I'm LDS and I'll share the reason that I think the discussion about our (admittedly, unique) doctrine is valuable here: It helps to flesh out just what is our doctrine...vs what is an extremist view or sharp divergence from our doctrine.
I'll also just mention that, as members of the Church, we actually have a relatively small amount of doctrine (some of which, again, is pretty unique.) Outside of a handful of core doctrines, I think a lot of people don't realize that we have wide (
WIDE) latitude about the practice of our faith and about carrying out our individual missions and passions in life. Agency is a foundational principle to us as is the ability to access guidance from God. As with other faiths, our members may not be adhering to our doctrine, but still continue to profess faith and attend our services. These things -- unusual doctrine, wide ranging adherence to practices,
(never mind that our practices aren't at all stagnant and sometimes can change at an almost alarming rate), agency, revelation --- it must be SO confusing for people to try to understand what in the world we believe.
I also thought it would be good to share some of why I think people become attracted to fringe and extremists groups. First of all, it's probably fairly obvious that we appreciate the idea of "belonging" to something and that we like being part of, and building, a faith community. We don't have professional clergy in our congregations, we do that ourselves. We also put a lot of value on preparedness, preparation -- for both the normal bumps of life and also for our eternal lives. We store food/goods and we set goals. We have the same susceptibility to mental illness that anyone does (
and just as an FYI: we have very good access to mental health care, it is not frowned upon at all.) We also tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and we consider everyone with whom we share this planet our brothers and sisters in the family of God. That combination (and especially that last one) can leave members of the Church vulnerable to being taken advantage of in pretty strange ways. We have to be hyper-aware and guard against things like (just one example) affinity fraud.
(Another sidebar: It is not at all unusual for our members to be warned about these vulnerabilities. From the pulpit, in congregational meetings.) Our agency also allows us to choose paths that go into grossly immoral and illegal behavior, as some of the people being discussed here appear to have done. At some point, people on those paths are excommunicated from the Church. I wish I could be more specific about where that point typically is, but I've never been up close and personal with someone experiencing it so I can't speak to even one example.
I guess I really just do think that a lot of what is being discussed here turns out to be LDS doctrine and practice (or just Christian doctrine and practice)...that has been turned on its head and twisted into something
awful beyond words in what I believe to be a deep descent into mental illness.
In other news, I can't go into details but I know some of the people involved here. So I just want to send all of my love out to Tylee and JJ, Colby, Charles' family, and anyone else who is out there quietly, silently grieving loss or very very afraid right now. If any of you are reading here....I'm heartbroken; you have my love and my prayers that somehow, someday, you will feel some peace in your lives.