A new reader left this comment on one of my posts recently [BTW, Hi Judy, glad to have you on board!]:
Just reading John’s Out of Mormonism blog. LOL, I guess you are both now techincally “inactive”. Anyway, I still think you’re strong. :)
Since John’s post about our recent choice to become Quakers, we’ve had quite a mixed reaction of responses: supportive visits, concerned phone calls, emails from priesthood leaders, and so forth. At some point, I will blog more about our current spiritual path, but in the meantime I thought I would address the question of how ‘active’ we are.
Ironically, even though I no longer seat myself in a Mormon chapel on Sundays, I would still call myself ‘active’ in the church. Why? Well, because I attend a weekly LDS Institute class (for those out there not familiar with Mormonspeak, Institute is a church-sponsored religion class). I am a permablogger on two high-traffic LDS blogs (Exponent II and SunstoneBlog). I subscribe to a church-sponsored LDS News service, I read from LDS scriptures, I ponder the temple covenants, many of my friends are LDS and our favorite conversation topics revolve around Mormonism, I sing Mormon hymns in the shower, most of the listservs that I participate in are Mormon-related, I am the Book Review Editor for a Mormon journal, and so forth.
Though I am adopting many of the attributes and practices of a Quaker, much of my spiritual and academic life still revolves around the LDS community. I suspect that it will continue to do so for quite some time. Perhaps indefinitely.
I know that my definition of ‘active’ probably doesn’t jibe with what many would consider ‘active’ (meaning, a believing card-carrying Mormon). But I’m hesitant to call myself ‘inactive’ in Mormonism. If anything, I feel as embedded in the church culture as ever.