Resources

Mormon-Related Sites

• The Official Internet Site of the LDS Church – Go direct to the source — there is much to be learned here.
• The Post-Mormon Online Community – A community of like minded post- and ex-Mormons. Their resources include an interactive forum and an online magazine.
• Recovery from Mormonism – “A site for those who are questioning their faith in the Mormon Church and for those who need support as they transition their lives to a normal life.” The site keeps an archive of exit stories, articles on various aspects of the Mormon religion including history and current affairs, and an interactive discussion forum.
• Mormon No More – How to resign from the Mormon Church. Includes advice, stories, and example resignation letters.
• Exmormon Foundation – Hosts the annual Exmormon Conference.
• Life After Mormonism – The Social Network Serving the Exmormon Community.
• Reddit Exmormons – A Reddit community for Exmormons.
• Affirmation – LGBT Mormons, Families, Allies, & Friends.
• Re-Thinking Mormonism – A collection of insightful articles and commentary on Mormonism.
• The Mormon Curtain – Exmormon news and blog.
• MormonThink.com: An Objective Look at the LDS Church  – Includes information on controversies.
• LDS-Mormon.com – Many articles on all aspects of the LDS church, including criticisms, exit stories, Church history, and controversial figures.
• 20 Truths About Mormonism – An overview of many key points of the Mormon deceptions.
• Cult Education Institute (formerly Rick Ross Institute) on Mormons – A site collecting information and news releases on cults. This link goes to their page on Mormonism. He also has a page dedicated to fundamentalist polygamy groups.
• Dialogue – A Journal of Mormon Thought.
• Sunstone Magazine – Open-minded intellectual LDS magazine.
• Mormon Stories Podcast – Run by John Dehlin, grapples with difficult issues for members.
• New Order Mormon – Current members who seek a less dogmatic view of Mormonism.
• Ordain Women – LDS feminists seeking equality in leadership roles.

Cult-Related Sites, Religious Trauma Recovery, and Other Organizations

• Cult Education Institute (formerly Rick Ross Institute) – A database of information about cults, destructive cults, controversial groups and movements.
• The International Cultic Studies Association – Originally founded as the American Family Foundation (AFF), this organization provides support and information regarding cults and mind control.
• Child Friendly Faith – Seeks to protect children from abuse in religious contexts.
• Families Against Cult Teachings – Spreading awareness about cults and helping people leave and recover.
• Recovering From Religion – Multiple resources for helping people leave religions of all kinds. Because it’s a tough journey out.
• Religious Trauma Syndrome Therapy – Divorcing Religion offers online support similar to therapy or counseling to help those who have left harmful religion behind recover from religious trauma therapy.
• Freedom of Mind Center – Steven Hassan’s official website (author of Releasing the Bonds and Combatting Cult Mind Control).
• FactNet – News and Information on cults and mind control.
• ReFOCUS – Recovering Former Cultists’ Support Network, formerly FOCUS. “Recovery resources for folks hurt by their involvement with abusive and controlling organizations and relationships.”

• INTERVENTION101
  Help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one’s cult involvement.
  Site: http://www.Intervention101.com
  On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Intervention101cultinfo/about
  On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/cultinfo

• CULTNEWS101
  News, links, resources
  Site: http://www.CultNews101.com
  On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultnews101
  On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Cultnews101help/posts

• CULTS101
  Resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.
  Site: http://www.Cults101.org

• CULTRECOVERY101
  Assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
  http://www.CultRecovery101.com

***An important note about the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) and FOCUS!!! Please avoid these groups. In 1995, CAN declared bankruptcy, and all of their assets and intellectual property was purchased by a Scientologist. This included rights to the names (including FOCUS). The website is now run by Scientologists, and information there should be treated with suspicion. (ReFOCUS is the new incarnation of FOCUS, and is legitimate.)

Articles & Papers

• The Pattern of the Double-Bind in Mormonism by Marion Stricker – How the emotional dynamics of Mormonism keeps members trapped.
• “My Controversy with the Church” by Janice M. Allred – A personal exit story of a controversial LDS author.
• Good-bye to God by Steve Benson – A personal exit story from the grandson of Prophet Ezra Taft Benson.
• Thought reform and conformity within Mormonism – A quick list of some thought-reform techniques as they relate to Mormonism.
• Dr. Robert J. Lifton’s Criteria for Thought Reform – The original list of 8 thought reform techniques from mind control pioneer, Dr. Lifton, with brief descriptions.

Books

Social Psychology, Cults, & Mind Control

Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: Science and Practice. Boston: Pearson Education, 2009.

Festinger, Leon, Henry W. Riecken, and Stanley Schachter, When Prophecy Fails: A social study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world, New York: Harper & Row, 1956

Goldhammer, John D. Under the Influence. Prometheus Books, 1996.

Hassan, Steven. Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs. Newton, MA: Freedom of Mind Press, 2012.

Hassan, Steven, Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves. Somerville, MA: Freedom of Mind Press, 2000.

Langone, Michael D., ed. Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993.

Sanchez, Steve, Spiritual Perversion. Austin: 2005

Schein, Edgar H. Coercive Persuasion. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1961

Singer, Margaret Thaler, Cults in our Midst. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995

Stricker, Marion, The Pattern of the Double-Bind in Mormonism. Universal Publishers, 2000

Tobias, Madeleine Landau, and Janja Lalich. Captive Hearts, Captive Minds. Almeda, CA: Hunter House, 1994

LDS Exit Stories

Beck, Martha Nibley, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Life, New York: Crown Publishers, 2005

Kline, Diana, Woman Redeemed, Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, 2005

Lamborn, Lyndon. Standing For Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2009.

Morin, Brad L., and Chris L. Morin. Suddenly Strangers: Surrendering Gods and Heroes. Chula Vista, CA: Aventine Press, 2004

Ure, James W., Leaving the Fold: Candid Conversations with Inactive Mormons. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1999

Worthy, Jack B. The Mormon Cult: A Former Missionary Reveals the Secrets of Mormon Mind Control. Tucson, Ariz.: See Sharp Press, 2008.

LDS Controversies

Anderson, Duwayne. Farewell to Eden: Coming to Terms with Mormonism and Science. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2003.

Bagley, Will. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.

Bigler, David. Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1998.

Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith. New York: Vintage, 1995.

Buerger, David J. The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship. San Francisco; Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2002.

Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. New York: Vintage, 2007.

Compton, Todd M. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997.

Cowdrey, Wayne L., Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick. Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

Hanks, Maxine. Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1992. [This book is out of print, but you can read it online.]

Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. New York: Anchor, 2004.

Larson, Charles M. By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri. S.l.: Inst for Religious Research, 1992.

Newell, Linda King, and Valeen Tippetts Avery. Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. 2 Sub edition. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1994.

Palmer, Grant. An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins. First Edition. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002.

Quinn, D. Michael. Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. 2nd Edition. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998.

Quinn, D. Michael. The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994.

Southerton, Simon G. Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2004.

Building New Beliefs, Skepticism, and Spirituality Outside Organized Religion

Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. New York: Gramercy, 2004.

Bach, Richard. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. London: Arrow Books Ltd, 2001.

Beattie, Melody. Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself. Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1986.

Branden, Nathaniel. The Art of Living Consciously: The Power of Awareness to Transform Everyday Life. New York: Touchstone, 1999.

Burns, David D., M. D. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. New York: Harper, 2008.

Campbell, Joseph, and Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. New York: Anchor, 1991.

Hanh, Thich Nhat, and Jack Kornfield. Being Peace. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2005.

Keen, Sam. Hymns to an Unknown God: Awakening The Spirit In Everyday Life. New York: Bantam, 1995.

Mcelroy, Wendy. The Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books, 1998.

O’Donohue, John. Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.

Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason. 1797. [Available online at Project Gutenberg.]

Sagan, Carl, and Ann Druyan. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.