Leaving the Fold
Candid Conversations with Inactive Mormons
JAMES W. URE
Paperback. 270 Pages. / 1-56085-134-1 / $19.95

In the eyes of their church they are lost sheep. They have fond memories of church, but they have reasons for leaving—which James Ure discovers in these remarkable interviews with eighteen high-profile Mormons. The surprising and revealing commentaries are as varied as the people themselves.

Politics of gender and politics in general, guilt over unachievable perfection, and an inability to accept the basic tenets of Mormonism are among the thoughtful, often touching, expressions by people who left active Mormonism to find their own personal path to salvation and meaning in life.

It is Ure's hope that this work will help "active" Mormon neighbors better understand their "wayward" friends. Those whom Ure interviewed include Shauna Adix, Richard Brown, Scott Burton, Betty Condie, Rod Decker, Edwin Brown Firmage, Met Johnson, William Mulder, Loneta M. Murphy, Levi S. Peterson, Calvin L. Rampton, Paul Rolly, Stewart L. Udall, Helen Browning Ure, and Ardean Walton Watts. He also includes conversations with three anonymous participants: a "business woman," a "civic worker," and a "government administrator."

"I wish with all my heart right now that I had a testimony. I envy people who do ... the mind is at ease on a matter that it might be troubled about." —former Utah governor Calvin L. Rampton

"I consider myself a spiritual person. I do not consider myself a religious person. I think that adherence to form and structure doesn't allow for one's own sense of connection or growth." —Shauna Adix, former director, University Women's Resource Center

"There are an awful lot of Mormons for whom guilt is a problem." —Levi Peterson, author and university professor

James W. Ure is the author of two non-fiction books, Hawks and Roses and Bait for Trout, Being the Confessions of an Unorthodox Angler. He has written for the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, as well as for national magazines. He is the recipient of several writing awards; for this book he received grants from the Utah Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. A University of Utah graduate, he lives in Salt Lake City and works in advertising and marketing.