Rachel and I discuss some of her thoughts and new beliefs since leaving the church about 4 years ago.

"I left the church in November 2015 when "the policy" was announced. At the time I still believed that Joseph Smith was involved in the restoration of truth, but that over 200 years the church had gone into apostasy because the moment I heard the policy, another voice loudly sounding off in my head was "Jesus wouldn't suffer the children for the sins of the parents". It was pretty loud and pretty persistent, so that Sunday I walked into the bishops office and asked to be released from the Relief Society Secretary position I was holding and that I wouldn't be back. Done and done. I had a really hard time with the fact that the church was so exclusive and INCLUSION is a word that has always resonated with my soul. My husband is still believing and we have had a rollercoaster of a ride navigating that, but we have learned to respect each other for our beliefs. The more we can give up being right the more we can come together and allow each other to just be. I think for about 7 years before I left I was very unhappy and it wasn't resonating with me. I would come home from church upset and in a bit of a stupor of though, so leaving has allowed me to really be free to explore all the wonderful truths that are in the world. THAT is the fun part I think."
~Rachel Thomas