Is Recovery from Mormonism Necessary?

The site that comes up third in the Google listing when you do a search on Mormons calls itself Recovery from Mormonism. Members still in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints point to the sites existence as a sign that you can leave the church but you can't leave it alone as a faith promoting saying goes. Critics of the Mormon church will point to the existence of a Recovery from Mormonism site as proof that the religion is a cult.

The Recovery From Mormonism Website receives somewhere between 90,000 to 100,000 hits a day. A visitor to the site can read stories of people leaving the Mormon church, articles about deceptions perpetrated by the members of church and the occasional electronic book posted by someone active on the site.

For many people finding out about the darker side of Mormonism, the Recovery from Mormonism boards can be a healthy place to vent, and for those with an interest in the doings and happening of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it is also one of the better places to get news on the Mormons. The site says it does not advocate any religion and on the part of the moderators, this is true. Those who read the active message boards know that one particular religious viewpoint gets favored over others.

A lot of long time poster on the Revoery from Mormonism board are atheists and a common complaint against the Recovery from Mormonism forums is that there is a very Mormon in spirit attempt to get those people leaving the church to convert to Atheism. Threads on the board commonly speculate about the reasons for this, but it is likely due to the black or white all or nothing approach that is so commonly instilled in people who were raised in the religion.

The process for many Mormons leaving the church is similar to that of grieving after leaving a relationship. People who have been through the convoluted process of trying to get their names removed from the membership roles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints often compare the church's actions to those of a jilted lover, but the anger expressed by people on Exmormon.org's forums is real.

The Recovery from Mormonism site provides a valuable service to those who leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Many people who use the meesage board will move on later, but the sense of community of those who remain members is strong and people who find the ranting and often high handed atheist preaching on exmormon.org to be a bit too much of them can move onto other forums such as Postmormon.org or the Further Light and Knowledge Forums. Those just finding things out for the first time may find the Recovery from Mormonism bulletin boards a needed place to vent.

Perhaps the best way to describe the Recovery from Mormonism is a useful way to let people blow off steam for people after finding out they have been lied to by an organization they have been told to trust unquestioningly their whole life. Calling a board designed for people leaving or who have left the church Recovery from Mormonism makes it sound like a more severe process than it actually is. Religious indoctrination can cause problems for people, but it is not a huge psychological trauma for everyone.