Standard Examiner Book geared toward ‘Mormons in Transition’ Leslie Reynolds wants to help people like herself who don’t feel they have a place in the LDS church – but can’t find a spiritual niche Reynolds said it is difficult for some to worship outside Mormonism because LDS youth are taught from an early age there is “only one true church.” So when members fall away, she said, they also fall prey to immense guilt for not believing in the supposedly singular path leading to eternal salvation. Reynolds decided to write Mormons in Transition after receiving a letter at the Utah Institute of Biblical Studies, where she works. The letter was from a woman who was leaving the more than 9-million member church and trying to find a church to attend. She wasn’t able to find another ‘true church.' She was trying to take the template of Mormonism and apply it to other churches,” Reynolds said. “She was trying to duplicate what she had in Mormonism in other Christian churches and coming up frustrated.” Reynolds said she knew of the woman’s pain, guilt and feelings of isolation. She has left and come back to Utah’s predominant religion several times in her 55 years. Her name has since been removed from the records of the church at her request. She said people who leave feel betrayed by the church and that they’ve been put in a spiritual lurch. “Most people that leave have found untruths in the church. They find some of the doctrines aren’t true,” she said. “Many people cut off their spiritual growth at that point.” Pastor Bill Heersink of Family of Christ in Ogden said that, in his 21 years in Utah, he has come into contact with many people who are making the transition out of Mormonism. “I guess they found something that had been missing in their past,” he said. “It’s hard to put my finger on one thing, maybe an openness to questions.” Heersink says he tries to help people leaving Mormonism understand the difference between the LDS Church, which includes various scriptures, and the Christian faith, which uses only the Bible as its authority. Reynolds said, Mormons in Transition is intended to help those people grow spiritually after leaving behind years of Book of Mormon stories. LDS church spokesman Don LeFevre said officials of the faith do not comment on books like Mormons in Transition, except to say that “such publications represent the personal opinions and expressions of the respective authors.” Reynolds, who now worships with the non-denominational Calvary Fellowship in American Fork, recently completed a master’s degree in Christian Studies from Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.. She said that in addition to being for those who have left the LDS church, her book also is for “questioning Mormons for identification, inactive Mormons for perspective, friends of Mormons in transition for compassion and newcomers to Mormon Country for understanding.” The book is not written for practicing Mormons, Reynolds said, and should not be considered an anti-Mormon work. “I love the Mormons. I really love them,” the mother of three children and grandmother of four reiterated. But she said some of the people whose experiences she chronicles are “Mormon bashers” who still harbor anger for the church. She said several faiths share similar beliefs. In those churches, if members want to switch denominations, they can do so with a relatively easy transition. In the protestant church, if you find something wrong with the Presbyterians, you can go to the Lutherans,” Reynolds said. But that is not the case for Mormons, she said. “It is so ingrained that this is the only true church, when you find that fault, you don’t feel you can investigate other churches. They look for all churches to be like Mormonism.” One sentence, she said, sums up her teachings: “Mormonism is not for everyone, and it’s not the only church.”
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