Saturday 14 August 2010

The Importance of Controlling and Eliminating the Cult Smear

I would like to ask Geshe-la, the current spiritual director and also the NKT office team members to examine a document I have formulated and consider the ideas within. Perhaps some ideas are of some use please read to the end even if you don’t think all the ideas are helpful some others might be. I will put a summary at the start & then detail so then anyone who is busy or if Geshe-la finds a lot of reading difficult then the summary at the top will give the essence. For those who don’t want to waste their precious human life I want to encourage you to not discount the reading as a waste of time as destroying the cult smear is a great task & is not a waste of our precious human life. Please find some time if you can. Thank you!



My document is to:

1) Remove the cult smear
2) Reduce & eliminate the creation of new disgruntled former NKT members/residents



Both of these aims will be removing any obstacles to the flourishing of the tradition and in doing this I hope create auspiciousness.




Summarised document
-----------------------------

The essential points of the document are as follows.


If we practice 7 spiritual ethics we will overcome all potential abuse problems. Listed below are the 7 spiritual ethics in summary. I composed these myself & they can be edited. This document was composed for any & all religious groups to use & is in no way a critique of any one group. I myself have done the opposite of these ethics due to my own incompetence due to inexperience in spiritual ways of life.



The religious ethic 1: To have a feedback system where the feedback is valued & considered properly & addressed both by the leader & its administrators. Again a feedback system that is not just a token gesture but genuine. Listening to feedback is a great protector of religious groups. If 1 out of 10 people are finding a problem then when you convert 1000 people, 100 of them will have a problem. So it is crucial to solve these problems & address these issues in the early stages. Otherwise it will develop that an increasing number of former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=1,5,13,134&pageid=37
http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=1,5,13&pageid=766

Religious ethic 2: Do not take large amounts of money from individuals. Find an ethical way to fundraise that is not this method. Do not lavish the leaders & admins with luxury whilst the new boy grinds away in a servile manner or vice versa. Do not spend fundraised money on other than you declared it was for.

Religious ethic 3: Do not speak ill of the non believer. They are sponsoring your spiritual life, building your halls of worship, making the clothes you wear & providing a society in which all the things you need are given with ease. They are also supporting your religious freedom. Do not say they are degenerates, lower beings, foolish etc. Always keep respect gratitude & valuing of the community. Keep good relations with neighbours and the community without any conversion agenda. Do not chastise people who want to read news & go outside & socialize.

Religious ethic 4: Do not coerce or pressure people in any way to convert so they then have to 'leave'. Do not let people take commitments/vows/contracts when they are not ready. People who have converted must be treated well if they choose to leave and not be put under any pressure to stay. They must be as free as a bird. Once they are outside they must continue to be treated well & respected with gratitude for their contribution before they left. If the philosophy is very different from world view then the person should be supported as they go back to their previous world view as it can be disorientating. Even traditional religions hold a strong view of the world & it is hard to move to a non religious view.

Religious ethic 5: Do not treat new people & visitors different from converts. If you wouldn’t do it to a new person don’t do it to a convert & vice versa. Do not treat rich young able people differently from sick elderly poor people. If you wouldn’t invade a new person’s privacy don’t invade the privacy of a long time devotee. Following this guideline solves a huge range of issues explained in the more detailed explanation. This is the summarised version.

Religious ethic 6: As a leader admit your mistakes. We are all on a spiritual journey together & seeing how you overcome problems will help us do the same. Purity is about your intention so if you are open to feedback on how to do things administratively this does not damage people’s faith in you as long as you have a good intention of cherishing & respecting other people both converts & non converts. Do not hide your faults & shortcomings. Do not discourage feedback by showing distress. If you are distressed by information, people who work for you will hide it from you. Do not teach arrogance by chastising people. Because then they will copy you. Do not be distant from your disciples as misunderstandings will develop if people cannot contact you. Do not dictate policy rather ask people for ideas. Of course the teaching cannot be edited but to administrate enforced control of people’s activities & speech leads to rebellion & harm to everybody, yourself, your admins, current members & former members.

Religious ethic 7: Do not pressure other sects to follow your methods; each sect has their own way. If another sect is pressuring you then show them this document. The only time to interfere in another sects business is if members of the other sect ask you for help. At that time help in accordance with their wishes if it is ethical. Do not belittle other sects as you do not know if they have secret more advanced instructions that surpass yours. If another sect is being unethical they will culminate many ex followers raising protest. Therefore the issue will automatically be resolved between the sect & its ex members. Therefore there is no need to criticize other sects as nature will take its course. The sect will have to adapt & stop upsetting people. If you think your sect is better than other sects you might be able to say this without it corrupting your heart but when everyone starts copying you & saying it and it becomes the norm what will happen? Offense, arrogance will become rife.


Summary of summary

One can check here if the 7 ethics refute the cult smear using this very concise document listing 10 healthy religious behaviours & their 10 opposites http://exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/mindctrl/know_if.htm

Other groups have attempted also to make ethics documents. Here is an example: http://csp.org/development/code.html



Thank you for reading the summarised ethics document



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The extensive ethics document

Detailed explanation of the 7 ethics with research info

Introduction

In creating this document I consulted former members of the following religious groups. Without revealing my own religious background I asked them if the ethics solve the problems within their own groups, which many of them claimed were cults. This document is not specifically written for one group but to remove the grievances of former members of all organisations.

Ex Mormon
Ex Jehovahs witnesses
Ex Scientology
Ex Brahma Kumaris
Ex Fairfield life
Ex International Churches of Christ
Ex Christians
Ex MISA (Movement for Spiritual Integration Absolute)
Ex Diamond way Buddhists
Atheists
Ex Soka Gakkai
Ex Jesus Morning Star



(I also read 7000 posts in new Kadampa survivors yahoo group (to save you a depressing job))

The religious ethics document is designed to remove the 10 characteristics of a cult in any religious organisation. In detail below are the 10 characteristics, the 7 ethic refutations & what happens in the 7 ethics are applied & ignored respectively



How the ethics refute the 10 characteristics of a cult

This document is in 3 parts

A) The 10 characteristics of a cult
B) Removing the cult smear with the 7 ethics
C) Background research information

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The 10 characteristics of a cult are(Rick Ross):

Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.
Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.
Followers feel they can never be "good enough".
The group/leader is always right.
The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.

Removing the cult smear with the 7 ethics
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1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

The religious ethic:

The solution to this is to have a feedback system where the feedback is valued & considered properly & addressed both by the leader & its administrators.

Would this solve it? Let’s try an example out. In any religious organization where celibates are running the show if they have a sex scandal this is damaging so let’s apply my solution.

Feedback ignored- always someone speaks up in the early stages. By discounting their evidence the person with the hidden scandal will rise in the organization & later when in a high position it will almost always come to light. At that time a lot of people will be affected. Most people will remember this scandal & think of how the person was hiding it, putting on a clean face. There will then develop 2 groups. The people trying to move on from the scandal & the people exposing it.

Feedback listened to- before the person gets power the scandal is told. The person exposing it is LISTENED to & an investigation is done that establishes the truth. The accused clearly understands the catalogue of disasters that will come if they are dishonest & in caring for the reputation of the organization cooperates with investigation.

Example 1 http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=1,5,13,134&pageid=37

Example 2 http://www.kechara.com/support/contact/

Example 3 http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=1,5,13&pageid=766
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2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

The religious ethic:

Again a feedback system that is not just a token gesture but genuine. Listening to feedback is a great protector of religious groups. If 1 out of 10 people are finding a problem then when you convert 1000 people, 100 of them will have a problem. So it is crucial to solve these problems & address these issues in the early stages.

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3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.

The religious ethic

Do not take large amounts of money from individuals. Find an ethical way to fundraise that is not this method. Do not lavish the leaders & admins with luxury whilst the new boy grinds away in a servile manner. Do not spend fundraised money on other than you declared it was for.

So the outcome:

Advice ignored: Amongst the entourage of the leader, accountants & admins with time people naturally leave any organization & a few are unhappy. Those people produce financial information they were privy to that is an embarrassment. All the raised money ends up being spent on defending the group in legal circles. People come away in debt & with a feeling of having being used for their money. Due to their debts they cannot move on as it is a constant reminder so they stay bitter & naturally begin to warn others.

Advice listened to: Although some people may become unhappy in certain circumstances and leave the organization they will not feel like they were used for their money. They can move on & not have any debts to remind them of the organization.

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4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

Religious ethic

Do not speak ill of the non believer. They are sponsoring your spiritual life, building your halls of worship, making the clothes you wear & providing a society in which all the things you need are given with ease. They are also supporting your religious freedom. Do not say they are degenerates, lower beings, foolish etc.

Always keep respect gratitude & valuing of the community. Keep good relations with neighbours and the community without any conversion agenda. Do not chastise people who want to read news & go outside & socialize.



Advice ignored: The larger community will always find out from former members that they are being spoken of as lesser or lower. The group will get a bad reputation in wider society for doing this. Without interaction with the community

Advice taken: The group is respected in society as a whole and is accessible & unmysterious. The help they give to the community with no agenda is admired and neighbours as well as friends and relatives of members feel comfortable.

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5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.

Religious ethic

Do not coerce or pressure people in any way to convert so they then have to 'leave'. Do not let people take commitments/vows/contracts when they are not ready. People who have converted must be treated well if they choose to leave and not be put under any pressure to stay. They must be as free as a bird. Once they are outside they must continue to be treated well & respected with gratitude for their contribution before they left. If the philosophy is very different from world view then the person should be supported as they go back to their previous world view as it can be disorientating. Even traditional religions hold a strong view of the world & it is hard to move to a non religious view.

Advice ignored: Members who inevitably leave develop mental health problems as they struggle to rebuild their belief system alone without any support. The lack of support brings them to believe they were being used because the friendships dissolved when they changed their beliefs. Feeling used & dumped they become resentful & bitter. Former members fill the internet with bitter propaganda against the group. People are hesitant to recommend the group as they feel that those they recommend might be pushed into a situation or used & dumped. The group gets a bad reputation. Members go through the motions because they are being forced to stay and have conflicting emotions/dual personality. They later speak of how they felt unable to leave online which scares off newcomers.

Advice taken: People go but they often come back & feel happy. They write on the internet that although it wasn’t for them it was a good experience & they would recommend it to others. People invite their friends to the group feeling confident that they will be looked after and not pressured to adhere to anything. The group becomes a valuable resource that people can come & go with confidence using at their own pace. People who are there are enjoying & want to be there.

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6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

Feedback ethic

---------------------------------------------

7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.

Follow the feedback ethic & you don’t end up in this situation

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8. Followers feel they can never be "good enough".

Religious ethic

Do not treat new people & visitors different from converts. If you wouldn’t do it to a new person don’t do it to a convert & vice versa. Do not treat rich young able people differently from sick elderly poor people. If you wouldn’t invade a new person’s privacy don’t invade the privacy of a long time devotee. This ethic prevents pressure to be perfect controlling people, competitiveness, rivalry, gossiping, invading peoples personal space & reduced etiquette.

Advice ignored: Converts are like slaves whilst new people are lavished & praised. Converts criticized & being judged on their personal life whilst new people are treated with tolerance & respect. Converts come away feeling used & like the love teaching is hypocrisy.



Advice taken: During the early stages of the organization using this guideline of measuring converts and new people some inequalities in respect for people & valuing people are noticed. They are corrected & the organization becomes healthy with people feeling treated well & happy. Then later, when it is bigger there are not big problems. It also prevents convertees getting special treatment because the equality extends to that a new person could be a potential elder in the future & the convertee was once a new person & also a beer drinking hedonistic normal person.

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9. The group/leader is always right.

Religious ethic

As a leader admit your mistakes. We are all on a spiritual journey together & seeing how you overcome problems will help us do the same. Purity is about your intention so if you are open to feedback on how to do things administratively this does not damage people’s faith in you as long as you have a good intention of cherishing & respecting other people both converts & non converts. Do not hide your faults & shortcomings. Do not discourage feedback by showing distress. If you are distressed by information, people who work for you will hide it from you. Do not teach arrogance by chastising people. Because then they will copy you. Do not be distant from your disciples as misunderstandings will develop if people cannot contact you. Do not dictate policy rather ask people for ideas. Of course the teaching cannot be edited but to administrate enforced control of people’s activities & speech leads to rebellion & harm to everybody, yourself, your admins, current members & former members.

Advice ignored: People endlessly seek to prove the leader doesn’t have the qualities he claims. The leader comes to be seen as someone engaging in deception to arouse faith. Members enforce rigorously more & more ridiculous rules because of things they saw the leader do or say and all sorts of administrative problems arise. Because some of these strange policies conflict with member’s wellbeing the leader is then deemed responsible for mistreatment of members and someone who teaches one thing whilst behind closed doors teaching to be heartless to members. The admins hide calamities from the leader and mistreatment. Forcing members to follow strange policies becomes the norm. In the end the group is more famous for these strange rulings that the philosophy they originally taught. Admins become like controlling, uncaring dictators.

Advice followed: Overexcited members tell you to tie your shoes the way the leader does because he is never wrong & is divine etc but they are laughed off because the majority have a good open relationship with the leader. People feel able to express their views & feelings to the leader. Administrators are able to make practical & sensible decisions rather than following policies which are inflexible. Strange policy clashes don’t arise & the emphasis becomes less on administration tactics & more on the philosophy itself. Administrative problems are quickly resolved.

It is inportant to also remember that when you give advice or ideas, if your student is very devoted they will often become very excited and when delivering your idea or advice will present it as a command written in stone. Enforcing it vigourously and giving it huge significance. This is simply a mixture of loyalty and excitement but can lead to disaster because you are then presented as an uncompromising dictator. So it can help to add a removal of this dynamic into your advice.

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10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible

Religious ethic

Do not pressure other sects to follow your methods; each sect has their own way. If another sect is pressuring you then show them this document. The only time to interfere in another sects business is if members of the other sect ask you for help. At that time help in accordance with their wishes if it is ethical. Do not belittle other sects as you do not know if they have secret more advanced instructions that surpass yours. If another sect is being unethical they will culminate many ex followers raising protest. Therefore the issue will automatically be resolved between the sect & its ex members. Therefore there is no need to criticize other sects as nature will take its course. The sect will have to adapt & stop upsetting people. If you think your sect is better than other sects you might be able to say this without it corrupting your heart but when everyone starts copying you & saying it and it becomes the norm what will happen? Offense, arrogance will arise in the disciples because they are human beings. Allow open debate of scriptures without chastisement.

Advice ignored: The group gradually transforms into people who are haughty & arrogant, looking down their nose at others. Newcomers sense this & the group gets a bad reputation in society. The habit of being big headed will filter into every area of the group’s routine. The leader might say we are simply acknowledging that these teachings are better but the members being human will be prone to self importance and thus these problems will grow. They will start lecturing others with a know-it-all attitude & become bad listeners, believing that newcomers have nothing to offer knowledge wise. They will come across as controlling dictator type people, and being bad listeners be deemed uncompassionate & uncaring. Other sects will have no respect for the group & relations with them will deteriorate.

Advice taken: The group maintains good relations with other sects. All people are valued as sources of knowledge. Newcomers feel welcome & listened to. Members are good listeners & are seen as caring & considerate. Many people gain spiritual insight from their listening & socializing skills.

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Background research info- optional reading of various forum discussions



Examples of invading privacy & personal space i.e. not following ethic 5

Example of effects experienced by Mormons(you can remove these names & put the word group/organisation to make it non specific) that practicing this ethic would prevent. An ex Mormon said this on an ex Mormon forum about my ethics list:

” There are a couple of aspects that may be implied in your list but are not stated explicitly:

1. Absolution of all personal boundaries of the members. The Mormon church is strongly of the belief that nothing is out of bounds in the members' lives from interrogating teenagers about masturbation to openly questioning (and expecting answers) regarding the sex lives of married couples to requiring full disclosure of your personal affairs to humiliating requirements of public confession of sin.

2. To exacerbate the above, the church also believes that it "owns" the individual members. Leaders think nothing of conducting sexually explicit interviews with youth in the absence of parents - or even parental consent. Where one spouse may be a little wobbly in his/her belief in the cult, the church will jump into very personal, private family matters. There are many stories on this board about families being destroyed because a church leader stepped into the middle of a marriage, discounted and belittled the doubting spouse and directing the believing spouse to seek divorce.”



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Document on scientology & how people there gave up responsibility to the leader because it was comfortable to not be in charge of their own lives http://www.scientology-cult.com/enslaving-a-mind-chapter-seven.html



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Comment from an ex Christian “I don't think your ethics are conducive to traditional religion; they are conducive to ideal religion. Traditionally, religion is an authoritative hierarchical bureaucracy.”



Comment from an anti ‘guru’ proponent: “I don't really have much to say about your proposed ethics, other than to make a couple of observations. First, if a group of people observes them, they would not, in my opinion be a religious group at all - and that is a good thing. A group which functioned by those rules would look very much like the schools of the time of Socrates and Plato, I think.”



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A list of extreme reactions to totally abandoning a philosophical/spiritual outlook suddenly that could arise when people abandon Buddhism. This is an example of some of the info on which I based a case for supporting mentally ill & healthy people who decide Buddhism isn’t for them. Supporting & helping such people is talked about in ethic 4.

The links below talk of high demand groups. I believe it is more a case of how heavily you immerse yourself into a belief system before you decide it’s not for you. I.e. the demands you make of yourself are high.

http://exitsupportnetwork.com/recovery/emotdiff.htm

http://exitsupportnetwork.com/recovery/spirdiff.htm



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This is the opinion of a member of the hindu yoga group brahma kumaris whom I told I followed Tibetan Buddhism:

“I do not know much about your groups specific issues but politics to the point of medieval skullduggery are NOT new to Tibetanism. Indeed, it is fair to say that as late as WWII they were engaged in all the same stuff as Medieval Rome was; e.g. tribalism, wars of succession, material acquisition, territorialism, political intrigue, murderous assassinations and the general suppression of the Tibetan people in awful poverty.
There was not, was never unity amongst all the different school. Some of this conflict was real and material, some of it "spiritual". The Yellow hats, Dalai Lama's lot, were no enlightening angels. Even within the superficial fronts, there is division between those that want to preserve the traditions of 'business-religions' in aspic and those that realise that they do not always work and the tools need to be improved and adopted to suit different environments. There are followers caught up in the romance of the ancient, and those attempting to modernize within the spirit of it. We see the same things too.”



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This is a popular published list of the 21 things a Jehovahs witness will never tell you created by former witnesses. Documents like these I used to form the list of 7 ethics. By studying such documents I aimed to cover everything that could possibly go wrong in a religious organisation or lead to bad feeling. Feel free to see if the 7 ethics counter these 21.

1. Joining us is a one-way street. We will pretend to intensely love you while you walk in. We will openly despise you if and when you choose to walk out.
2. We love to say only we are from God. We love to point out that everyone and everything else is from Satan.
3. Flattery is one of the tools we use to win you over. We like to make you feel special, so that you continue to ‘feel good’ about studying the Bible with us.
4. We also frighten. We don’t want you to realize this, but we subtly and effectively use Fear as an ingredient in many of our teachings. You see, nothing else controls as Fear does!
5. Eventually, we will only accept you if you ‘disown yourself’ and submit entirely to what we call ‘Jehovah’s Organization’.
6. You will only be allowed to have friends who are Jehovah’s friends. The Governing Body decides who Jehovah’s friends are. This practice also ensures that if you ever consider leaving the Watchtower, you will have to deal with a terrible social vacuum in your life, because all your Witness friends will have nothing to do with you.
7. We love to have mock humility. We have immense pride in saying we are the most humble lot. We want you to be proud and have this humility too.
8. While we theoretically believe that acts of kindness should not be publicized, you will notice that we actually crave the adulation and praise that result from publicizing our own self-proclaimed acts of godly devotion.
9. As an extension of the previous point, while we say JWs are not men pleasers, you know better!
10. We take great pleasure in contemplating the destruction of billions of people who have not responded positively to the message we preach. We routinely portray (in pictures) the painful deaths of unbelievers at Armageddon in our publications, and we find such artwork tasteful.
11. To a sane mind, the previous point may fall into the same genre of hate and destruction found in certain other groups that foster world terrorism, but of course, we don’t want you to realize that.
12. Our own congregations, outside the symbol of love and harmony, are as full of gossip, slander, distinctions, prejudice and even hate, as any other part of Babylon the Great, the false religions we condemn.
13. We would have you believe that the brothers love each other. In actuality, rivalry is widespread amongst congregation members, as each tries to out-do and outshine the other. After all, there are 'privileges' on offer, and these will only be yours if you tow the Watchtower line.
14. The more hours you put into field service, the more 'spiritual' you will be called. Of course, on the face of it we appear to say that even service that is comparable to the widow's mite is precious to Jehovah, but know us for a long enough time and you will know that is not true.
15. You may not realize it is disparaging, but it is not uncommon of us to categorize believers as Bethelites, Special Pioneer, Auxiliary Pioneer, Elder, Ministerial Servant, Spiritually Weak or a Marked Person.
16. Naturally, the circuit overseers, elders and other prominent members of the congregation are attracted to those members who are materially well-off. We will never expressly state this, but observe us closely, and you will find that's true.
17. Please say good-bye to a good education, rewarding career etc. You are in the Watchtower now.
18. Look closer, and you will discover that we are an MLM organization. The rewards and privileges that you yourself enjoy in the organization is proportional to the ‘value’ you bring into it, in terms of new converts, hours spent etc. And your money is important to us.
19. You can bequeath any such wealth that you own to us, be that gold, financial securities, property, real estate. We welcome it all.
20. Our love for you, the esteem and value that we hold for you, all actually comes with at a heavy price, with many strings attached. But we hope you never realize that.
21. We have many organizational secrets which we don’t want you to know. Those who have ‘left us’ often know these secrets. That’s why we forbid you from ever speaking with them. Similarly, we will try and do everything possible to convince you that the internet is a Satanic trap, so you never read online the things we don’t want you to read and know.



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Feedback on pressure to be perfect problem in Mormon Church from an ex Mormon. I used feedback like this to help in composition of ethic 5, to not treat old timers different from new people/visitors e.g. you wouldn’t place impossible demands on a newcomer & interrogate them asking very personal questions to check they are meeting them:

“A lot of times, the elderly are ignored and those who really need some love and attention don't get it. For a lot of us, the feeling that we are not good enough comes from our failure to meet the impossible demands that the church places on us. We were required to be perfect. Men are expected to have high paying jobs that provide the luxuries of a model Mormon life style and support their stay at home wives and however many children the Lord sends him. They also are expected to magnify a church calling, do home teaching, attend meetings (not just on Sunday), be a worthy priesthood holder, never even think about looking about porn or masturbating. The list goes on and on.

For women it’s just as bad. Women are expected to be happy mothers and homemakers even if they don't have the personality for it, because God said all women should be stay at home moms with as many children as they can handle without flipping out. Women have the responsibility to set the spiritual thermostat in their homes. Women should be perfect house keepers, mothers, and hold a church calling and attend meetings, and be perfect cooks. The list goes on and on here too.

There were many things that we were told we should be doing in the church. It was actually impossible to do all of them, there simply wasn't enough time. Whenever things went wrong in our lives, many of us would think something like, "Oh, this wouldn't have happened if I had just been more righteous and written in my journal every day like I was supposed to!"

We could never measure up and be "good enough" to feel really accepted by our peers at church and by ourselves. At least that was my experience.”



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This is the feedback of a member of the rational response squad i.e. anti religion squad. I researched these people to find out why society is largely anti religion & also put solutions to their grievances in the 7 ethics to the best of my ability:

“To me, the distinction between religion and cult is almost entirely artificial. A cult is a small religion. A religion is a big cult. You could argue the Christianity is a Jesus cult, obviously. What would be left of any religion that honestly and genuinely allowed for critical inquiry? Faith and dogma are antithetical to questioning and critical inquiry. It seems to me that you've eliminated the possibility of religion from your list of suggestions with the inclusion of suggestion #2 (feedback). Even the so-called moderate and liberal religious groups don't like you asking pointed questions and challenging people's beliefs. They call such free-thinkers 'arrogant', 'militant', 'aggressive', etc. This is their defence mechanism against critical inquiry. This is their dogma: No one has a right to challenge what you believe when it comes to 'religious' beliefs.

If you break that dogma, and honestly and genuinely apply questioning and critical thinking, what you end up with is called 'reason' and 'science'.

So, to answer your original question, no, religion cannot withstand your document(the 7 ethics). Something that could withstand it (i.e. kept the ethics) would no longer really be a religion.

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