I enjoy reading over others' stories of why they left the church. I provide my account in the hopes that others may find support or encouragement from my experience.

I left the church prior to my 19th birthday. At the time, I was attending university and was extraordinarily active in the university ward. I was called to serve as the executive secretary to the bishop and considered it a great honor to spend 6+ hours at church on Sunday and countless hours throughout the week supporting meetings and events.

In my studies, I was pursuing a BS in microbiology at the time. I had always grown up with the belief that evolution did not happen in the Darwinian sense (speciation was the extent of evolution). I was taught the story of the colonization of the Americas, as told by the Book of Mormon. I believed it all, based on faith.

I never looked for answers or questioned the church history as to why the church abandoned polygamy, why the church withheld the priesthood from black people before 1978, or why the mormons were constantly being evicted from each city they settled in before reaching Salt Lake City. I took it all on faith as part of the history.

It didn't take long for logical reason and the scientific method to create chaos for my closely held beliefs. Evolution made sense... genetic drift made sense... human migration and anthropological records made sense... everything made sense --- except for my deepest held beliefs.

Conflicted... I desperately asked my Bishop if there was anyway I could go on my mission 6 months early. I explained that faith was being challenged and I had a desire to serve.

I am so relieved that they would not allow me to serve a mission early! As I mentioned, I left the church right before I was to serve a mission. I finally connected the dots. Occam's razor held true - all other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one. What was more likely, Joseph Smith lied, or genetics and all related supporting scientific fields were wrong about the lack of Bedouin DNA in indigenous South American populations? What was more likely, that Willford Woodruff received a revelation from god to end polygamy, or that Federal pressure to not recognize Utah as a state until the ended polygamy (bringing in a substantial amount of federal dollars) was the real impetus to end polygamy? What was more likely,that God changed his mind on the status of black people in 1978 (the height of the civil rights era) or that the extreme PR nightmare facing the church by having an openly racist policy was the real reason for black people finally being able to receive the priesthood?

After I left the church, I felt no remorse. I knew that I made the right decision. Any possible doubts I may have had (however small) were completely erased when I learned of Joseph Smith's prior criminal record before he formed the church and his "career" as a treasure seeker. What a coincidence, he had seer stones placed in a hat to gain supernatural ability to locate buried/hidden treasure -- sound familiar?

Years later, I relocated to Cleveland, OH. I didn't know it at the time, but Kirkland, OH is a suburb of Cleveland. Recently, my mother, who remains very active in the church, came out for a visit. We decided to tour the Kirkland temple. What I learned AMAZED me and somehow had little impact on my mother. When Joseph founded Kirkland, he had a vision of zion. He sold the local people the idea to transfer all of their money for special mormon money (I have some, if you are interested). Of course, the people followed and believed in Joseph, only to later learn that this new money was worthless! Angry mobs stormed upon Joseph and he had to flee Kirkland in the night. Fascinating! So, all this time, I had the one side of the story that Mormons were oppressed for their religious views and it was mobs of intolerant people pushing them out of town. Now, I heard the other side of the story, Joseph Smith as the grifter that fled with the money of hard working farmers of Kirkland. Again... which is more likely!?!

Since I have left the church, I have investigated many of the worlds religions. The only conclusion I have come to is that we are all atheists. Everyone in the world is an atheist. Throughout the ages, humans have worshiped a countless number of gods based on their time in history and location on the planet. We have worshiped Thor, Ra, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, Apollo, Zeus, ju-ju, etc. Many of these gods are no longer in vogue and we stopped believing in them. If you believe in the Christian god, well then you are an atheist by no longer believing in the prior gods throughout the course of humanity. "Atheists" by today's standards just go one god further than you.Time is greater than all of us... it is just a matter of time before today's gods are swept under the rug for the new gods of the future.