We can doubt many things but not the divinity of our religious foundations, for some of us, even the idea of questioning certain beliefs paralyzes us. For me, this has never been the case.

As I get ready to celebrate Christmas, a religious holiday that I tremendously enjoy for its higher meaning (spirit of giving, love of family), some of your questions regarding The Marién Revelation have made me want to clarify my position when it comes to organized religions in general and specifically, my Mormon experience.

I was born a Catholic in Mexico. But this was short lived. With the exportation of Protestant American religions, real estate agents of heaven invaded my neighborhood. They came in different denominations, from Jehovah’s Witnesses to Adventists of the Seventh Day, and more familiar to my state, the Mormons. I was nine or ten when my mother decided to explore her own faith and after a brief period courting different sects, two young ladies showed up one day at my door. They were Mormon missionaries and I can still remember their faces, pure and bright with beautiful smiles.

Knowing how I had received prior sellers of salvation (I was high on Catholicism from my recent First Communion), my mother found a way to help me give these two young women a chance. For a while, they came every Monday night, they didn’t talk much about their church rather, we played games, sang funny songs, and ate dinner together. They called it family home evening. It worked. When the invitation to join them in church on a Sunday morning came, I was willing and ready.

That first Sunday, my mother along with her five children, were classified as “investigators.” I loved the name; it had a touch of private eye and nature explorer. Before too long (I could write an entire book about this), I became the leading force in my family toward Mormonism. Of course, looking back, I now know my reasons were selfish and based on the attraction I developed for the beautiful blonde boy who became my first Mormon friend. At the time, I attributed the sleepless nights, the loss of appetite, the constant daydreaming about Sundays at church, to the invasion of the true Spirit. God’s visit to Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the pioneer stories appeased my need for fantasy and imagination.

Growing up Mormon in Mexico can be a bit isolating. Although this Church has become quite successful recruiting in my country, and the rest of Latin America, you are still a minority. So, to the degree that my resources allowed it (I learned to drive very young and my family trusted me with a car) I started taking my brother and sisters to a second session of Sunday Church in a Spanish-speaking ward on the American side of the border. We surrounded ourselves with friends that were just like us and this sheltered us for most of our teenage years. Then, high school ended and with that came the talk by one of my bishops about my missionary work. That’s what faithful young Mormon men do. That conversation was my awakening.

What had happened all these years, I recognized, was that I was attracted to the illusion of being a Mormon, of being different. By this time, their doctrines, thanks to my own research on their history (depurated by a constant purging to satisfy the needs of the times) had become manufactured manipulations. Yes, being such a young religion and despite the efforts of the Church to erase some of their past practices, it is all still there if you are willing to look. I had lost my faith, or to be clearer, I became aware of having lost my faith in this Church.

I didn’t do missionary work. I couldn’t teach something I didn’t believe in. I didn’t go to BYU. Though I most likely would have received a scholarship to attend this university, I couldn’t accept their policies. I remained active for a while, a holder of the Aaronic (lesser) priesthood well into the age when I should have been an elder (first office in greater priesthood, for men only).

At present and through this medium, I renounce more than ever my association with the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons. I remove myself, if only symbolically, from the many inactive members they still count among their ranks for statistical purposes. I firmly believe this organization to be a cult masquerading as a mainstream religion. Not only that, their manipulation of tax laws to subsidize proselytizing and to sponsor hate campaigns against human rights is simply abhorrent. Though I still love many Mormons as individuals, it’s their religious beliefs and behaviors I repudiate. I, now more than ever, firmly believe that voluntary ignorance and unquestioned obedience are the most dangerous of sins.

So, there you go, I hope this clarifies some comments and questions regarding my [dis]connection with Mormonism and where I stand regarding organized religion in general. From this, you can extrapolate.