I'm late to this thread but haven't ever really spoken about this, so here we go... I grew up in a non-religious family and didn't have the grandest childhood. A friend introduced me to the Mormon church through some missionaries and it seemed so family-focused, which was what I had missed a lot of growing up. So at 16 I was baptized. It was a really amazing experience and I don't regret it.

I started to feel shortly after that it was much more about tithing than anything else. I was shamed for having a family that wasn't close and they wanted me to convert my family to Mormonism. That wasn't going to happen. I thought the church was going to be my 'new family', but it just seemed like they wanted me to get more people to join so that they could have more tithing. It broke my heart. I left the church.

24 years later the church still tries to contact me and get me to come back no matter how often I say no, and let them know that I am now atheist. I am MUCH more comfortable with my beliefs now. I feel like I was duped by the Mormon church. That's a shite feeling.