In the mind of this Mormon

I read yesterday an article from Salon titled "But I'm a good Mormon wife" and a respond article on gentlyhewstone.com. The former article is about an ex Mormon wife sharing her story about how she and her husband ended up leaving the church. The latter article being a response on many misleading errors and uncited facts that the woman stated in her article.

The women, Maren, surprised me. Having previously heard the stories she states in her article, I was surprised how that could be the reason she left the church, but then I realized she lived in Utah. The church culture in Utah is very, very different to the church culture pretty much anywhere else in the world, especially in areas where there are small numbers. 

Having grown up in the Midwest I found growing up Mormon very different than many of my friends in Utah. The first big difference, your neighbors aren't Mormon. The ethnicity is much more divers (especially living in a college town) therefore the culture is much more divers. Tolerance of others beliefs is a skill you have to learn. Sharing the gospel is a lot harder, nobody cares what you're selling unless it aligns with what they want and it is possible to get slapped in the face if you get up in their space. The forbidden words or actions that only the "black sheep" of the family do in Utah happens all the time out here and we still friend them. There is no such thing as social suicide unless you're a sixteen year old girl still in high school. You aren't surprised when several single mothers show up at church dragging all their kids with them just like all the married mothers. When you wait in the pharmacy line at Walmart there will be old people, not sixteen year old girls all with bleach blond hair. If you burst out crying in front of everyone at church, you darn well do not need to worry about what everybody thinks of you're running mascara because no one will notice. You can walk into a bar to drink sodas without being judged. For every word that comes out of you, you will be challenged. Caffeine is not taboo. Neither is herbal tea. Nor are coffee shops.