The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints likes to believe that the only ones qualified to talk about Mormonism are its most faithful members, or—ideally—the Church itself, through its appointed spokesmen. And, being a multi-billion-dollar operation, it has the resources to convince people through organizations such as the More Good Foundation, Mormon Voices (a.k.a. the Mormon defense League), and the Washington Post column of Church PR managing director Michael Otterson. The irony is that the Church has no hesitation about making up all sorts of inaccurate (and often insulting) claims about what ex-Mormons—“apostates”— are like. We may not have as much money or political clout as the LDS Church, but using tools such as the Internet, we can take ownership of our own narratives and claim our place in the public discourse on Mormonism.

Carol Hamer, Jon Adams, Donna Banta, Jason Echols, Jeff Ricks, John K. Williams