What is an ex-Mormon, why do I see them all over the Internet and why do they seem so darn ticked off?

Ex-Mormonism as a recognizable movement so to speak can really be traced to the growth of the Internet. By far, the most popular and well known community of ex-Mormons can be found at www.exmormon.org. Other communities include post-mormon.org as well as several evangelical Christian ministries led by former mormons who would like to bring Mormons to the "real Jesus."

Ex-Mormons are unlike "inactive", "less active" or "jack" Mormons in that they usually have made a decision to break their official tie to the Church by resigning their membership. Most ex-Mormons would probably say that they no longer believe in any of Mormonism's foundational or unique truth claims. Studies have shown, by contrast, that many inactive or less-active Latter-day Saints maintain at least some level of belief or affiliation with the Church. (Albrecht, Stan, Marie Cornwall, and Perry H. Cunningham. 1988. Religious Leave-Taking, Disengagement and Disaffiliation among Mormons. In Falling From the Faith, Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy, edited by D. G. Bromley. Newbury Park, Bevery Hills, London, New Dehli: Sage Publications.)

Ex-Mormons who post widely on the internet often write with some anger and frustration in regard to the Church. This is largely due to the fact that they view the Church as being fundamentally dishonest and corrupt and thus they see themselves as victims of this deception. Many ex-Mormons describe their exodus from Mormonism as a "recovery." To be fair, it is easy to understand why many ex-Mormons feel this type of anger and frustration toward the Church. The LDS Church has gone to great lengths to present a very linear and "clean" image of both its history and current social position. In reality, the LDS Church has a much more complex and difficult history than is presented through official chanels.