Comment by darksaints

My dad also posts on online forums, claiming to also be a former Mormon while still having unrelentlessly positive things to say about Mormons. He's very much still a Mormon, much like I would expect you to be. Have some integrity. The vast majority of ex-Mormons are definitely bitter, and would love to destroy the church, and for a multitude of entirely valid reasons. The exmormon subreddit, which is the most popular and active of all of the ex-religion subreddits, can fill you in on exactly why exmormons are so bitter about their former religion if you're curious.

And you're right. All humans do this to some degree. Mormons, with their sanctimonious belief that they are the only ones that can receive revelation from god, seem to do it far more than other groups. Something about believing in the Power of Discernment...if the Bishop thinks this guy is a great guy, then he obviously is a great guy!

And you're also right that the Mormon Mafia is a joke, but it is only a joke within the Mormon Mafia. For everyone else, it is a career nightmare. If you, god forbid, go to a bar with a couple colleagues after work, you can expect to never be treated the same ever again. You'll be passed up for promotion, denied positions of responsibility and trust, and constantly have your work called into question. Because you're not trustworthy anymore...you're an alcoholic. Wouldn't it be nice if we had less alcoholics on our team? Gee, where can we find fewer alcoholics? I know...BYU!

EDIT: I should add, out of an abundance of caution due to the upset Mormons that I have just offended, that there are plenty of Mormons that are not like this. I'd probably say most mormons are not like this. One of the managers I work with most is a mormon, and he knows that I'm exmormon, and we get along fine. He also has hired 14 non-mormon people, including two muslims, a lesbian, and his top performer is an ex-heroin addict, so I'm pretty damn sure he's open minded about other people and isn't just looking to pack his org with like-minded people. I would never propose a measure to discriminate against mormons, but I absolutely would try to mitigate their tendency towards nepotism. There are enough mormon nepotists out there that it has become a problem, and I'm just calling that out.