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I do get what you're saying. But your reactions and ability to look beyond doesn't equate to other people (LDS or other).

But what do I know? I have never been in the situation. Perhaps I would react in a non-Christ like way. I hope not. I would hope that I can get past my own hang-ups and do the right thing.

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In my area as I keep saying...if you are a Baptist you are in...if you fall away etc, there will be some people that will not call upon your buisness.

regardless of what religion we are or church we attend, when I read my New Testament that is not what Christ would do. The Savior loves everyone and its not up to us to judge others.

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Many of you have already concluded that you would probably stop giving your business to them if they left the Church;

If they did so loudly and more importantly insultingly. Its bad business to insult your customer base regardless of what it is you are insulting them about. Chance are (and particularly in Utah with such small wards) unless a fuss was made, or the point was somehow belabored I'd probably never be aware they dissociated with the church.

I don't want you to think I'm somehow out to 'punish' the non-members by not visiting their businesses, I've given all sorts of non-members stores my patronage, and if Godless had his Brewer's Emporium (;)) and I finally decided I was going to make some ginger ale I'd have no problem giving him my business. Its not a question of them leaving the church, its a question of them insulting my beliefs. If a random store owner told me I was an idiot for voting *choose political party of your choice* I'm most likely not going to patron his establishment again, how much more sensitive are we about deeply held religious beliefs?

So I think you might be viewing my post incorrectly. It's not, if somebody left the church I'd discontinue visiting their business, it's if somebody insults me I'd discontinue visiting their business. Its a pretty basic rule of business, don't insult your customers. I have no clue if that applies to the situation your brought up, I was just taking PC's comment and running with it in a general sense.

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SOME of you have already concluded that you might stop giving your business to them if they left the Church. That would be more accurate, I guess. I apologize.

As I said, I would only stop if they were very vocal in their opposition/anger to the Church. Why would I want to support someone who was against what I believe in?

If they just stopped coming and perhaps had their name removed, it wouldn't bother me in the least and I would continue to go there. I have no problem with people who believe differently from me, only when they start fighting against what I believe in

I hope that clears up my position and I believe prison chaplin was saying the same thing.

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We've focused mainly on the business owners in SLC that I know nothing about except for what they said on the t.v., but what about the personal aquaintance of ours who people refused to buy from and sell to? Why would people (in general)--not a person here and there--do that? Fear? Anger? A desire to keep a community one religion only? I'm sure this DOES happen in other places and with other religious organizations and it is sad. REALLY sad!

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I've never been asked to support or ignore a business by church leaders, other than supporting young men and women fundraisers. Most of our service projects are for non-members. For instance, our last youth conference involved lots of man hours put into repainting, fixing and organizing a local church which provided a food bank.

Edited by Alana
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Just recently my husband and I were watching t.v. and there was a man and his wife who were talking about being business owners in the Salt Lake City area and they were also committed members of the LDS church for decades. They decided at some point, because of doctrinal issues they began to have with the Church, that they must leave the Church. Suddenly, their business began to suffer. They found out that church leadership had been telling their patrons to stop giving business to them. It wasn't long before their family business that they'd run for many years went bankrupt.

I asked my husband, in shock, "Do you think that this kind of thing really happens?" He said that he knows that it does. He didn't know how OFTEN it happened, but knew it was true, because a pastor friend who had a church in a small town in Utah was also a rancher. The people in the predominantly LDS town didn't like Bible Church being started there, and they began refusing to do business with him. They wouldn't sell to him and wouldn't buy from him. He couldn't make a living there and was forced to leave.

Is this encouraged?

Do you have links or sources for any of this information?

How did the couple find out church leaders told their patrons not to do business with them?

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I think for your second example the key words are "who had a church in a small town in Utah", small towns have a strange little law of their own, and ironically they are often different laws for different towns. Considering how cliquey some wards can get I could see a ward in a small town deciding not to give business to a pastor of another faith. Is it right? No. Is it something that you would see from a majority of the members of the church? No. But seeing as it happened in a small town where there is a good chance that non-LDS were in the minority I could see it happening.

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We've focused mainly on the business owners in SLC that I know nothing about except for what they said on the t.v., but what about the personal aquaintance of ours who people refused to buy from and sell to? Why would people (in general)--not a person here and there--do that? Fear? Anger? A desire to keep a community one religion only? I'm sure this DOES happen in other places and with other religious organizations and it is sad. REALLY sad!

Why would anyone not have anything to do with someone based on their race, religion, political views, etc? Each person is different, but I think we can that in general people shun others due to preconceived notions--they are judging that person/people.

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I've already mentioned, I'm pretty sure, in a couple of posts that I don't have the name of the show or the name of the couple, or the name of their business or the particulars that you're looking for. If you're looking for that information in order to prove me wrong or discount the story, you are welcome to discount it altogether; but I was actually telling you that story to say that when my husband and I saw the show (we caught the very end), it started a conversation in which he relayed to me the confirmable event of a friend here in Utah that this happened to. It happened. The details are undebatable. I'm not blaming an entire church. John Doe said the same thing happens in his area with Baptists. I know some Baptists. Not all baptists do that. The fact that some do is sad, angering, appalling--even embarrassing.

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Just recently my husband and I were watching t.v. and there was a man and his wife who were talking about being business owners in the Salt Lake City area and they were also committed members of the LDS church for decades. They decided at some point, because of doctrinal issues they began to have with the Church, that they must leave the Church. Suddenly, their business began to suffer. They found out that church leadership had been telling their patrons to stop giving business to them. It wasn't long before their family business that they'd run for many years went bankrupt.

I asked my husband, in shock, "Do you think that this kind of thing really happens?" He said that he knows that it does. He didn't know how OFTEN it happened, but knew it was true, because a pastor friend who had a church in a small town in Utah was also a rancher. The people in the predominantly LDS town didn't like Bible Church being started there, and they began refusing to do business with him. They wouldn't sell to him and wouldn't buy from him. He couldn't make a living there and was forced to leave.

Is this encouraged?

The "church" has never nor will ever do something as this; but people are people and sometimes individual,members can become people rather than worthy members;:)

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I've already mentioned, I'm pretty sure, in a couple of posts that I don't have the name of the show or the name of the couple, or the name of their business or the particulars that you're looking for. If you're looking for that information in order to prove me wrong or discount the story, you are welcome to discount it altogether; but I was actually telling you that story to say that when my husband and I saw the show (we caught the very end), it started a conversation in which he relayed to me the confirmable event of a friend here in Utah that this happened to. It happened. The details are undebatable. I'm not blaming an entire church. John Doe said the same thing happens in his area with Baptists. I know some Baptists. Not all baptists do that. The fact that some do is sad, angering, appalling--even embarrassing.

Actually, I didn't say that, I believe it was Palerider who said that. But the way you present these kinds of stories with little or no details and a whole lot of innuendo, it gets old for you to ask LDS to justify something with no basis in facts.

Do some LDS shun some people who have left the LDS Church? Yes.

Does the LDs Church as an institution encourage this kind of behavior? No.

Does the same thing happen when people of other faiths convert to LDS? Absolutely.

Would something like that happen in the Salt Lake Metro area? I doubt it, there are so many wards, stakes, and regions in the area it is almost impossible to know who is or is not LDS just by walking into a business unless they advertised their religious affiliation somehow. And even then, the reputation of the business is what draws customers, not the religion of the owners. I certainly don't care what God the little Chinese lady who sells me the best sweet and sour chicken in town worships. And it doesn't bother me to think that most of the cooks in my favorite Mexican restaurant are probably Catholic or that they may not go to a church at all. All I care about is getting quality and value for what I spend when I come in.

Is it possible for what you describe to happen in a smaller community? Sure. Just as it is possible for the same thing to happen in small Bible-belt towns when someone converts to LDS and it becomes general public knowledge. Small-town folk are funny that way sometimes.

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I've already mentioned, I'm pretty sure, in a couple of posts that I don't have the name of the show or the name of the couple, or the name of their business or the particulars that you're looking for. If you're looking for that information in order to prove me wrong or discount the story, you are welcome to discount it altogether; but I was actually telling you that story to say that when my husband and I saw the show (we caught the very end), it started a conversation in which he relayed to me the confirmable event of a friend here in Utah that this happened to. It happened. The details are undebatable. I'm not blaming an entire church. John Doe said the same thing happens in his area with Baptists. I know some Baptists. Not all baptists do that. The fact that some do is sad, angering, appalling--even embarrassing.

Actually I'm a bit confused. How did you get so much out of a tv show if you only caught the very end?

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How much information did I get from the end of the show? Just enough to know that a couple who live in SLC area and owned a business for years left the church and said that patrons were encouraged not to give their store business. It didn't take too much time to say about that much. Salt Lake City was in the background and there was music playing. What is it that you're confused about? I'm really not making it up...

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I've already mentioned, I'm pretty sure, in a couple of posts that I don't have the name of the show or the name of the couple, or the name of their business or the particulars that you're looking for. If you're looking for that information in order to prove me wrong or discount the story, you are welcome to discount it altogether; but I was actually telling you that story to say that when my husband and I saw the show (we caught the very end), it started a conversation in which he relayed to me the confirmable event of a friend here in Utah that this happened to. It happened. The details are undebatable. I'm not blaming an entire church. John Doe said the same thing happens in his area with Baptists. I know some Baptists. Not all baptists do that. The fact that some do is sad, angering, appalling--even embarrassing.

I am the one that said Baptists do this....I live in the Bible Belt and this area is heavy with the Baptists Population. The same kinds of things go on here with them.:)
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