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Thought I’d share something here. Anyway, the other day, my new boss and I are talking in a restaurant (she came to one of my musical performances) and she comments that she knows I’m a Mormon, says she thinks I probably have a lot of kids, that she has heard the religion is very secretive. That she would like to understand more about it and also (coincidence?), the religion on my muslim friend. “But she is not searching for a religion”.
The words that came out of my mouth were that a) I am not an orthodox Mormon — don’t expect what you hear about Mormon theology to necessarily apply to my own belief system b) that I have no secrets, and that any “secrecy” is limited to temple ceremonies that are more sacred than secret and c) that contrary to popular belief, we consider ourselves Christians. For example, I said I often introduce myself as a Mormon Christian — Mormons disagree with that term, because it implies there are Mormons that are not Christians — which is not the case — but I use the term freely. But I stressed Mormons don’t want to perpetuate the myth that we are not Christians by implying that Mormonism and Christianity are somehow separate. I also shared that my service efforts are now in the community as I find it allows me for meaningful growth opportunities that don’t exist in the LDS Church.
Anyway, the flow of the evening created a natural break at this point, so the conversation ended.
Comments on this situation. It has many shades of meaning here — the knowledge my new boss had of my religion, and my own response. For me, what is significant was my admission I am a Mormon, but that my belief system is unusual compared to most Mormons (I would be uncomfortable ever disclosing how). My identity has truly changed over the last 3 years to something I am very comfortable with in non-LDS circles.
Great answers, friend. :clap: :clap: Sounds like you acquitted yourself pretty well. I don’t think very well on my feet, so I feel sure I would have bungled it. I should add that I’ve only taken official action once in my life when it comes to discrimination at work over religion. I lived in the Deep South, and I found out that a co-worker who attended an evangelical church in the area had gone into an office of another co-worker who had initiated a religious conversation with me during lunchtime and exorcized the room from “the spirit of the serpent among us”. I went to the HT Director, who was my direct supervisor, and told him flat-out that if I ever heard of that happening again I would sue her – and the company if it wasn’t handled forcefully and documented. I told him I never believed I would consider such a thing, but that her actions were WAY beyond acceptable. He understood completely, agreed and took care of it swiftly and decisively.
That is pretty extreme. I personally believe the senior manager who admitted she bashes Mormons and thinks we are a cult and not Christian was way out of line. A flight risk. You might get that from some people, but one would expect a senior manager to have more judgment than that. I am not going to do anything about it at this point. It just makes me uncomfortable. The manager who reports to her was more curious than anything, but I would’ve rather she didn’t even mention it either though.
I served my mission in an area that is full of anti-Mormon sentiment. My parents are unfriendly to the church (they are evangelicals) because after they came to my baptism and gave their blessing for my involvement in the LDs church, they got hit with anti-Mormon literature, which they chose to believe. Being excluded from my marriage ceremony (my fault) against the backdrop of anti-Mormon literature really caused damage to our relationship. Quite frankly, I’m tried of it.
That is one part of being Mormon I could do without.
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