Why Do So Many Post-Mormons Become Atheists?
Some people might think that it would be difficult to leave the Mormon church if you live in Utah. After all, according to Wikipedia, 60% of the state population are members of the church, and many neighborhood and city social events are dictated by its standards and culture. (However, according to a recent survey reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, only “42% consider themselves members of the state’s predominant faith.”)
And it’s true, there are many social difficulties with leaving the church (not to mention the other types of difficulties), but there is also a thriving group of post-Mormons who welcome newcomers to their ranks every day.
When you converse with these post-Mormons about their experiences and their current beliefs, you quickly find out that most who have left the church are now atheist. This might seem surprising to some. It might be confusing that these previously ultra-religious members wouldn’t find another Christian church to join. Of all the post-Mormons I know or have heard on podcasts, the vast majority are atheists. A few still believe in God and Jesus but rarely do they go to a different church. Why is this? I have some thoughts on the causes of this surprising situation.
The first answer has to do with the high-demand nature of Mormonism. People who were raised Mormon (or joined at some point) but were never really “all in” would be more likely to go to a different Christian church after leaving. They might want the community and fellowship that a religion provides, and they might feel guilty about not participating in any religion.
But people who were deep in Mormonism, believing it with all their hearts and doing all the things required to be a worthy member, have to do a lot of mental work to leave. Because it was such a huge part of their lives, such a major commitment, they have to be sure it’s false before they leave.
For these people, the church directed almost every aspect of their lives, including what they wore, ate/drank (or didn’t eat/drink), who they hung out with, how they spent their time on Sundays and many other days of the week, and their family relationships. The church demands of its adherents 10% of their income, daily family and individual scripture study and prayer, and volunteer service in its various organizations. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is your whole life.
Because it is so high-demand, so intertwined with every aspect of life, church members who become disillusioned for one reason or another do a deep-dive into the doctrine and history of the church before deciding to leave. This is a major, life-changing decision, so they need to be assured that they are making the right one.
One place many people start their inquiries is the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Does it recount the tale of real people who lived before and after the time of Christ and were directed by God to come to the Americas? Or was it written by Joseph Smith and then only purported to be such?
There are many places you can find information as you investigate this dichotomy. Active church members are cautioned against looking into this question too deeply. But when someone close to you finds out troubling new information or you are disheartened by some aspects of the church, you start looking anyway.
The Book of Mormon and the Bible are greatly entangled. As you interrogate the Book of Mormon’s historical claims, truths about Bible historicity are also revealed. For example, the Book of Mormon claims that there were Brass Plates with the five books of Moses (the first five books of the current Bible) inscribed on them in 600 B.C. Historians tell us that no part of the Bible was actually gathered like this until the first or second century after Christ.
Also, the Book of Mormon claims that Jesus came to the Americas. While there he gave the Sermon on the Mount, worded exactly as it is in the King James Version of the Bible. But those who study the Bible have discovered that the Sermon on the Mount wasn’t actually one sermon given at that place and time. It is a composite of Jesus’ teachings that the writers (again, 100–200 years later) put together. There are other examples also, but I won’t get into them all here.
Studying the realness of the Book of Mormon leads you more facts and information about the Bible than you would otherwise know. It calls into question the legitimacy and truthfulness of the Bible. For this reason, many who leave the Mormon church conclude that Christianity is not what it purports to be, and they become atheists.
Because Mormonism is so intense and people’s involvement in it and feelings about it run so deep, when you learn that it isn’t true, isn’t what you thought it was, you naturally question other parts of your life. And this includes Christianity. You feel compelled to investigate the history, the accuracy, and the ethics of the organization you have given so much of your life to.
Besides the deep interrogation active Mormons do before they leave, the second reason they don’t join other churches has to do with the Mormon church’s claim to legitimacy. Mormons are taught that Joseph Smith received authority from Peter, James and John to have the priesthood on earth and to restore God’s true church. Men who hold that priesthood today can trace their “lineage” up through their father, their grandfather, and on, back to Joseph Smith himself. Most other churches don’t claim this level of validity.
Catholics may claim authority from Peter, but Catholicism has a special place in Mormon doctrine. It is not said outright but implied that Catholicism is the “whore of all the earth” and was created by the devil to lead people astray. Even though post-Mormons don’t believe any of these Mormon tenets anymore, they still have difficulty going to another Christian church. It’s hard to stop thinking about authority, or lack thereof, when that’s been drilled into you.
A third reason post-Mormons don’t join other churches is that they are often tired of being told what to do. Again, the demands of Mormonism are so high that many are relieved when they leave and are not likely to sign up for any other religious commitments. A lot of post-Mormons talk of the shame and guilt they experienced because they didn’t live up to all the expectations. When they’ve broken free from that, they are ready to be done with all religion.
Fourth and last in this non-exhaustive list of reasons post-Mormons become atheists has to do with social justice. Most people who leave Mormonism are bothered by the church’s policies regarding marginalized groups — the exclusion of Blacks from the priesthood until 1978 and the continued exclusion of LGBTQ individuals from full participation. Sometimes this is the whole reason they left or at least the reason they started looking into the truth claims of Mormonism.
Most other Christian groups in America hold the same white supremacist, sexist, and homophobic beliefs as the Mormon church, and post-Mormons are loathe to align themselves with those organizations again. After examining Mormonism and finding it lacking, a lot of those who leave have an overall feeling that God is not great. Either he doesn’t exist or he’s a jerk. It’s easier to believe he doesn’t exist.
Atheism has a bad reputation in this country. American culture has demonized anyone who doesn’t believe in Christianity as amoral and dreadful people. Post-Mormons may be reluctant to identify as atheists because they fear being seen in this light. They feel compelled to explain that they are still good people, still believe in right and wrong, even though they don’t believe in God (as if the two were mutually exclusive).
Although I am an atheist, I prefer to call myself a humanist. The definition of a humanist resonates with me and encompasses many of my beliefs. My favorite explanation of humanism is found in The Humanist magazine:
“Humanism is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Free of supernaturalism, it recognizes human beings as a part of nature and holds that values — be they religious, ethical, social, or political — have their source in human experience and culture. Humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny.”
The humanist appellation more fully explains who I am and how I live. The (non)belief in a supernatural being is only one part of someone’s values and motivations. I believe the divine is inside each human and that we all have a source of peace and knowledge that we can access anytime we want (regardless of whether we follow certain rules or profess beliefs about heaven).
While it might seem surprising that people who leave the Mormon church frequently become atheists, when you dig deeper into the process of leaving and the views and thoughts that often accompany that process, the nature of that fact becomes clearer. Along the way out of the Mormon church, people deconstruct Christianity also. After decades of living in a high-demand religion, post-Mormons are loathe to join another church that has less claim to authenticity and yet still gives you a list of rules and behaviors to follow. And many people leave the Mormon church for social justice reasons, or learn about and become sympathetic to those issues along the way out, and therefore don’t want to align themselves with problematic Christian faith traditions anymore.
