the day
This is a significant day for the FTA family. We finally wrote, signed, notarized, and sent our resignation letter to Salt Lake (cc'ed to the local bishop), priority mail with delivery confirmation. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we were signing those letters, and the notary public put all the official stamps and imprints on it.
I've been meaning to write a post about resignation, the debate about whether or not to bother, and why I hadn't done it yet--these two years as a non-believing, non-attender--but I'll save that for another post. I just want to bask in the satisfaction of having sealed the letter in the envelope and sent it to good ol' Mr. Dodge in Member Services.
If you want information or advice about resignation from the LDS church, see Mormon No More, and great resource put together by Kathy Worthington, may she rest in peace. I regret that I didn't do this earlier so I could thank her personally.
12 comments:
Wow, congratulations!!
Thanks, lemon. I'm sorry for your troublesome conversations with your family members. It's hard, I know!
I have no plans to make an announcement about my resignation. I was a member of an organization I happen to not like; now I'm not a member. Not their business. (And, yeah, they would totally react poorly.)
Sweet! Good for you! I've thought about doing it, but I have NO IDEA where to send it - to the ward I'd be in here (which is...???)? The ward I was in in Provo (also don't remember what ward it was, or who the Bishop was. Or pretty much anything. I think I went, like, 3 times)? No idea. Whatever - I think it would be kind of cool to be excommunicated. :)
Bon voyage, FTA. :)
Rebecca,
It doesn't really matter whether you contact the bishop. Just send it to headquarters and the minute it is received by a church official, the resignation is effective immediately. They may want to run through their own procedures, but it doesn't matter. You're not a member anymore once headquarters receives your resignation.
Rebecca- Thanks. Jonathan is right, once you send it, you're resigned. The church will then go through the process of name removal, which is their own foo-faraah, which can take months. It would be up to the local bishop, though, to handle that. There is info on the site I gave about that, if you don't know you're ward.
I considered excommunication, too, wondering what it would take. The only thing I figured I would want to be ex'ed for us for writing an article or something. But I decided not to bother.
Nah, excommunication would definitely not be the answer. Not that there's any shame in a cult thinking poorly of you, but we're human, and no human likes to be fired. We like to quit. All that psychological aversion to being rejected rather than rejecting.
Anyway, big CONGRATULATIONS!
Ours is going in soon too (though don't ask LB right now -- she's still freaking from merely expressing lack of belief to her family).
Woooohoooooo! Congratulations!!
Hey, good to know! I thought the letter had to be sent to whatever ward had my records, and I just don't know where that is. Church headquarters, on the other hand - easy to find. Maybe I'll do it... Then again, I really DO like the idea of writing a play or a screenplay someday and being excommunicated for it. I would totally put that on my resume.
rebecca- Yes, but it's so hard to get ex'ed for something like that these days. They'd really be ex'ing you for the play, but they'd officially ex you for something else--this is what happened recently to Simon Southerton (I think?). He wrote a damning book about the church's stance on Lamanites, and DNA, and was ex'ed for having a girlfriend. So no one can accuse the church of restricting intellectual freedom.
IMHO.
Hey, congratulations to you both! I was wondering about your son though. I didn't notice there was anything about him in the letter. I know he's too young to have been baptized, but he is a "child of record" as they like to call it. Did you not think it worth it to have them remove him from their records as well since he's not really a member? Or does he automatically come off when he's not baptized at eight? Especially since his parents are not members. :-)
Just wondering what you had thought about that.
bel- Thanks. We did include our son in the letter. See the third set of smudges, over on the right under "sincerely"? That's him.
I simply used the form letter from Mormon No More. It didn't occur to me to include specific language about my "child of record." Hmm, I hope that doesn't screw anything up.
The letter to the local bishop should arrive to his place today, according to the postal worker. So I expect a phone call tonight...Wish me luck.
Hi! Interesting way of resigning from a specific religion/church! I find this very informative because I have a friend who wishes to do the same and the resources you have provided are very helpful! Thanks for sharing and keep em coming. Have a nice day! :)
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