Minutes earlier, many of them had signed a “Declaration of Independence from Mormonism” and addressed formal “letters of resignation” to the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to remove their names from LDS records.
“Life is so much better. There is peace and so much happiness” after leaving, John Larsen, co-organizer of the mass resignation event, promised the crowd of about 120 before the hike.
The group chose Ensign Peak to mirror what LDS Church leader Brigham Young did in 1847 when, days after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, he hiked the hill to plot out the city.
The goal of Saturday’s trek wasn’t to “conquer” the church, Larsen said, but “to say we’re here.”
For some like Michelle Hobbs, deciding to resign was not easy. The 40-year-old Salt Lake City resident said she had been “very faithful” her whole life. As she was doing research on the church to help her questioning family members, she said she decided the timeline of events laid out in the Book of Mormon didn’t make sense.
Her voice cracking, she described the revelation as “very heartbreaking.”
“It’s just all man-made. It’s very disappointing.”
To read the rest of the article, head to the Salt Lake Tribune, where the article was originally published.
To read why some people are “resigning” from the LDS Church, go to resignmormon.blogspot.com.
To listen to Zilpha and John Larsens’ podcast, go to mormonexpression.com
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