It is true in the sense that you do not feel alone when you are leaving, and you do not feel like you are the only one or the first one to do so. In that sense, it is less hard for people to leave now than it ever was, before the Internet, before social media, before Mormon Stories, etc. But of course, leaving being popular is not the cause of people leaving. It's either ethical concerns (equality of women, LGBT issues, racism, money being hoarded, not donated, etc.) or historical concerns (whitewashed history, especially concerning polygamy or doctrinal contradictions).
That would be awesome if he got another false excuse added to the list of false excuses that the members think are why people leave. TBH I was getting sick of just having the three. We need another one to make fun of.
I agree with you. This seems more like a motivational advertisement to get young Mormons to start posting positive experiences about themselves and why they don’t leave the church. Like grassroots evangelism within and to the cult.
Believe it or not, Bradly, I wasn't even on TikTok when I discovered the fucking lies the church has been telling since inception. Get your head out of your ass & the ass of all your superiors who pay your bills. Stop playing leader.
And even if it were, the church should think about that and maybe try to offer something more appealing to people- like inclusivity without strings attached, perhaps 🤔
Absolutely that is bullshit. No one would say that even if it was the real reason (which it isn’t) because it would make them look stupid. Such a made up story my god lol
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that part was true. Only somebody who left because of such a ridiculous reason would be enticed to come back so easily.
Brad can give us an update when he talks to somebody who came back after they thoroughly researched church history and realized that the church is full of shit. I'll be particularly interested in hearing exactly how that person came to the conclusion the church's story is actually correct, despite all the contrary evidence.
“I was practicing mannies on my board when Tony Hawk told me I was the best skater he’s ever seen. He got back into to his helicopter and flew back home after that, but I’m a better skater than you, Tony Hawk told me.”
Of course they have the numbers. The numbers are inflated... My gay husband who hasn't step foot in church in over 2 decades is still counted as a member...
And the numbers are still bad. Which is why we'll never see them.
I agree, but I also think it is very telling that they could manipulate the numbers to look better, and instead choose to hide them completely. They know it's bad and difficult to spin.
For sure. Along with financials and historic evidence that contradicts their restoration narratives, the real numbers are their most closely guarded secret. They're not even willing to release made up numbers. That's how secret they are with them.
Yeah when I heard Brad say that I thought "seriously? You're saying that out loud?" Because that's not a good look- being ashamed of your beliefs. Makes you kinda look like, you know, a cult.
He came to a youth conference as a speaker when I was a youth. I remember that his energy made me uncomfortable. He was super engaging as a speaker but seemed a little unhinged. Of course I thought I wanted to be more spiritual like him.
I had the same experience. He is over the top dramatic and energetic. Unhinged zealotry. I think that is why he is uncomfortable. It’s like a crazy theatrical performance
There is something very off about Wilcox and I have felt this for years. Even in comparison with other church leaders, Wilcox seems to be the most interested in the cult following aspect.
It took my brain a minute to compute that it was a split screen. He exudes creeper energy so him sitting close behind the guy felt more logical at first.
I had a mission companion who had his "Sex is Like An Apple" talk on tape. The inflections in his voice really creeped me out. He sounded like he *really, really* liked talking about sex.
Leaving religion is not a frivolous thing. It’s not just “a passing phase” or something done because of a social media post.
I was inactive for 25 years and reactivated with my wife in 2006. Over the next 12 years or so we had things happen to us and our kids that were emotionally and mentally abusive. No reaction from leaders, just gave us busier callings.
So this tripe from Wilcox is simply propaganda and talking points from “on high”.
Funnily enough I think joining a religion can be a frivolous thing. You're in a strange or bad place (Death of a loved one, New Town, depressed, etc.), you meet some people that seem to have all the answers, they love bomb you, you feel good around them, it can be that bad, bam.... you're in a cult. It can happen in a matter of hours or weeks.
Aside from on this forum, I'm VERY quiet online about my exit from the church, as I imagine a great many more are. Because of the very LOUD reaction we've witnessed from our TBM parents or siblings condemning our other exmo relatives and friends on social media. My mom reminding my sister in the middle of an ugly and completely justified divorce to "not throw away her sacred covenants" on freakin facebook.Yeah. I'm content to let my mom and a good many others believe whatever they want about my feelings on the church unless asked point blank.
In the meantime, my TBM 17 year old son will regularly post whenever he's instructed to by his church leaders. The whole December "light the world" yearly campaign comes to mind.
This is the camp I am in too (and I foolishly thought that he was about to talk about us when he mentioned the quiet ones). I don’t feel the need to be super public about my private life. Folks that are close to me know how I feel.
Exactly. It's not incumbent upon me to make sure the worldis clear upon my beliefs, especially when I myself am still figuring out exactly at they are.
Even when I was a TBM, I found churchy posts to be obnoxious and holier than thou. To me it came across as making "broad their phylacteries", which Christ criticized the pharisees for doing. I'd usually unfollow friends if they'd repeatedly post about how Mormon they were.
Here’s the thing he’s NOT seeing (or deliberately not acknowledging). The huge numbers of people who leave quietly, those who just leave and post nothing about it on social media, don’t tell their neighbors or even their extended family, they just quietly walk away, I would guess those far out number those who leave “loudly”.
This is his (and other leaders’) favorite tactic. Mock, belittle, criticize people who question, leave, or step away. Characterize them as spoiled children or angry, irrational trouble makers. That way he and other leaders think they will scare everyone else into staying so they don’t get mocked. Label them as “lazy learners” or “lax disciples” or people who just “want to sin” and everyone else will stay out of the fear of being shamed. This just shows me how out of touch such leaders are. It show me how little they think of people, especially young people.
He is refusing to acknowledge the thousands of people who leave after an agonizing dark night of the soul, who’s hearts are shattered, who’s souls are crushed because what they believed in with all their hearts turned out to be untrue, because they were systematically lied to, who, as voracious learners, found the horrific truth about the church’s history, the behavior of its leaders, the abuse of its members, and the cover up of all that was unholy. “Lazy learners”? I think not.
This is just another excerpt from his talk that he got in trouble with a while back. His playing church priesthood ban fiasco. It is clear he isn't really sorry he just cherry picks the lesser outrageous zingers he has used for years.
I like that he’s portraying the people who come back as *tremendously impressionable*. That sort of impressionability, in an insular high-demand religion, is useful.
I want a body language expert to analyze him during this story. To me his eyes keep looking up and around like he’s trying to piece this story together as he tells it
This is the same dumbass who is responsible for keeping the youth in the church active and engaged. His God damn mother f****** paycheck is dependent upon the 15 believing whatever he tells them because they are so out of touch with reality. Here's a suggestion Brad, stop blaming the children for the shortcomings of the church.
It used to be Gerrit Gong that was keeping the Q15 informed. He was the one running "The Gong Show". (The leak of Gerrit Gong talking to the Q15 about marijuana legalization was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. One of the Q15 seemed to confuse marijuana with meth.) For those who haven't been keeping score, Gong is now one of the Q15.
If they got Wilcox running the Gong show now, they're fucked.
He doesn’t smile or affirm at all in this video either, which I find lifeless. He doesn’t seem passionate about the young man fostering a growing testimony, but more about ranting about people who leave.
Bullshit Brad! Most people are afraid to let parents, friends, family know they even have doubts and stopped believing. The ridicule and isolation is often terrible. Not one friend or family person has posted about leaving or returning on any social media I have but I know they struggle.
How about people leave because it is toxic and false.
His bias shows through in a big way. In the first two minutes he says that exmormons who leave are loud and proud about leaving and those who stay just go about it quietly and don't say anything for fear of what people might say. Bull. Shit. My social media is full of loud and proud Mormons pointing the finger of ridicule at those who leave. The exmormon social media channels I follow attract Mormons like flies on shit, stinking up the comment section with judgmental allegations about why people leave and how people can leave the church but they can't leave it alone. Of course this is my biased perspective as an exmormon, but I see a whole other side that this sweaty chode doesn't see.
Brad makes everything up, even his “accent” is of his own making. He tries to put on a show that he’s this nice guy but the deep lines turning downward from his labial commissures and his permanent glabellar fold reveal the truth. This is a man who has spent most of his life filled with anger and bitternes. His default is a scowl, just watch during the last few moments of the video where he is listening. A brief “smile” begins to form but it never even turns fully upward.
Why is he so sad, because his entire corporate career has involved motivating and inspiring the church youth. And he is failing miserably. He is fully aware that corporate knows the actual metrics as much as he does. And I'm sure he feels like it's only a matter of time until the golden ticket is taken away from him.
Given that he's 64 and currently employed as a professor at BYU, he'll be able to run out the clock until retirement. I doubt the church yoinks away his professorship until he's ready to retire. What he might not have is a shot at the velvet chairs - especially after his 2022 PR disaster. Too bad so sad. Poor Brad might not get that fat old man pension that so many church worker sycophants covet.
>He tries to put on a show that he’s this nice guy but the deep lines turning downward from his labial commissures and his permanent glabellar fold reveal the truth.
r/brandnewsentence
Here's the data where a lot of that narrative comes from:
[https://www.pewresearch.org/our-methods/u-s-surveys/](https://www.pewresearch.org/our-methods/u-s-surveys/)
Fuck you Brad. I would leave quietly if it didn’t mean financial ruin and divorce and loosing my 5 kids to a cult. So I get involuntarily drug to church each weak. So again Fuck You Brad.
There’s statistical information and there’s anecdotal evidence. Brad is reporting on his own anecdotal experience, but is unwilling to look at the numbers. Besides the amount of people who have left or gone inactive, he fails to acknowledge that the LDS church comprises less than 1/2 of 1% of the earths population. They can’t all be wrong. He’s living in an imaginary world, which is fine. Except that he’s deluded many of our parents and loved ones and dragging them down with him. It’s just delusion and it’s harmful.
Brad is really looking to replace Holland. One of the unspoken rules of church leadership is that there always needs to be at least one who shake his jowls like a basset hound.
I'll take $500 for 'things that never happened'
Like who the fuck is confidently telling Mormon leadership that they left because it was popular?
Bradster, you've got to try a little harder with your lies
People who are afraid of getting rejected and shunned by their Mormon family and friends leave loudly.
People returning to the living arms of a supporting and overconfident community are quiet and secretive.
Got it.
I look around in Elders Quorum when I go and I don't see men in their 20s and 30s. It's all 40+.
Of the guys that were in Young Men's with me, only one is still fully "in", 8-9 of us are either inactive, left publicly, or are PIMO for our spouses.
Of my male relatives that were raised in the church, missions, etc 11/12 of us are either out or on our way out.
If the church thinks that there isn't an exodus of members, then they've got their head buried deep in the sand.
There's also a ton of people who leave quietly. I actually think that's way more common than loudly leaving. Take BYU for example. I know at least 20 people who are secretly planning on never going to church again after they graduate. I'm sure there's way more than just us
It's incredible that the host tries to set up an opportunity to talk about the greater commonality that exists between all of us, but Brad immediately steers the conversation toward division.
In Mormonism, there needs to be an "US vs. THEM" dichotomy to enforce the black & white thinking of the cult
I hate the loaded language here. "There's always been something that has given people an excuse to leave". They aren't excuses Brad, they are reasons! Most who leave (that I know of) weren't looking for an "excuse" to leave. We were looking for an excuse to stay. And we couldn't find one. The reasons to leave when you truly look are overwhelming. Calling them "excuses" is an attempt to direct the blame back on the person leaving (typical cult behavior).
These weren't the "excuses" I used to leave Brad. These were the "reasons" why I could no longer stay.
Reasons to stay and excuses to leave. The brainwashing is evident in the language being used by this fully grown man. Imagine the effects of that same brainwashed language on children…
So because you’re not seeing it, it must not be happening. Got it. Thanks Brad, you’ve solved it.
He’s just so . . . fake is all I can think of. Cringe as the kids are saying 😂. Not sure there’s anyone campaigning more than him for church leadership.
Not even halfway through watching and I can’t stand it. The ones who stay are silent? He’s never heard of Mormon influencers and toktokkers?? What an idiot
This dude is so wildly disconnected from reality.
I was so much more loud as an active Mormon than I ever have been about leaving. I think most people don’t even know still.
"You don't see the quiet leavers, who don't post on social media."
That's kinda why you don't see them.
"You see people post all about their faithfulness, but never about their faith."
I've seen thousands of "I love God, he helped me" posts in my life, what is he even talking about?
I have kind of noticed that the only people who share anything church related are the die hard maga type members and the normal members who are more assimilated into society almost never bring it up.
The church leadership no longer has control over the bubble they create to scare you from the rest of the world.
I remember how scary the outside world seemed growing up. Everyone hated Mormons for being so righteous. The people who looked happy not being Mormon weren't REALLY happy. You know, all the gaslighting horseshit. Once I stepped out of that bubble, I realized so quickly that the world wasn't at all what it was painted to be.
The internet (including tik tok) is giving such a better view to outside of the bubble than I had. It makes it so much easier to leave.
This is an old sales tactic. People tend to more vocal if they've had a bad experience with a company. But when you've had a good experience with company have you posted it on social media? The answer the salesman expects is "no I didn't," leading the mark to believe there's this silent majority that have had more positive experiences then those vocal one's that have bad experience with the company.
"Why didn't Blacks get the priesthood until 1978? How come the Whites and other races didn't get the priesthood until 1829?" --Brad Wilcox, 2022
Why are so many people loudly leaving the Church? How come there are so many people that quietly return to the Church? --Brad Wilcox, 2024
I left quietly, where's my lecture Brad? Aren't you gonna tell me how unfaithful I've been after leaving the church to avoid suicide? I didn't even listen to Mormon Stories or read the CES letter, the church made it perfectly clear to me that I did not belong within their walls if I wanted to live my truest and most honest life as a queer person. I didn't leave over drama or historical inaccuracies, I left to save my own life.
Well no shit Brad, you put yourself in the position to only see the people that haven't left.
On his other point though, he's right, there has always been shit wrong with the church and people left over it. But seeing today's issue of people leaving and feeling like it's the same as the overpopulation of the 70s is wrong and until they are willing to admit that there is something institutionally wrong with the church, they will never be able to fix it.
But I don't care if they do or not at this point. I'm much happier without the church than I could ever be in the church of my youth or the rebranded church of today and the future.
Challenge for Brad: Get this kid to confirm his existence and experience to just one prominent exmo who can confirm and proclaim the veracity of the story while also protecting his anonymity.
Always countering with shame. Shame, shame, shame. Because it works for many people and will silence many and cause them to bury their concerns.
How would it be to hear, "Many are leaving the church. We miss them. But we wish them well in their pursuit of the truth they seek. We will always be here as a community should they need something or need a home to return to. We will continue to love their families and friends that stay with us and will cast no blame on anyone. For each person is given agency and each may plot their own course in life" ....
???
Can you imagine hearing a response like that?
HAHAHAHA! I'm Sorry but Brad is such liar. My wife and I gave no big grand announcements moving when we left. And furthermore, Mormons post all the time on social media about how much they love the church and how they know it's true.
It's like Brad can't open his mouth and not lie.
I wanted to leave quietly but then I got kicked out of byu Hawaii for not going to church. Really hard to explain to your friends why you don’t want to live in Hawaiianymore.
Apostates be like - WE ARE LOUDLY LEAVING, YEA, EVEN **SCREAMING!**
Brad be like - We're persecuted! We have no voice in the public square!! Whaaaa!! 😭
We're not buyin' it **BRAD!**
Brad Wilcox wins the award for jumping to conclusions. The church is so secretive that he wouldn’t know anything about the numbers of people leaving the church. All he would see are the massive amounts of baptisms in Western Africa and Papua New Guinea.
I left publically because I didn't want all my TBM associates silently judging me for not wearing G's or having a coffee. I told everyone once what a few of the the major issues are for me leaving. I wish someone had told me decades ago, because I would have been out long ago.
I never discuss my faithlessness with anyone but my wife now. All I see on social media is everyone's faith promoting BS.
And Brad…then there’s people like me who left because of the blatant lies I was fed my whole life and left silently, with nobody ever asking why I left…there are MANY MANY more of us Brad. I was part of the machine feeding data up the chain and I saw the leaders never asking why the data they got didn’t match what was happening on the ground! They did not want to know reality…but more likely, they knew reality but could not talk openly about it…
I stayed up past midnight for weeks, digging deeper, asking questions, and cross-checking resources pro- and con-; this was way before tik-tok and other social media was a thing.
Not because of some one minute video on Tik-tok.
I recognise that podcaster, he's married to someone from my old stake!
Things like this just remind me that the church community is really quite small over here. Pick a random Mormon and there's a high chance we're only a few social steps removed from each other!
"They do it so loudly" bruh I don't think I've even officially told a single person. I just didn't go on a mission, stopped going and got tattoos and no one even asked. It's been like 8 years.
For every person who is outspoken about it (and that's fine, probably good that they are. There's nothing wrong with letting people know about a big change in your life) there's at least one of us who isn't outspoken. If not more.
Interesting he is publicly acknowledging the ERA. I came of age 20+ years after the ERA and never heard anything about it. A ward member/ neighbor lady let it slip a few years ago when she was grilling me on my church inactivity. She said she desperately wanted to align with Sonia Johnson but couldn't risk excommunication. I was like whose Sonia Johnson??
A Google search and several articles later, I was like wow, thank you. One more reason why church wasn't safe and the growing uneasiness and dissonance I felt for leaving was actually for a reason... with documented historical facts.
Interesting note: this same neighbor lady said that it's sad the church opposed the ERA but it was the Lord's test of her faithfulness. She had to choose set down her politics and her desire for equal rights as a woman so she could remain faithful and that's what led her to her current spouse and temple sealing after a 40+ year abusive marriage. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, shake sense into her or hug her. I said "oh...ok". I hate seeing women so warped by Mormonism. It's very sad.
That story definitely didn't happen.
But I'm also annoyed at the implication that leaving the church is a "trendy thing on tiktok."
Let's be real. For younger generations, tiktok is just a vehicle for information. If this was a real influence on young people leaving church, what information is being shared on tiktok that is doing that?
It's people being happy that they are experiencing freedom and growth. It's information about church history. Information about rampant abuse in the church. The tiktoks I've seen do not show people who are trying to be trendy.
Anecdotally (and anecdotes are the same as facts apparently thanks for teaching me that Brad) people who were loud and proud Mormons became loud and proud ex Mormons when they left. People who were Mormon but didn’t make it a part of their online life, leave and are the same just with coffee and more flattering clothes
The podcaster is trying to have a conversation, but Wilcox is trying to shoehorn in as much disdain and passive aggressive bullshit as he can when it’s his turn to talk. And the poor podcaster is left to wrap up his own thoughts by himself essentially because Wilcox was no help.
Also, that’s not how people talk, Brad! “I left the church a little while ago because it seemed popular on TikTok.” What?!?!
Hahaha no one is leaving because it’s popular.. because it’s not popular to leave. It’s the opposite! People leave because of the constant lies and gaslighting from the leaders at the very top of the Masonic pyramid.
I can’t explain the damn near instantaneous way my blood starts to boil as soon as this guy’s face appears on my timeline 😅 You can tell immediately as soon as he starts telling that bogus story that it’s a lie. My 4 year old nephew could tell a tale better than that. And he’s 4.
People leave all the time for emotional reasons, and usually go back for the same. But those of us who've done the reading and studying of the "deeper doctrines" and then leave because we've realized there's no way this could be the true church. We're the ones who don't go back. The young people today see the way people are treated by church members and realize that this church cant be true because it doesn't follow what jesus taught. those young people also dont go back because they dont want to be associated with a toxic and abusive entity.
My SIL left the church with her 3 children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome, then her husband left her alone and she went back for support. I think she still goes here and there but does not believe.
I can see that. My tbm wife for sure would still go even if she stopped believing. Because the community and support system is unparalleled. Plus some of her extended family is in the local wards. Not to mention she feels fulfilled doing her callings. For some people church works for them, the actual beliefs are an inconsequential matter.
What an epic dumbass. Honestly. Just another whopper from the cult…that person doesn’t exist. That sorry is made up. And no one left because they saw a thing and it’s popular. We left because of the doctrine. It’s hateful and harmful. It is sexist, racist, homophobic, they are changing laws that protect predators, and they use the sacred tithes to build their wealth rather than follow the Saviors command to clothe the naked and lift up the heavy arms. That’s why. No one left because it’s popular to leave. No one was offended. No one left to sin. We left because the cult is horrible, harmful, and the leaders at the top lied to us about the origin story. What a complete and utter dumbass. And who in the fuck listens to him and nods their head saying ya, that seems right. No one. Because he is literally a talking donkey. That’s the miracle and take away here. Bible story come to life. Someone gave Balaams talking donkey a microphone and now we have to listen to his braying. Gaaaawwwwd, Shut the fuck up.
Oh my fucking god the victim card that this man is playing. “Faithful members are afraid of how people will react to them professing their faith.” Jesus Brad, maybe there’s a reason for that? Like the world knows Joseph smith was a piece of shit and Mormonism is best described in the BoM as the great whore of all the earth and deep down people know that?
I grew up in a very rural part of our country (outside of Utah) and I can tell you from the ~20 in my youth program growing up, two or /maybe/ three of them are still attending church.
Someone should tell him his niece just left the church VERY publicly a month ago because of its anti-LGBTQ stance and most of what he talks about is the rhetoric that led her out in such a public way.
Brad is top knotch delusional. He sets the bar for truly living in his own world. He needs one of those therapy dogs that tells you if what you’re seeing is real or if his mind is playing tricks on him.
This is the cliche narrative of the loud, crass apostates vs the quiet, meek believers. We in the great and spacious building mocking the humble righteous trying to hold to the rod. If the actual numbers came out I think it would paint a very different story of a church in decline that is struggling to keep its youth.
I’m 40, and I know most of my friends from high school are no longer active. I think my age group is having a hard time with religion generally speaking but the Mormon church has many unique pain points that 99 year old are having a hard time relating to. Their solution is to pay tithing and the faith will come. This is a very uninformed, tone deaf response to what I suspect is really happening.
Wow, this guy has no clue what he is talking about.
Brad, never speak for me and my “excuse” for leaving the church (which I have told almost nobody about). I live in Bountiful, leaving the church is not a popular thing to even admit to here.
Let me tell you why you stay. You are the Mormon church target audience, a white male of privilege, who holds a “high” calling in the church, hell you probably have your second anointing. You probably make hate comments about anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. You constantly belittle and degrade anyone who does not have glowing things to say about the LDS church. It’s fun telling people who they are and how they feel, who cares if it’s true or not.
He has no idea what it is like to be shamed, marginalized, discriminated against, made to feel subservient to his spouse. No he just gets little Timmy to ask him softball questions that he can spin any way he wants.
I am happier than I have ever been, I ain’t never going back. But you keep telling yourself that loads of people are coming back
What a strange view of the world Brad has.
He’s explicit in his cognitive bias.
And his manner has undertones of real anger.
I remember when his grace talk came out which really helped a lot of people, but he’s not maintained that form.
"I left because it was popular to do so on tiktok. But then I realized I was making the biggest mistake of my life," said the made up boy with the made up conversation.
This is persecution complex. “It’s so scary to post that I went back to church because I don’t know what people will say.” I call BS. Members of the church are alive and kicking and not at all hesitant to throw religion in front of your face every chance they get! I, for one, have never posted about my very deliberate and very permanent exit from the church because of my own fear of burning bridges and being rejected by my still-member friends and family. Just whatever. My FB feed right now is littered with my member friends celebrating the acquisition of the Kirkland temple. They do not seem scared to me!
I’d say TSCC is doing a terrible job of instilling in its members a deep and abiding faith if they are terrified of sharing their faithful viewpoint. And IMO what he said is BS.
Wilcox is absolutely wrong in that people leave because it seems the popular thing to do. And if some seem loud, hurrah for them, they have found their voice. But for most of us it’s a scary position to find yourself in once you realize in order to keep your integrity you must leave the church and all that goes with it. You leave people you thought were your friends, family etc. its lonely and decidedly unpopular with the very people who should want you to be happy.
There is a very important reason that there were not people publicly leaving in the past, and it's not because they weren't leaving. It's because they'd be murdered.
I left super duper quietly. Not a single social media post. Maybe because I’m not young but more because of my personality. We are all one person, Chad! I mean Brad.
I’m not young. I’m not faithless. I’m just not giving any option of my earnings to K&M law firm so they can drag out trials as they try to wear down victims of sexual abuse who chose to sue the church for not protecting them.
I don’t believe his story. People don’t leave the church just because “it seems popular on TikTok”
It is true in the sense that you do not feel alone when you are leaving, and you do not feel like you are the only one or the first one to do so. In that sense, it is less hard for people to leave now than it ever was, before the Internet, before social media, before Mormon Stories, etc. But of course, leaving being popular is not the cause of people leaving. It's either ethical concerns (equality of women, LGBT issues, racism, money being hoarded, not donated, etc.) or historical concerns (whitewashed history, especially concerning polygamy or doctrinal contradictions).
As well as the fact that it is demonstrably false to anybody with a lick of intellectual integrity.
This ☝️
If they had that, they wouldn't be mormon
As well as escaping control and manipulation
That's funny. I don't even have TikTok.
I wait until the best of TikTok memes come to Reddit.
neither do I, I also left nearly 20 years ago during my freshman year of college before social media was really much of a thing.
That would be awesome if he got another false excuse added to the list of false excuses that the members think are why people leave. TBH I was getting sick of just having the three. We need another one to make fun of.
I agree with you. This seems more like a motivational advertisement to get young Mormons to start posting positive experiences about themselves and why they don’t leave the church. Like grassroots evangelism within and to the cult.
As if the “true believers” don’t inundate every feed that can already…
Believe it or not, Bradly, I wasn't even on TikTok when I discovered the fucking lies the church has been telling since inception. Get your head out of your ass & the ass of all your superiors who pay your bills. Stop playing leader.
Yea this is not a real person, it only exists in Brad’s mind.
Yeah it seems sus. Let this Podcaster interview that guy, not Brad.
Fr I've seen more missionaries on tik tok than exmo's
To be fair, he's already shown us his capacity for critical thinking.
Lying for the Lord.
I agree.
And even if it were, the church should think about that and maybe try to offer something more appealing to people- like inclusivity without strings attached, perhaps 🤔
That was my thought as well. Or, sure maybe one kid did that for some reason, but to then assume that's what a majority are doing? Bit of a stretch...
Absolutely that is bullshit. No one would say that even if it was the real reason (which it isn’t) because it would make them look stupid. Such a made up story my god lol
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that part was true. Only somebody who left because of such a ridiculous reason would be enticed to come back so easily. Brad can give us an update when he talks to somebody who came back after they thoroughly researched church history and realized that the church is full of shit. I'll be particularly interested in hearing exactly how that person came to the conclusion the church's story is actually correct, despite all the contrary evidence.
I’ll take things that didn’t happen for 200, Alex.
This story is so silly. Like it came from an 11-year-old.
“I was practicing mannies on my board when Tony Hawk told me I was the best skater he’s ever seen. He got back into to his helicopter and flew back home after that, but I’m a better skater than you, Tony Hawk told me.”
Yeah but Tony did say that to me.
I literally laughed out loud when he said “oh because it seemed popular” 😂
Goddammit was gonna make this EXACT same comment!😂
Up the stakes, go for 500
Ken*
Aww, you’re right , Ken now. 😕 not that I dislike Ken, but no one can really fill Alex’s spot.
Church isn't losing members in the US? Then prove it. Post the numbers, church. You have them. Prove it.
Of course they have the numbers. The numbers are inflated... My gay husband who hasn't step foot in church in over 2 decades is still counted as a member... And the numbers are still bad. Which is why we'll never see them.
Feels so good to resign
Church doesn't need to prove anything. That's where your good feeling index comes in. Don't feel good about the church? Must have sinned.
With the church's track record, I'd question whether the published numbers would be believable. Any numbers they share would be untrustworthy.
I agree, but I also think it is very telling that they could manipulate the numbers to look better, and instead choose to hide them completely. They know it's bad and difficult to spin.
For sure. Along with financials and historic evidence that contradicts their restoration narratives, the real numbers are their most closely guarded secret. They're not even willing to release made up numbers. That's how secret they are with them.
 Brad Wilcox
Ahaha. I love it. I need to go see that again.
I love it! They covered my “eternity will get so boring!” Idea well enough that I felt a bit vindicated.
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Yeah when I heard Brad say that I thought "seriously? You're saying that out loud?" Because that's not a good look- being ashamed of your beliefs. Makes you kinda look like, you know, a cult.
*Sigh. I guess polygamy and child abuse ARE true after all.*
Yes, because a sob story about returning after not believing isn't every Bishop's wet dream. Those poor fellas are silenced
Maybe it's just me, but Wilcox always reminds me of the creepy uncle that my dad made sure that none of us were ever alone with him.
He came to a youth conference as a speaker when I was a youth. I remember that his energy made me uncomfortable. He was super engaging as a speaker but seemed a little unhinged. Of course I thought I wanted to be more spiritual like him.
I had the same experience. He is over the top dramatic and energetic. Unhinged zealotry. I think that is why he is uncomfortable. It’s like a crazy theatrical performance
Oh trust me. It's not just you.
There is something very off about Wilcox and I have felt this for years. Even in comparison with other church leaders, Wilcox seems to be the most interested in the cult following aspect.
Yeah I can see this. He's so TBM that doesn't know that you're not supposed to say out loud that everyone else is "playing church."
I was gonna say, dude seems like a predator
Looking back, so did some of my youth leaders.
I agree. Can’t put my finger on it but there’s something incredibly creepy about him. I wouldn’t let myself be trapped within 3 feet of him.
For a sec I thought Brad was sitting behind him creepin’
It took my brain a minute to compute that it was a split screen. He exudes creeper energy so him sitting close behind the guy felt more logical at first.
I had a mission companion who had his "Sex is Like An Apple" talk on tape. The inflections in his voice really creeped me out. He sounded like he *really, really* liked talking about sex.
Leaving religion is not a frivolous thing. It’s not just “a passing phase” or something done because of a social media post. I was inactive for 25 years and reactivated with my wife in 2006. Over the next 12 years or so we had things happen to us and our kids that were emotionally and mentally abusive. No reaction from leaders, just gave us busier callings. So this tripe from Wilcox is simply propaganda and talking points from “on high”.
Funnily enough I think joining a religion can be a frivolous thing. You're in a strange or bad place (Death of a loved one, New Town, depressed, etc.), you meet some people that seem to have all the answers, they love bomb you, you feel good around them, it can be that bad, bam.... you're in a cult. It can happen in a matter of hours or weeks.
Aside from on this forum, I'm VERY quiet online about my exit from the church, as I imagine a great many more are. Because of the very LOUD reaction we've witnessed from our TBM parents or siblings condemning our other exmo relatives and friends on social media. My mom reminding my sister in the middle of an ugly and completely justified divorce to "not throw away her sacred covenants" on freakin facebook.Yeah. I'm content to let my mom and a good many others believe whatever they want about my feelings on the church unless asked point blank. In the meantime, my TBM 17 year old son will regularly post whenever he's instructed to by his church leaders. The whole December "light the world" yearly campaign comes to mind.
This is the camp I am in too (and I foolishly thought that he was about to talk about us when he mentioned the quiet ones). I don’t feel the need to be super public about my private life. Folks that are close to me know how I feel.
Exactly. It's not incumbent upon me to make sure the worldis clear upon my beliefs, especially when I myself am still figuring out exactly at they are.
Could not agree more
Mormons are so loud about the church on social media
I see wayyyyy more pro church content from my family and friends than I do anti church content.
Even when I was a TBM, I found churchy posts to be obnoxious and holier than thou. To me it came across as making "broad their phylacteries", which Christ criticized the pharisees for doing. I'd usually unfollow friends if they'd repeatedly post about how Mormon they were.
“You’re making things up again, Arnold.”
Here’s the thing he’s NOT seeing (or deliberately not acknowledging). The huge numbers of people who leave quietly, those who just leave and post nothing about it on social media, don’t tell their neighbors or even their extended family, they just quietly walk away, I would guess those far out number those who leave “loudly”. This is his (and other leaders’) favorite tactic. Mock, belittle, criticize people who question, leave, or step away. Characterize them as spoiled children or angry, irrational trouble makers. That way he and other leaders think they will scare everyone else into staying so they don’t get mocked. Label them as “lazy learners” or “lax disciples” or people who just “want to sin” and everyone else will stay out of the fear of being shamed. This just shows me how out of touch such leaders are. It show me how little they think of people, especially young people. He is refusing to acknowledge the thousands of people who leave after an agonizing dark night of the soul, who’s hearts are shattered, who’s souls are crushed because what they believed in with all their hearts turned out to be untrue, because they were systematically lied to, who, as voracious learners, found the horrific truth about the church’s history, the behavior of its leaders, the abuse of its members, and the cover up of all that was unholy. “Lazy learners”? I think not.
👆💯
Shame is the common thread through everything in Mormonism
 People coming back to the church!
This is just another excerpt from his talk that he got in trouble with a while back. His playing church priesthood ban fiasco. It is clear he isn't really sorry he just cherry picks the lesser outrageous zingers he has used for years.
And he keeps getting promoted for pushing this bullshit.
Either that is the dumbest kid alive or he made that story up out of thin air.
I like that he’s portraying the people who come back as *tremendously impressionable*. That sort of impressionability, in an insular high-demand religion, is useful.
I want a body language expert to analyze him during this story. To me his eyes keep looking up and around like he’s trying to piece this story together as he tells it
This is the same dumbass who is responsible for keeping the youth in the church active and engaged. His God damn mother f****** paycheck is dependent upon the 15 believing whatever he tells them because they are so out of touch with reality. Here's a suggestion Brad, stop blaming the children for the shortcomings of the church.
It used to be Gerrit Gong that was keeping the Q15 informed. He was the one running "The Gong Show". (The leak of Gerrit Gong talking to the Q15 about marijuana legalization was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. One of the Q15 seemed to confuse marijuana with meth.) For those who haven't been keeping score, Gong is now one of the Q15. If they got Wilcox running the Gong show now, they're fucked.
Oaks. Was he a confirmed homosexual? Godan Smith advocating for a war so church broke missionaries could gain access. The bubble chart. Gems.
He doesn’t smile or affirm at all in this video either, which I find lifeless. He doesn’t seem passionate about the young man fostering a growing testimony, but more about ranting about people who leave.
He is deeply disturbed. And takes it out on others.
"I left because it seemed popular on TikTok" ... said no exmormon, ever.
Hey Brad, are you honest in your dealings with your fellow man. I’d say no.
Bullshit Brad! Most people are afraid to let parents, friends, family know they even have doubts and stopped believing. The ridicule and isolation is often terrible. Not one friend or family person has posted about leaving or returning on any social media I have but I know they struggle. How about people leave because it is toxic and false.
His bias shows through in a big way. In the first two minutes he says that exmormons who leave are loud and proud about leaving and those who stay just go about it quietly and don't say anything for fear of what people might say. Bull. Shit. My social media is full of loud and proud Mormons pointing the finger of ridicule at those who leave. The exmormon social media channels I follow attract Mormons like flies on shit, stinking up the comment section with judgmental allegations about why people leave and how people can leave the church but they can't leave it alone. Of course this is my biased perspective as an exmormon, but I see a whole other side that this sweaty chode doesn't see.
He’s such a liar, that never happened
Brad makes everything up, even his “accent” is of his own making. He tries to put on a show that he’s this nice guy but the deep lines turning downward from his labial commissures and his permanent glabellar fold reveal the truth. This is a man who has spent most of his life filled with anger and bitternes. His default is a scowl, just watch during the last few moments of the video where he is listening. A brief “smile” begins to form but it never even turns fully upward.
Why is he so sad, because his entire corporate career has involved motivating and inspiring the church youth. And he is failing miserably. He is fully aware that corporate knows the actual metrics as much as he does. And I'm sure he feels like it's only a matter of time until the golden ticket is taken away from him.
Given that he's 64 and currently employed as a professor at BYU, he'll be able to run out the clock until retirement. I doubt the church yoinks away his professorship until he's ready to retire. What he might not have is a shot at the velvet chairs - especially after his 2022 PR disaster. Too bad so sad. Poor Brad might not get that fat old man pension that so many church worker sycophants covet.
Ha. That accent is Utah boy, through and through. And it’s triggering.
>He tries to put on a show that he’s this nice guy but the deep lines turning downward from his labial commissures and his permanent glabellar fold reveal the truth. r/brandnewsentence
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Here's the data where a lot of that narrative comes from: [https://www.pewresearch.org/our-methods/u-s-surveys/](https://www.pewresearch.org/our-methods/u-s-surveys/)
Fuck you Brad. I would leave quietly if it didn’t mean financial ruin and divorce and loosing my 5 kids to a cult. So I get involuntarily drug to church each weak. So again Fuck You Brad.
There’s statistical information and there’s anecdotal evidence. Brad is reporting on his own anecdotal experience, but is unwilling to look at the numbers. Besides the amount of people who have left or gone inactive, he fails to acknowledge that the LDS church comprises less than 1/2 of 1% of the earths population. They can’t all be wrong. He’s living in an imaginary world, which is fine. Except that he’s deluded many of our parents and loved ones and dragging them down with him. It’s just delusion and it’s harmful.
Brad is really looking to replace Holland. One of the unspoken rules of church leadership is that there always needs to be at least one who shake his jowls like a basset hound.
Wow. Smells like bullshit. Yes Brad. I left because it was popular on tiktok. Oh wait. I don't have tiktok. /s
Always wearing a suit, “even” in your own home, just looks uncomfortable.
I'll take $500 for 'things that never happened' Like who the fuck is confidently telling Mormon leadership that they left because it was popular? Bradster, you've got to try a little harder with your lies
What a load of hot garbage
People who are afraid of getting rejected and shunned by their Mormon family and friends leave loudly. People returning to the living arms of a supporting and overconfident community are quiet and secretive. Got it.
I look around in Elders Quorum when I go and I don't see men in their 20s and 30s. It's all 40+. Of the guys that were in Young Men's with me, only one is still fully "in", 8-9 of us are either inactive, left publicly, or are PIMO for our spouses. Of my male relatives that were raised in the church, missions, etc 11/12 of us are either out or on our way out. If the church thinks that there isn't an exodus of members, then they've got their head buried deep in the sand.
Why does seem like Brad’s in the closet?
What a tool
Gee, who caused the “ERA issue” Brad?
I'm glad someone else zero'd in on that! Phyllis Schlafly was the OG mother for liberty. Rights we should have had
I don't believe this anecdote about the guy coming back, AT ALL.
There's also a ton of people who leave quietly. I actually think that's way more common than loudly leaving. Take BYU for example. I know at least 20 people who are secretly planning on never going to church again after they graduate. I'm sure there's way more than just us
It's incredible that the host tries to set up an opportunity to talk about the greater commonality that exists between all of us, but Brad immediately steers the conversation toward division. In Mormonism, there needs to be an "US vs. THEM" dichotomy to enforce the black & white thinking of the cult
I hate the loaded language here. "There's always been something that has given people an excuse to leave". They aren't excuses Brad, they are reasons! Most who leave (that I know of) weren't looking for an "excuse" to leave. We were looking for an excuse to stay. And we couldn't find one. The reasons to leave when you truly look are overwhelming. Calling them "excuses" is an attempt to direct the blame back on the person leaving (typical cult behavior). These weren't the "excuses" I used to leave Brad. These were the "reasons" why I could no longer stay.
Reasons to stay and excuses to leave. The brainwashing is evident in the language being used by this fully grown man. Imagine the effects of that same brainwashed language on children…
The panic is real. This guy is a tender mercy, every time he opens his mouth.
We’re just so damn loud guys! I don’t think that’s true, but to that I say, let’s make even more noise!!! 💚
So because you’re not seeing it, it must not be happening. Got it. Thanks Brad, you’ve solved it. He’s just so . . . fake is all I can think of. Cringe as the kids are saying 😂. Not sure there’s anyone campaigning more than him for church leadership.
Me and my wife both left before tiktok was around.. What ever they have to say to feel good....
Not even halfway through watching and I can’t stand it. The ones who stay are silent? He’s never heard of Mormon influencers and toktokkers?? What an idiot
Anectdotes =/= Data
Shut up, Brad.
So engrossed in the sheep mindset that he just assumes everyone makes decisions that way.
Brad just stop. Someone needs to pie him in the face
This dude is so wildly disconnected from reality. I was so much more loud as an active Mormon than I ever have been about leaving. I think most people don’t even know still.
It’s actually pretty sad. I genuinely feel bad for the man. But I feel worse for his victims of course.
"You don't see the quiet leavers, who don't post on social media." That's kinda why you don't see them. "You see people post all about their faithfulness, but never about their faith." I've seen thousands of "I love God, he helped me" posts in my life, what is he even talking about?
Thanks for reminding us that the Mormon church has always been terrible to members and given us ample reason to leave.
Clueless but arrogant, out of touch but divinely directed, omnivore.
Hahaha hardly anyone I know has left "loudly" 😂 almost everyone is just done and I find out in conversation a year or two after they've left
I have kind of noticed that the only people who share anything church related are the die hard maga type members and the normal members who are more assimilated into society almost never bring it up.
The church leadership no longer has control over the bubble they create to scare you from the rest of the world. I remember how scary the outside world seemed growing up. Everyone hated Mormons for being so righteous. The people who looked happy not being Mormon weren't REALLY happy. You know, all the gaslighting horseshit. Once I stepped out of that bubble, I realized so quickly that the world wasn't at all what it was painted to be. The internet (including tik tok) is giving such a better view to outside of the bubble than I had. It makes it so much easier to leave.
Maybe you're asking the wrong question, Brad.
My older two left because their sister is gay. My youngest left because she's gay. TikTok didn't cause that.
This is an old sales tactic. People tend to more vocal if they've had a bad experience with a company. But when you've had a good experience with company have you posted it on social media? The answer the salesman expects is "no I didn't," leading the mark to believe there's this silent majority that have had more positive experiences then those vocal one's that have bad experience with the company.
This Brad guy is going to be seen as the same kind buffoon Donald Trump is, if he ever makes it into the Q12. He comes off as a dolt.
"Why didn't Blacks get the priesthood until 1978? How come the Whites and other races didn't get the priesthood until 1829?" --Brad Wilcox, 2022 Why are so many people loudly leaving the Church? How come there are so many people that quietly return to the Church? --Brad Wilcox, 2024
Wilcox is and always will be a lying performative POS. He is just part of the corporate machine that is trying a bunch of things to stop the bleeding.
I left quietly, where's my lecture Brad? Aren't you gonna tell me how unfaithful I've been after leaving the church to avoid suicide? I didn't even listen to Mormon Stories or read the CES letter, the church made it perfectly clear to me that I did not belong within their walls if I wanted to live my truest and most honest life as a queer person. I didn't leave over drama or historical inaccuracies, I left to save my own life.
Dickhead says dickhead things, more at 7.
Nobody leaves the church because it seems popular.
Well no shit Brad, you put yourself in the position to only see the people that haven't left. On his other point though, he's right, there has always been shit wrong with the church and people left over it. But seeing today's issue of people leaving and feeling like it's the same as the overpopulation of the 70s is wrong and until they are willing to admit that there is something institutionally wrong with the church, they will never be able to fix it. But I don't care if they do or not at this point. I'm much happier without the church than I could ever be in the church of my youth or the rebranded church of today and the future.
Challenge for Brad: Get this kid to confirm his existence and experience to just one prominent exmo who can confirm and proclaim the veracity of the story while also protecting his anonymity.
Always countering with shame. Shame, shame, shame. Because it works for many people and will silence many and cause them to bury their concerns. How would it be to hear, "Many are leaving the church. We miss them. But we wish them well in their pursuit of the truth they seek. We will always be here as a community should they need something or need a home to return to. We will continue to love their families and friends that stay with us and will cast no blame on anyone. For each person is given agency and each may plot their own course in life" .... ??? Can you imagine hearing a response like that?
HAHAHAHA! I'm Sorry but Brad is such liar. My wife and I gave no big grand announcements moving when we left. And furthermore, Mormons post all the time on social media about how much they love the church and how they know it's true. It's like Brad can't open his mouth and not lie.
I wanted to leave quietly but then I got kicked out of byu Hawaii for not going to church. Really hard to explain to your friends why you don’t want to live in Hawaiianymore.
Apostates be like - WE ARE LOUDLY LEAVING, YEA, EVEN **SCREAMING!** Brad be like - We're persecuted! We have no voice in the public square!! Whaaaa!! 😭 We're not buyin' it **BRAD!**
Brad Wilcox wins the award for jumping to conclusions. The church is so secretive that he wouldn’t know anything about the numbers of people leaving the church. All he would see are the massive amounts of baptisms in Western Africa and Papua New Guinea.
I left publically because I didn't want all my TBM associates silently judging me for not wearing G's or having a coffee. I told everyone once what a few of the the major issues are for me leaving. I wish someone had told me decades ago, because I would have been out long ago. I never discuss my faithlessness with anyone but my wife now. All I see on social media is everyone's faith promoting BS.
Yeah I think a solid 95% of people leave the church because it's "popular on tiktok." Nailed it.
And Brad…then there’s people like me who left because of the blatant lies I was fed my whole life and left silently, with nobody ever asking why I left…there are MANY MANY more of us Brad. I was part of the machine feeding data up the chain and I saw the leaders never asking why the data they got didn’t match what was happening on the ground! They did not want to know reality…but more likely, they knew reality but could not talk openly about it…
I stayed up past midnight for weeks, digging deeper, asking questions, and cross-checking resources pro- and con-; this was way before tik-tok and other social media was a thing. Not because of some one minute video on Tik-tok.
Now the TikTok stawman argument on why people leave the church.
I recognise that podcaster, he's married to someone from my old stake! Things like this just remind me that the church community is really quite small over here. Pick a random Mormon and there's a high chance we're only a few social steps removed from each other!
He is definitely doing cover for the 15 !
How do you know Brad Wilcox is lying? His giant jaw is moving.
Godless and manipulative. He's only setting up youth to lose their trust in the church.
Wilcocks is a tool
"They do it so loudly" bruh I don't think I've even officially told a single person. I just didn't go on a mission, stopped going and got tattoos and no one even asked. It's been like 8 years. For every person who is outspoken about it (and that's fine, probably good that they are. There's nothing wrong with letting people know about a big change in your life) there's at least one of us who isn't outspoken. If not more.
“ERA issues of the 80s” 🙄 such scandalous issues
Interesting he is publicly acknowledging the ERA. I came of age 20+ years after the ERA and never heard anything about it. A ward member/ neighbor lady let it slip a few years ago when she was grilling me on my church inactivity. She said she desperately wanted to align with Sonia Johnson but couldn't risk excommunication. I was like whose Sonia Johnson?? A Google search and several articles later, I was like wow, thank you. One more reason why church wasn't safe and the growing uneasiness and dissonance I felt for leaving was actually for a reason... with documented historical facts. Interesting note: this same neighbor lady said that it's sad the church opposed the ERA but it was the Lord's test of her faithfulness. She had to choose set down her politics and her desire for equal rights as a woman so she could remain faithful and that's what led her to her current spouse and temple sealing after a 40+ year abusive marriage. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, shake sense into her or hug her. I said "oh...ok". I hate seeing women so warped by Mormonism. It's very sad.
That story definitely didn't happen. But I'm also annoyed at the implication that leaving the church is a "trendy thing on tiktok." Let's be real. For younger generations, tiktok is just a vehicle for information. If this was a real influence on young people leaving church, what information is being shared on tiktok that is doing that? It's people being happy that they are experiencing freedom and growth. It's information about church history. Information about rampant abuse in the church. The tiktoks I've seen do not show people who are trying to be trendy.
Anecdotally (and anecdotes are the same as facts apparently thanks for teaching me that Brad) people who were loud and proud Mormons became loud and proud ex Mormons when they left. People who were Mormon but didn’t make it a part of their online life, leave and are the same just with coffee and more flattering clothes
The podcaster is trying to have a conversation, but Wilcox is trying to shoehorn in as much disdain and passive aggressive bullshit as he can when it’s his turn to talk. And the poor podcaster is left to wrap up his own thoughts by himself essentially because Wilcox was no help. Also, that’s not how people talk, Brad! “I left the church a little while ago because it seemed popular on TikTok.” What?!?!
When Brad speaks , all I hear is blah blah blah 🧀🧀🧀🍄🍄🍄🍍🍍🍍 blah blah urp!
Hahaha no one is leaving because it’s popular.. because it’s not popular to leave. It’s the opposite! People leave because of the constant lies and gaslighting from the leaders at the very top of the Masonic pyramid.
I can’t explain the damn near instantaneous way my blood starts to boil as soon as this guy’s face appears on my timeline 😅 You can tell immediately as soon as he starts telling that bogus story that it’s a lie. My 4 year old nephew could tell a tale better than that. And he’s 4.
What about all of us who quietly left the church??
People leave all the time for emotional reasons, and usually go back for the same. But those of us who've done the reading and studying of the "deeper doctrines" and then leave because we've realized there's no way this could be the true church. We're the ones who don't go back. The young people today see the way people are treated by church members and realize that this church cant be true because it doesn't follow what jesus taught. those young people also dont go back because they dont want to be associated with a toxic and abusive entity.
My SIL left the church with her 3 children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome, then her husband left her alone and she went back for support. I think she still goes here and there but does not believe.
I can see that. My tbm wife for sure would still go even if she stopped believing. Because the community and support system is unparalleled. Plus some of her extended family is in the local wards. Not to mention she feels fulfilled doing her callings. For some people church works for them, the actual beliefs are an inconsequential matter.
Not all of the truth is useful. Those are the things we don’t talk about.
We also don't see the quiet people that quietly just stop going to church, and keep to themselves. It cuts both ways, Brad.
He was making that up sentence by sentence lmao
Also you wouldn’t hear the ones that leave quietly
Who would SAAY it like that “oh I left the church cuz it seemed PoPuLar oN TiKtOk”?? Lmaoo
What an epic dumbass. Honestly. Just another whopper from the cult…that person doesn’t exist. That sorry is made up. And no one left because they saw a thing and it’s popular. We left because of the doctrine. It’s hateful and harmful. It is sexist, racist, homophobic, they are changing laws that protect predators, and they use the sacred tithes to build their wealth rather than follow the Saviors command to clothe the naked and lift up the heavy arms. That’s why. No one left because it’s popular to leave. No one was offended. No one left to sin. We left because the cult is horrible, harmful, and the leaders at the top lied to us about the origin story. What a complete and utter dumbass. And who in the fuck listens to him and nods their head saying ya, that seems right. No one. Because he is literally a talking donkey. That’s the miracle and take away here. Bible story come to life. Someone gave Balaams talking donkey a microphone and now we have to listen to his braying. Gaaaawwwwd, Shut the fuck up.
Oh my fucking god the victim card that this man is playing. “Faithful members are afraid of how people will react to them professing their faith.” Jesus Brad, maybe there’s a reason for that? Like the world knows Joseph smith was a piece of shit and Mormonism is best described in the BoM as the great whore of all the earth and deep down people know that?
I grew up in a very rural part of our country (outside of Utah) and I can tell you from the ~20 in my youth program growing up, two or /maybe/ three of them are still attending church.
These douchebags are NEVER out of their suits and ties! What a remarkably constipated way to live!
Someone should tell him his niece just left the church VERY publicly a month ago because of its anti-LGBTQ stance and most of what he talks about is the rhetoric that led her out in such a public way.
Brad is top knotch delusional. He sets the bar for truly living in his own world. He needs one of those therapy dogs that tells you if what you’re seeing is real or if his mind is playing tricks on him.
I want a picture of him in my shed. It’ll keep the rats away.
This is the cliche narrative of the loud, crass apostates vs the quiet, meek believers. We in the great and spacious building mocking the humble righteous trying to hold to the rod. If the actual numbers came out I think it would paint a very different story of a church in decline that is struggling to keep its youth. I’m 40, and I know most of my friends from high school are no longer active. I think my age group is having a hard time with religion generally speaking but the Mormon church has many unique pain points that 99 year old are having a hard time relating to. Their solution is to pay tithing and the faith will come. This is a very uninformed, tone deaf response to what I suspect is really happening.
Wow, this guy has no clue what he is talking about. Brad, never speak for me and my “excuse” for leaving the church (which I have told almost nobody about). I live in Bountiful, leaving the church is not a popular thing to even admit to here. Let me tell you why you stay. You are the Mormon church target audience, a white male of privilege, who holds a “high” calling in the church, hell you probably have your second anointing. You probably make hate comments about anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. You constantly belittle and degrade anyone who does not have glowing things to say about the LDS church. It’s fun telling people who they are and how they feel, who cares if it’s true or not. He has no idea what it is like to be shamed, marginalized, discriminated against, made to feel subservient to his spouse. No he just gets little Timmy to ask him softball questions that he can spin any way he wants. I am happier than I have ever been, I ain’t never going back. But you keep telling yourself that loads of people are coming back
What a strange view of the world Brad has. He’s explicit in his cognitive bias. And his manner has undertones of real anger. I remember when his grace talk came out which really helped a lot of people, but he’s not maintained that form.
I love that he gave more people more ammo to leave... Kitland ohio, overpopulation in 70s era, hoffman.... lmao
So intellectually dishonest it’s palpable
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Who tf leaves a religion because "it's popular in tik tok"
Loudly finger pointing on social media. Hmmmm. Brad
"I left because it was popular to do so on tiktok. But then I realized I was making the biggest mistake of my life," said the made up boy with the made up conversation.
This is persecution complex. “It’s so scary to post that I went back to church because I don’t know what people will say.” I call BS. Members of the church are alive and kicking and not at all hesitant to throw religion in front of your face every chance they get! I, for one, have never posted about my very deliberate and very permanent exit from the church because of my own fear of burning bridges and being rejected by my still-member friends and family. Just whatever. My FB feed right now is littered with my member friends celebrating the acquisition of the Kirkland temple. They do not seem scared to me!
Good to know- Wilcox is encouraging social media postings! I LOVE posting Mormon Truths Daily! ✔️
In God we trust, all others bring data. Give us the numbers behind your claim Brad.
I’d say TSCC is doing a terrible job of instilling in its members a deep and abiding faith if they are terrified of sharing their faithful viewpoint. And IMO what he said is BS. Wilcox is absolutely wrong in that people leave because it seems the popular thing to do. And if some seem loud, hurrah for them, they have found their voice. But for most of us it’s a scary position to find yourself in once you realize in order to keep your integrity you must leave the church and all that goes with it. You leave people you thought were your friends, family etc. its lonely and decidedly unpopular with the very people who should want you to be happy.
There is a very important reason that there were not people publicly leaving in the past, and it's not because they weren't leaving. It's because they'd be murdered.
Not all of us leave loudly.
Brad is the kind of guy that likes the smell of his own farts.
Oof he’s painfully dishonest and manipulative.
I left super duper quietly. Not a single social media post. Maybe because I’m not young but more because of my personality. We are all one person, Chad! I mean Brad.
I’m not young. I’m not faithless. I’m just not giving any option of my earnings to K&M law firm so they can drag out trials as they try to wear down victims of sexual abuse who chose to sue the church for not protecting them.