There are actually a handful of hubs where folks damaged through leaving the church can meet and find association and community. Those I have visited have been better than others I’ve attended. (None have been bad.)
The Good
PostMos: Deep in Utah County, at least, Steve and Chris Holbrook have managed to carve out a quite-successful organization, with lunches during the week and evening events at homes, including theirs. They even voluntary provided food. Folks from this group have volunteered to move at least one couple’s (fairly large) home (with a lot of stuff).
Discussion group in Draper: It’s a bitch-fest at the Harmon’s Sunday morning, but they’re not wrong. But folks are humble. It’s amazing to see a white man around 60, the high priest type who normally would never be wrong, be so vulnerable about how wrong he actually was. This one was no longer found on Meetup as of Jan. 9, however.
Community of Christ congregations: True healing and hope can be found at the Salt Lake congregation and house churches in Logan and Provo and Olympia, Wash. are tremendous. The Salt Lake congregation is the one that blossomed, as reported on in a Guardian article, during the mini-exodus from the Mormon church during a time of crisis for the religion as climaxed with the Nov. 2015 gay policy.
Mormon Transhumanist Association: Started by Lincoln Cannon and led today by Blaire Ostler, the MTA provides a place for non-Mormons, too (you just must agree with its Affirmation). Philosophical discussions include real historians, writers and philosophers. There’s MTA get-togethers in Portland, Ore. and Provo.
Centers for Spiritual Living: The Salt Lake and Layton congregations, if the latter is still going, both offer sociality and philosophy (though it seems to come solely from Ernest Holmes) and many may find satisfying.
Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship: A number of post-Mormons are found here, though admittedly, I do not know how many of them would even identify that way any longer, as it seems that they truly have found refuge in the Buddha, to say that with all sincerity.
The OK
Salt Lake Oasis: They like to get the celebrities, but obviously folks like John Dehlin and Jim Dabakis are magnetic people who are interesting to hear from. You’d probably have to be a hard-core liberal to enjoy it as much as Mormons presumably enjoy church, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t leave feeling a need to make the world a better place.
Unitarian Universalist audiences: The South (Salt Lake) Valley Unitarian Universalist Society is led by a truly caring and firm minister in Patty Willis and opportunities to get involved are found there, which is very much a testament to the people who attend there. And it’s nice to visit the Salt Lake congregation nearby Rice-Eccles Stadium, which features a convicted, inspiring environmental activist group. I wrote “audiences” because UUs seem to themselves barely identify as a religion, with the organization calling itself an “association.”
Salt Lake City Postmormons and Friends at Kafeneio Coffeehouse: It’s a bit juvenile, with a lot of youngsters trying to prove their coolness by swearing a lot and their intellectualism by laughing at even a historically inaccurate statement that also wasn’t a joke. But there are book clubs and it is led by folks who are quite intellectual and are interesting to listen to.
Davis County meetup group: at least as of March 2016, this group met in Kaysville (yes, in Davis County). These folks, many living quite successful lives amid the orchards of Fruit Heights and Kaysville have put on extremely excellent parties and beyond that, have even organized these functions where historians or artists like Sandra Tanner, Leslie Olpin Peterson and D. Michael Quinn (!) have spoken and provided quite-frank responses to questions. You may also try alcohol for the first time here. Members will also even take you into their home, but watch out – you may get kicked out after attempting suicide. The group may have dissolved following the creation of the Northern Wasatch Oasis group.
Queer Friends: This group has grown mightily throughout the Wasatch Front, so you can identify with LGBTQ persons not just on a sexual or sociological level, but in terms of faith transition. Here, you might get a backrub while sleeping and try vodka for the first time.
Mama Dragons: They are first about helping gays, and so it only works to classify them under the headline of this article because they help folks who are out of the church, too. Darci McPherson will take a depressed person to dinner and Wendy Montgomery is a beautiful person except in instances where you publicly say data that she tells you, even though she says nothing about talking about it.
Salt City Skeptics: It seemed to be a combination of skeptics and those who wanted to be.
Others that may be worth visiting include Northern Wasatch Oasis, Humanists of Utah, the Layton humanism meetup and an Ogden over-coffee post-Mormon Meetup group, though the latter did not appear on Meetup as of Jan. 9. And there’s always reaching out to friends who you grew up with, or those you meet on Facebook who are going through a similar process, who share similar views on LDS Mormonism.
