Why do some people dislike LDS people?

Question

Be honest. I really want to know. I hear a lot of crap about my relgion. I want to know why it's ok to hate mormons but bad to hate the pope or another religous leader. I dont know why Im asking now but its bothered me for a while.

Answer 1

I used to go around to different churches on Sundays before my conversion to Mormonism and all the different churches I went to would love to bash the Mormons and teach the congregation various ways to "catch them in their deceit" it was horrible. I just wanted to hear a good message and the whole meeting was about how to get Mormons to admit their devilish ways.
But the best thing was is that everyone that hates us when confronted as to why they do, start rambling on about things we dont even believe in.
they TELL me (i love it when they try and tell me what i believe its funny as hell) that i worship John Smith and the devil gave him gold rocks and taught him magic words to chant at the gold rocks or whatever. and i'm like "wow! i wouldnt be a member of my church if it went like that!" and even after I tell them the way it ACTUALLY went they tell me i'm wrong and i'm a liar.
The funny thing is, is that I used to practice Wicca before I converted. thats like going from yin to yang in belief system. It took me a lot of research and miracles for me to know that the LDS church is a restoration of the truth that once was on the earth but was perverted and changed by power hungry men. and i'm not afraid to declare it bluntly to everyone. Its quite liberating

HEY ANTI-MORMONS!!!
Do your research first!!!
hahaha

Answer 2

I can give you some of these answers from historical Mormonism. We DO NOT worship Joseph Smith. I don't know why people tend to think that. Joseph Smith boasted that he has done greater works than Peter, Paul or JESUS (the History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 408-409). He had also boasted that "God is my right hand man" (ibid, p. 78.) we don't practice polygamy, and we have NOTHING to do with the FLDS faith. You clearly don't know about historical Mormonism. 50 of the 200 sects of Mormonism practice plural marriage and your history had it through the mid 20th century. We are Christians! If you believe in Christ, you are considered a Christian. That's a common myth told by LDS, but it's not true. The word is "Christianos", it means "follower of Christ" I've had LDS tell me Satan is Christian, because he believes in Christ, but there's a huge distinction between belief and following. LDS families don't force their children to go to church every Sunday, they encourage. Way wrong! Perhaps your experience was different, but it's very common that kids are forced to go. We have the choice to do whatever we want as long as we live by the laws of humanity, the country, state/province, you name it. Not so much. You really have your time dictated very much by "callings" your bishop has for you as well as a very active church schedule. We are not pre-determined to go to heaven or hell. You're right about that! You can't get the Celestial Kingdom unless you pay to play (temple) How righteous you are in life and where your heart is is what determines which glory of the afterlife you receive. That's certainly not scriptural at all! And you wonder why you're a cult? There are four places you can end up after this life: Nope, again, not scriptural. So now that I've cleared some stuff up, why do people dislike our faith? You haven't cleared anything, but you did parrot the official church doctrine well. But, I'll give you some reasons: Different God Different Christ Different Salvation Works based Salvation and a huge list more if you'd like! I think most of it is because of misinformation and rumors. Nope, it come from YOUR OWN FAITH'S sources! Like I said, the Book of Mormon is not an addition to the bible. The only reason we put it in the same book physically sometimes is so we don't have to carry two books around church. Wrong: You use four books, it's called a "Quad" And your own wording about the BoM is "another testimony..." - that IS an addition! When you said that Joseph Smith wanted people to be polygamists, that statement was incorrect. Polygamy didn't really become large until Brigham Yound. Wrong again! THe most LDS who were into plural marriage was about 15%. Smith himself had several married (to other men) women, and even underaged!

Answer 3

Well, first there are other religions. I think they dislike us because the find the prospect of another religion in the world, different from their own, to be threatening. It's like, "Oh, no, all those mormons, without that Chuch, they'd be here, I know it!" So, basically, they think we're heathens. Then they try to destory us by picking at all the details they can-polygamy, African American priesthood holders, Joseph Smith, ect. They say that Joseph Smith was a Con-artist. Why would God suddenly change his mind? they ask us. They say we're crazy for beleving something that, for all we know, could have just been made up. But isn't that what religion is? Believing with your heart, and not your eyes?
And then there are athiests, who, at least, are equal when they criticize religion. ( I know not all athiests are like that.)
It really sucks, doesn't it? I've been to other churches with my friends, and one thing I noticed is that they really don't seem to have the same sense of community we have. Just an observation.
However, I have also noticed a lot LDS people who do not set a very good example. Does this mean that our faith is wrong? No. What it means is, some people are getting self-righteous and ignorant, and feeding the flames of prosecution against us.

Answer 4

I think it is hard for outsiders to understand why you have picked this faith. Plus I do not hate LDS people I just wish they would show the same respect for my choice of faith as I show for theres. I have a problem even though I have posted no trespassing signs up and told them straight out that I am a pagan household (I am a Naturlist is what I mean by this) that since I have told them I have diffrent people coming over to my house trying to talk to me about there god. I work from home nd I find this just not right if someone is not intrested and asked them nicely not to come back why is it that they keep coming over here to talk to me. It is getting to the point I am going to act a bit crazy next time to see if that would give them the hint not to come back it is boarding on harsment at this point. 2 or 3 times a year I can see but every other week is getting to be a bit much.

Answer 5

I was raised in a Mormon area, but we weren't Mormon, and my mom didn't like Mormons, so neither did I. Seriously, that was my reason.

I'm a little older now, and maybe a tiny bit wiser. I don't hate Mormons at all. Even though I still disagree with their teachings, they seemed very nice and very genuine (as genuine as you could get for a small rural town). As a whole, I think they are a nicer group of people than any other religion.

EDIT: By the way, Martin Luther (considered the start of Protestants) was not a prophet, at least not to most religions. Comparing Mormonism to Christianity is like comparing Islam to Chrisitianity. All 3 believe in the existence of Jesus, but Mormonism and Islam believe in additional prophets beyond the Bible. I think that's why some other Christians may have their doubts towards Mormons, because they teach stuff which is not found in the Bible.

Answer 6

It's because some people hear (and believe) the bad rumors about our religion. That's why we're disliked. Or, at least that's what I think.

And no, of course it isn't ok for someone to be mean to someone else just because they disagree with that person's religious beliefs.

Latter-Day Saints aren't the only ones to hear crap about their religious beliefs. Jehovah's Witnesses and even Catholics hear people talking trash about what they believe. And yes, people were mean to the Savior when He was on the earth too. You're not alone. Other people feel your pain too.

People can say bad things about you (or the LDS religion). But no matter what they say, you know yourself better than they do. You know what you believe better than the person who would make fun of you for it. In the end, those who are trying to be mean are hurting themselves the most.

Answer 7

I don't hate Mormons, but I'm not real fond of their religion, and I hate that high leaders - like former prophets - have said things like it is better to die fighting than to be sullied by rape. And I get tired of being accused of leaving the church because of some personal weakness, or something someone else said. Like I don't have a strong enough mind to come up with the valid conclusion that there are better paths for me. Then there is the whole condescending feeling sorry for me because I'm just not faithful enough. Those behaviors are irritating, but I don't hate Mormons per se. I only hate it when I get treated like sh-- for not being one anymore.

Answer 8

Honestly when I was LDS, I was just not happy, the preisthood, could do nothing for me, what was restored to the earth, was only causing me to be suicidal, not a new person, it all seemed mythical to me and the mormon God was more like mythology. along with other problems in the church, I just couldn't take the lie anymore.

Answer 9

As a former liberal Protestant and current agnostic, I can not understand the animosity toward Mormons by self-proclaimed "Christians", who are, in actuality, Protestant Christians, as, in fact, are Mormons. All Christians who are not Roman Catholics are Protestants (protesting Catholicism), and all Protestant sects were founded by "prophets" similar to Joseph Smith; they believed that they were receiving messages and/or revelations from god. The main differences between the LDS sect and other Protestant faiths is that those others had their origins more distantly in the past, so have gained for themselves legitimacy by virtue of time's passage.

Answer 10

Most of the Mormon people I have known were likeable. I strongly disagree with the re-invention of Jesus and the beliefs they promote that are anti-Christian. Nowhere did Jesus of the old testament teach we can become God or that God was once a man. They seem quite content to ignore the many refences that teach there is no God other than our God and when God said before me there was no other God that was formed neither shall there be after me. Isaiah 43:10. It's great to be nice but being nice isn't the same as being true. What is offensive is they then try and pass themelves off as being the true church. And when you present historical evidence and documents that shows joseph Smith had a criminal record they act as though you made it up to put him down. If it weren't true they could easily sue those who made these claims. They don't seem to realise they have broken the first commandment to love the Lord your gOd with all your heart mind soul.. In other words put him first. They have mistakenly replaced the worship of God with the worship of their church and it's leaders whom the average Mormon seems incapable of questioning. On top of all this the is clear evidence which some Mormon scholars have admitted to that Joseph Smith plagerised earlier works to come up with the book of Mormon. When you see these books side by side you can easily see where he got his ideas. On top of that he plagerised much of the King James bible which is an odd occurence in itself that an angel translated ancient egyption hieroglyphics written hundreds of years before the King James bible inot the King James style of language and even added odd phrases such as the Americanised Sam and the french word Adieu. (This from Egyption hieroglyphics?) Finally to say people hate or are anti-Mormon because they disagree or challenge the beliefs of it's originators or followers is a deceptive argument which seems to be more of an attempt to control public perception. Those who Morons disagree with could just as easily claim they are being hated by Mormons or that Mormons were being anti-Christian especially in light of Joseph Smith's revelation he claimed God told him all the Christian denominations were wrong and their credds abominations(Journal of Discourse)

Answer 11

I guess most of the folks who do are bigots. There really is no other way to put it.

I am not LDS, but I know a lot of people who are. Unlike the jackasses who bash them, I have an open mind about their faith. I understand exactly why and how they feel about their faith and why they believe in it. More importantly, I see the value in their faith and way of life. I know a lot about the tenants of the faith and I don't see anything about them that resembles a cult. If you are looking for cultists, go talk to a Scientologist or a supporter of Ron Paul.

I think if people took more time to understand and less to judge, they wouldn't be the scumbags they claim LDS folks are.