups, some of them for adults, some for children, some for men, some for women.

Because I was most likely a Methodist from my Huguenot heritage, had attended a Catholic elementary school, and my next-door neighbor while growing up was the Pastor of an Evangelical Church, I was dumbfounded when in a Mormon men’s study group, someone read from the the Book Of Mormon or the supplemental Doctrines & Covenants, “Just as God evolved, so too can we evolve, and become gods of our own planet one day.” What???

To me, at that time about 40 years old, that was sacrilege to suggest that God “evolved”, and that we could “become like God”, and “become gods of our own planet one day”. That was about the most heretical, sacrilegious thing that a person could say. I believed that there was no way that I could participate in the Mormon religion and the Mormon Church.

As time went on, years passed living in Idaho, I learned more and more that the best employment was reserved for Mormons in good standing, that the Mormon Church kept thorough records and tabs on everyone. Average jobs in Idaho were for average Mormons. Bad, low-paying, undesirable, fringe jobs, left-over jobs, the crumbs were left for non-Mormons.

However, the crime was not bad, there was no disorder, the cost-of-living was not high, life was calm and peaceful in Idaho, all of these things were the result of firm Mormon control. I could not make very much money in Idaho, because I would not become a Mormon. All I had to do was go along with every part of the Mormon program, and I could then have a good job and a beautiful wife, they would just pick one from the herd for me.

In my mind, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the strenuous, constant demand of time from the Mormon Church for all of their required activities. If I had a beautiful Mormon wife, day-by-day she would become more and more disappointed in me, and I could see that I would have ruined her life. This would be especially cruel, because Mormon girls are so pure, innocent, trusting, caring, nurturing, and loving.

In the strong, committed, tight-knit Mormon families, they are very focused on how they raise their daughters. Mindful to be gentle and loving with their daughters, but making sure that their daughters become accustomed to work, being disciplined, not succumbing to laziness, or forming any bad habits. Their daughters are shielded from the bad things in the world, not exposed to violence, hate, bad language, vices, sexuality, immorality, or bad behavior, so that they become trusting, kind, caring, nurturing, gentle, and loving.

One of the things that the Mormon Church, Mormon community, and Mormon families do, is offer to any Mormon, that if they are not going to remain committed, and follow the rules, that they should depart from the Church, community, or family. Inevitably it does happen, often with teenagers, that they want to rebel against one or more of the Mormon practices. This can manifest as a teenager experimenting with alcohol, drugs, or sex. The Mormons believe that it is better for these apostates to leave, rather than infect and pollute others.

On the internet, there are hundreds or thousands of ex-Mormons who try to share their bad experiences with the Mormon Church. At first, I read their stories and saw them as a warning against the Mormon Church. But as I began to read each of their stories, especially the stories from ex-Mormon women in their twenties and thirties, I saw that as they were breaking away from the Mormon Church or shortly thereafter, they were engaging in sex outside of marriage, using alcohol and drugs, getting tattoos and body piercings.

These ex-Mormons were trying to tell their individual stories like the Church did something wrong, whereas I felt, “You fools! You idiots! You morons! Look what you are doing! Look at what you are doing to yourself! The Church didn’t do anything wrong, YOU ARE!”

It’s like watching a train wreck, a Mormon mother and father raised a young girl with love, kindness, thoughtfulness, discipline, and purpose, shielding and protecting her from everything bad in the world, helping her to grow up strong and healthy. And in return, the very first thing that she does when leaving home to go to college, is start smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, and having sex!

I say, if she wants to be a dirty whore, let her! Be done with her! But don’t let her back into your lives and your community. Let her live in the world, as an unwed welfare mother, with her STDs, her tattoos, and her body piercings. Let her live with the blue-haired, lesbian, Democrats.