165: Richard Packham and How the LDS Church Creates Unnecessary Enemies Pt. 2

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2010

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this 4-part series, we interview Richard Packham -- co-founder of the Ex-Mormon foundation. Throughout the interview and via Richard's own personal story, we explore 3 ways in which the LDS Church creates unnecessary enemies: 1) By not being honest about its own history (e.g. teaching accurate history), 2) By breaking up families (when one no longer believes), and 3) By harming the loved ones of those who have left the church. To conclude (part 4), Richard discusses the benefits of religious belief in general and the LDS church specifically, along with the mission of the ExMormon foundation, and bears a final testimony regarding the joy/happiness he has experienced since leaving the church. NOTE: The purpose of this interview is NOT to encourage people to stay or leave the LDS church. It is simply to: 1) Seek to understand and to validate the path of those who have felt compelled to leave the church, and 2) Explore ways in which the church can seek to no longer create unnecessary enemies.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mormon Stories podcast takes a ton of work and depends solely upon the listener's support.
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0:18.0	So let's transition from what I'll characterize as you seeking truth, you caring deeply,
0:29.0	and you being so committed to honesty that you felt like you had to leave the church because it wasn't what you claimed to be.
0:36.0	Claimed it was. It wasn't what it claimed to be.
0:39.0	Now, let's talk about your situation with your wife.
0:44.0	You tried to tell her that it wasn't true, and what were the series of events that led to you getting divorced?
0:56.0	Well, as I recall, and of course this is 50 years ago, so my memory may be colored by subsequent events.
1:09.0	And I'm sure that if you talked to her, she would probably tell quite a different story, but as best as I recall,
1:20.0	we did not discuss Mormonism at all.
1:24.0	She did not want to talk about it.
1:29.0	And so it was a non-subject.
1:33.0	We continued to go to church, at least I continued to go to church for a while, as I said.
1:40.0	So you tried to talk to her and she would just say, I won't talk to you.
1:44.0	Right.
1:45.0	I won't have this discussion.
1:47.0	I don't want to hear any of this.
1:50.0	And how did that make you feel?
1:52.0	Well, I thought, well, okay, fine.
1:55.0	If you want to continue to believe it, that's fine.
1:59.0	And I would continue to drive to church with them.
2:05.0	And I had no problem with her working in the church or doing anything with the church, going to church,
	...

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