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Yeah. I grew up around a lot of Mormons, including my best friend for many years. They certainly believe some pretty whack **** but they are also mostly really nice people who tend to be ethically very strong and tend not to hurt other people.
+1 to my few experiences with Mormons but on a personal level, I corroborate with this even more so for the families I grew up with and around in our Catholic parish community.
I mean, all my experiences on the whole have been very positive. I hope that's not atypical, because our parish was (and still is, afaik) full of genuine, well intentioned salt-of-the-earth types who get involved in great community initiatives and are just all around good people.
You clearly don't need a code of faith to be a good person who makes a positive impact; I just don't think those who do practice are this inherently evil threat to society that the vocal segment of detractors make us out to be. I don't agree with everything propagated by the Church but I don't think I was adversely affected by my upbringing. Maybe the fact that I see my Catholicism as a cultural nuance more than anything helps my perspective, I dunno.
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Originally Posted by nath
I do wish the charitable wing of the Catholic Church would separate from the pedophile wing.
This goes without saying. I wish people would also understand there are a lot of us who feel this way too. The sweeping generalizations cut the deepest, by far.