This Inspirational Story About a Doubting Mormon is Horrific

[NeoGreen]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/20/this-inspirational-story-about-a-doubting-mormon-is-horrific/

This “Inspirational” Story About a Doubting Mormon is Horrific
July 20, 2017 by Hemant Mehta

Last year, the day before Kaydin Alabbas was set to begin his traditional two-year mission for the Mormon Church, he was on vacation with his family in Utah’s Bryce Canyon when he told his family something that had been weighing heavily on his mind: He didn’t want to go.

[Alabbas] informed his family that after a lifetime of planning for a mission, he wouldn’t be serving one. “I told my dad first,” Alabbas said during a telephone interview… “We went for a walk and I said I definitely was not going to serve. He was disappointed, of course, and told me I would have to tell my mom myself.”

So he told his mom. And how did she react?

When the tense moments blew away, his mother walked to the family van, opened the door, removed her son’s suitcases, set them on the ground, and invited her husband and two younger children to load up. In a matter of seconds, they were gone.

Dumbstruck, Alabbas stood alone at the campsite.

I asked Alabbas what was going through his mind that night. “I’ve just been left at Bryce Canyon… By my own family!”

Seriously. They just left him there. Because he was having doubts about his faith and he wasn’t sure he wanted to dedicate the next two years of his life to something he wasn’t fully committed to.

Alabbas walked to a gas station and called his grandparents. Since they couldn’t pick him up until the next morning, the people who ran the gas station were kind enough to give him a place to stay.

Here’s the messed up part of all this.

This isn’t a story about the trauma some people have to deal with because they tell their religious parents they no longer believe in the faith.

It’s supposed to be an inspirational story about Mormonism. Really. In fact, when reporter Jason F. Wright published it yesterday, here’s how he portrayed Alabbas’ reaction to his family deserting him:

I asked Alabbas what was going through his mind that night. “I’ve just been left at Bryce Canyon,” he laughed. “By my own family!”

He laughed! It’s so funny!

[LakeArenal]

1. Funny, ha ha..or funny as....

that is almost the most heinous thing a parent can do.. What the hell?

Unconditional love.... guess Mormons don't practice that.

[Warpy]

3. He doesn't like Kool Aid? Well, we'll show HIM!

This goes beyond heinous. I hope this guy stops laughing at some point, probably when he has a kid of his own and realizes what that means, and spits out the rest of the Kool Aid. It's poisoned if it makes parents do that.

[progressoid]

4. Funny Fucked Up

[Binkie The Clown]

2. I feel "blessed" that my strict Catholic parents...

...were understanding and supportive when, as a teen, I told them I wouldn't be going to church with them anymore because none of it made any sense to me. I think they were not surprised; I had such a long history of giving Sunday school teachers screaming fits with my inconvenient questions.

[SCantiGOP]

8. My Mom and I fought for a year or so

She was a devout Catholic and I had attended Catholic school till 7th grade ("training grounds for future ex-Catholics" - George Carlin) but became disenchanted by the time I was about 15/16, which coincided with my interest in politics, ethics and philosophy.
Finally, to make peace, we agreed that I would attend Mass every Sunday until I graduated from High School. The last time I stepped into a church other than for a wedding or funeral was the Sunday before I graduated in 1969.

One thing that seems trivial but might have been a tipping point was a nun in 5th or 6th grade giving what was probably a lesson in good posture by admonishing the class for not standing attentive and erect and pointing our clasped hands upward in prayer. She explained that the hands pointing up was to direct our prayers to heaven. She told a quick story about a boy who was so disinterested that his hands pointed downward. When he died, he was sent to hell because, to his surprise, that is where his prayers had been going!
I remember thinking, if God would use an unimportant gimmick like this to condemn someone to eternal damnation, he either is not good and merciful, or...........something is seriously wrong with the whole framework.

[Binkie The Clown]

9. I had a nun in Catholic school tell me the sun revolved around the earth!

As an avid amateur astronomy buff at the time, that was one last straw too many for me.

[SCantiGOP]

10. We'll, that's what the Bible says

and that is what appears to be obvious when you observe the sun's movement.
To believe otherwise is to accept godless science.

One good thing from me was that, to prepare for pending school desegregation, they began swapping nuns, so I had all Northern-raised nuns. Our principal was a 150 year old Southerner, and I remember her using the term "niggra." Our young nuns, on the other hand, taught that racism was a sin and (much to my Father's dismay and anger) there was nothing wrong with inter-racial marriage, which was still a crime in SC at that time.

[rurallib]

5. I hope the young man can sort things out for himself

his parents really gave him a great hint about what he should focus on for priorities.

As for the reporter, perhaps it is time to look for other work.

[defacto7]

6. There are a lot of horrible Mormon stories..

I remember when a man with 9 children committed suicide, the mother checked herself and the kids into a high-rise hotel and proceeded to throw each of them out the window, then jumped out herself. She and seven of them died, two survived. Mormons believe you are married for eternity. So if you die and didn’t get it right the first time, you can be reborn again as a family so you can try all over again in a new life. This kind of thing is not all that unusual here.... Utah. I know more of these events, even personally that aren't as dramatic but are indeed ugly.

[Freelancer]

7. He would have been an awful mercenary -- sorry -- missionary, anyway.

I've got this image like the opening of "Branded" -- the mom yanking the black tie off of his head and throwing it into the bushes... taking his pocket protector out of his pocket and stomping on it... then ripping the sleeves off of his short sleeve shirt at the seams. Ouch.