Mormonism is a Rationally Untenable Belief

I invite you to read this, it summarizes many of the things i said in R2 and R3 "http://investigatemormonism.wordpress.com...; " let’s look at how people can rationally choose to be Mormons. Mormonism has a lot to offer prospective members- instant community; instant unique and strong identities; strong sense of meaning and purpose with life goals laid out; a way to view the cosmos and how one fits in with it; unique access to the cosmos.... Likewise, it is true that we don’t always understand our own motives, and often in the attempt to be like our friends we accept their beliefs without really coming to that conclusion through thorough thinking. But, that doesn’t constitute brainwashing, that is common to all of humanity and is simply part of our social nature. In conclusion, while I would argue that Mormonism is not true, that there are far too many flaws in its truth claims, and while I have many critiques of its communities and church organization, that should not blind me to the fact that people choose, perfectly rationally, to become Mormons. " A false presupposition does not preclude arguments from being rational. If you accept something (even if it is a creation of the human mind) and then you build arguments from it, it can be logical. "A dragon spits fire because of sulfur in its lungs". We do agree there is no rational evidence of dragons existing. However the explanation about how they spit fire it's a logical one. Furthermore one should distinguish Mormon theology from cultural Mormonism. What's the difference ? Mormon theology is the set of doctrine. But was it theology anyway ? "Theology is the systematic and rational study of concepts of God and of the nature of religious truths "(http://en.wikipedia.org...). The process can be rational whether the presupposition is true or false. Mormons theologist can defend their doctrine, and they do have rational arguments (no matter how poor they are) which are rationally derivating from their religious paradigms. They do have seminars where they debate about their writings. (http://www.mormontheologyseminar.org...)You state that behind Mormon belief there is just an imperative. " just because Mormonism tells one to." Some people may follow Mormonism because of very irrational motives (mass hysteria, lack of brain)... of course there are stupid people everywhere. But there are no evidence Mormons are more stupid than average (Results of standardised tests see image)Most mormons can still provide arguments to back their faith. (Again no matter how poor they can seem to you or me, these are mostly valid theological arguments) (http://www.mormondialogue.org...) Now Mormon culture (http://en.wikipedia.org...) can be treated separately from Mormon theology. One could exist without the other. And as i said in previous R, we can't rationally reject a culture. All habits, tradition and mormon way of life may not be considered wrong or irrational. It is only different from ours. About pedophilia. Did you knew age of consent for heterosexual sex in Spain (secular country) was 13 (http://en.wikipedia.org...) ? .My point is that pedophilia is a criminal offence because our cultural set of moral laws tells us it is wrong. (I do personally believe pedophilia is bad). But our opinion or society's opinion doesn't change facts. Rationality only tell us that on average a girl first period is between 12 and 13 (and sometimes even start at 9 for very extreme cases). This is science, the rest is moral interpretation. As a conclusion, Mormonism (culture and theology) can be tenable on rational grounds for someone agreeing with it on social issues or adopting a constructive theological approach . source(blogs.discovermagazine.com)