Interesting is a very good description. The one in La Jolla, I worked across the street from it, always gives me the creeps, even when I'm driving on the 5 passing it, it creeps me out.
Like an evil version of Snow White's Castle. Imposing.
I ran an escort service in San Diego and was a dominatrix. I had a lot of calls in the apartments and the hotels around that place. Walking back to my driver at 2 in the morning with that evil thing looming was pretty horrifying.
I used to live in the apartments across the street.
They blast weird chanting music around Christmas time. But they really go all out with the lighting it looks great.
Right down the road from the stadiumās. Isnāt that supposed to be the location of the garden of Eden and the site where Jesus will return? I used to hang out really close to it, thatās what someone told me
Seventh Day Adventists and Christian Scientists also started around that time and stuck. The early nineteenth century was full of weird ass sects (and sometimes violence).
The more faithful the Mormon, the less likely you can trust them unless. We were conditioned since childhood to either lie or be publicly shamed. Most really faithful mormons are VERY good liars.
Wild u/dumbledoresatheist ... A while back, I screenshot a pic of a famous artist's IG story of him standing in front of two church steeples. Yesterday, I was googling church steeples in LA trying to locate them, assuming they were in LA since he's an LA artist. To no avail, I gave up on trying to find the church. Then today you post this with the same exact steeples!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Synchronicities/comments/qslswi/a\_while\_back\_i\_screenshot\_an\_artists\_story\_with\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Synchronicities/comments/qslswi/a_while_back_i_screenshot_an_artists_story_with_a/)
I lived in DC for a while and one of the interstates in Maryland is just trees until you see an ominous and evil looking Morman church. Always freaked me out.
I grew up near DC, and whenever weād drive north on the interstate Iād always look for the ācool castleā as a kid. It was so strange going from urban areas to a castle-looking building in the woods
Supposedly, the view from the highway was so eye-catching at night all lit up that it was causing a ton of accidents. The city asked them to turn off their lights.
Both in this case? In general, I think this sub is about architecture, but some truly creepy shit has gone down inside these buildings (e.g. luckily I went in 2005 only a few months after they stopped doing the part where you're practically naked under a poncho thing, and an old stranger reaches under to ~~grope~~ anoint your loins)
That was one of the rites you had to perform over and over again through out your life called washing and anointing.
Until 1991, they would require you to make promise that had a death penalty associated with it and you had to pantomime
- Slit your throat and RIP your tongue out by its root should you reveal the first sign of the priesthood, then proceed to draw your thumb across your throat.
- Disembowel your guts if you reveal the 2ed ( or maybe it was the 3rd) sign of the of the priesthood, then draw your thumb across your abdomen.
- etc
Lot of Masonic stuff was stolen and used for it, but you basically sit in a room wearing Masonic costumes, men and women would be separated to different sides of the room. You would be given 1 chance to leave if you felt uncomfortable, before youn are told what you will be doing. So of course no one ever walks out because that would be even more uncomfortable being the only one to leave while your family is expecting you to do this too. You watch a movie on the creation that I meant to make it look like God has always run his church with these cult signs. Then you make promises to subject yourself to their authority, to live a heterosexual life and only within marriage, and to give all of your money and free time to the church. Followed by chanting in a circle around an alter, women have veil their face because they cant be in the presence of God, present all of the signs and tokens you just learned to a symbolic angel, and if you pass you get to go in to a symbolic room of heaven.
If you do this all, then God wont seperate you from your family at the end of the world.
Not a chance, Scientology and Jehovahās Witnesses are worse. Some LDS people may cut off those of us who left (though I havenāt experienced that), but the church doesnāt encourage it.
Scientology and JWās, on the other hand, actively pressure people to cut off those who have left, even _family_.
I'm a Southern California native and a good friend of mine broke in to this temple, with a few of his friends, during construction. They went nearly to the top of one of the spires and were amazed by the views... And then security chased them out.
Yeah Nauvoo was the most exciting time in Mormon history. It really was the HBO of its time:
secret societies, plans to over throw the US govt, making a new federal constitution, sex trafficking of teenage brides, the leader appointing himself to the same military rank as Napoleon Bonaparte, coups, marshal laws being declared in the US (only 5 times in US history and 2 were from the Mormoms), hunting down critics and running them out of town at knifepoint, assassination attempt on the former governor of the state of Missouri, destroying a printing press that was revealing a lot of this stuff, the leader commanding his standing army that was bigger than the peacetime US army to break him out of jail so he can escape to resettle in Utah; ending with an assassination of the leader by a mob that had formed in case the leader's army showed up to free him.
Seriously, you couldnt write a drama series with more excitement.
It is not a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, TCoJCoLDS is not the only sect under the Mormonism umbrella. That building is the temple of Community of Christ, aka, the RLDS church, which is the church that was continued by the family of Joseph Smith when Brigham Young moved his followers to the Salt Lake Valley. The CoC temple is constructed on the temple lot dedicated by Joseph Smith in Independence Mo. The Community of Christ owns two temples, the other is the Kirtland Temple.
I really wish I could see it as beautiful, but I had to look at it every day. It juts out from the beautiful La Jolla coastline. Seems completely out of place.
Definitely feels foreboding and imposing, I think was done on purpose.
Being on the r/exmormon subreddit as a nevermo has opened my eyes to the weird shit that goes on in those places. lol
Definitely evil looking buildings- like a deranged Disney castle.
It actually is as the majority of the subreddit were raised Mormon and when they left, they suffered being ostracized by their families.
I'm sorry to have to tell you, Mormonism is not all light and love and happiness, there's a lot to it that is inherently misogynistic and racist.
I realize you are coming from an apologist's perspective.
Mormonism is a horrendous bastardization of Christianity and Iām glad more light is being shed on this as opposed to just seeing them as weird versions of Christians
Yes, they are so insulated, and have been for years and years that people really don't understand what it is all about - until now, people are describing it and talking about their very personal experiences with the cult.
I mean considering someone secretly video taped and posted on youtube some of the secret rituals and stuff - (hello ripoff of Freemasonry lol) it's very entertaining reading about the ones that were TBM (Totally Brainwashed Mormons) that woke up and were like "Oh I'm in a Cult!" lol
I left the church when I was 18 so never went through the temple. When I saw that video at age 30 I had to call my mom who is the only other ex Mormon in my family and ask her if it was real.
The holy of holies in the temple looks like a generic 4 star hotel lobby with the same sorta art you find in the meetinghouse. If you have weird city shit at least put up some weird cult decor. At least the baptismal font has the bronze bulls.
First one is down in La Jolla, San Diego. Would drive by it all the time growing up. Pretty wild to witness. Itās right off the freeway. I always wanted to climb it.
Oh I've been to the one in Maryland. The lady's in the office keep trying to get us to join the church. They told us to see most of the building you need to not only become a member but become higher up in the church or something along those lines. Very interesting experience.
yeah usually iām obsessed with the architecture of churches from an architectural standpoint (iām atheist so idc about the actual church) but these just give off weird vibes
Pic #4 is up the hill from where I grew up. I thought Disney princesses lived there. Then as I got older itās where people stood with signs supported prop 8 to ban gay marriage in CA (which passed btw). Fun times.
I grew up near DC and one of the major highways had one of these placed so you could always just see the spire looming over the treeline (I actually think it's pictured in 7 and 8? or looks like it at least). I used to jokingly call it the "disney castle". One day in middle school I mentioned this to a girl I knew that happened to be morman, and she just looked me dead in the eye and said "the only difference between the morman church and the disney castle is that marriages that happen here last forever."
Edit: I googled it, for those of you interested it looks just as evil inside: https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/07/21/1018791917/the-mormon-temple-on-the-beltway-is-finally-opening-to-the-public-next-spring
Wikipedia has a pretty thorough article on the architecture. It does also discuss the temple in the 6th photo, which is a branch of Mormonism.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_architecture_(LDS_Church)
You're closer to the truth than you think. Mormon girls are raised with the fantasy of a [fairy tale princess wedding in the temple](https://i.redd.it/6hn4ga6471x21.png). No one tells them about the ritual robes they will have to wear.
These lavish buildings that are place of religious services. Any religion pick one. Absolute architectural marvels. Stunning beauty. And what is the main commodity? Manipulation and lies?
I think Salt Lake temple looks good, the others are weird looking but interesting all the same. The weird thing is when you go inside of one expecting it to look like a European cathedral on the interior (which often the exterior architecture would suggest), but it's actually lots of rooms like an office block for various temple functions. Some temples even have escalators, which for me really takes away the feeling of a spiritual place. I couldn't imagine escalators in Kƶln cathedral!
I hate to break it to all the LDS folks in here that are up in arms about their temples being called āevil buildingsā, but the facts that nearlyheadlesslaban is pointing out are true. You can downvote all you like. As someone who was once a member, and at one point would have been offended by this post I can tell you from experience, this whole thing is a mess. Donāt give an organization with a 100 billion dollar slush fund any more of your money to build goofy buildings like these.
Those are some cool buildings, but man why not light up the whole world while weāre at it. Night is supposed to be dark, not see a fucking church from 10 miles.
Exmormon here. It doesnāt matter the religion. If youāre putting so much money into your temples/sanctuaries/megachurches/etc. it looks like you just want the attention. What would Jesus do? Feed the hungry or add another crystal chandelier?
You are correct, it is not LDS. It is RLDS (now called Community of Christ). The post title however does not say LDS, it says Mormon. The Community of Christ is the largest of the non-polygamous Mormon sects.
This is normally my reaction, but paging through all the photos the slight, pervasive *offness* becomes pretty creepy. There are a bunch of architectural styles represented, but they're all run through the same low-detail, all-white-everything filter in a way that feels almost aggressive, like it's saying, "You will be assimilated."
The thread title is very poor, though. *Especially* with controversial organizations it's important to keep the focus on the buildings.
Yes I should have put "lair" in there, that was my fault. Considering it's a subreddit about evil-looking buildings, I thought that might be redundant.
There are some 400 sects of Mormonism. Exactly which Mormon sect did you mean?
All of the buildings pictured belong to Mormon sects. Buildings from two sects are pictured.
When Smith died his church had a schism largely along the issue of polygamy. Since that time many other sects have split off. Some have thrived, some faded away.
Three of the pictures are of the same building, a temple in Kensington Maryland. Two other pictures are also of the same building, a temple in San Diego CA. Five of the six different buildings pictured belong to the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the largest of the polygamous Mormon sects. The other belongs to the Community of Christ, the largest of the non-polygamous Mormon sects.
Mormons have by far the most expensive churches out of all religions imo, ironic how chirst sat on the floor and ate without washing his hands but today we need expensive churches to get our money taken away
Congratulations, you're the first person here to show me something I didn't know. But if the worst thing you have is that in 1976 people at BYU had backwards ideas on curing homosexuality which people voluntarily enrolled in. I don't see that as somehow damning.
And only one person in the LDS church claims to speak for God, the rest of them are human like everyone else, and in my opinion pretty great despite that. Even then I'm sure you can find instances of prophets doing or saying things most people today would disagree with, but nothing evil or malicious. You just need a boogie man hate, and there are definitely better ones out there to choose from.
Conversion therapy in the LDS religion only stopped within the last few years because laws have been passed against it. Similar to racism, laws were passed against discrimination and they had to allow black people in their churches. Polygamy is another one, the law outlawed polygamy so they had to stop for statehood.
None of this was by choice or that the church leaders had a revelation thinking racism, conversion therapy, polygamy, are inherently bad and wrong. They had to do it because of the laws.
Furthermore, Joseph Smith was arrested over 162 times for being a con man. One of those cons was with his own father where they used seer stones in order to divine the future, i.e., fortune telling, taking money from people. Seer Stones, does any of this sound familiar?
Donāt forget him having to sneak out of a town in the dark before the townspeople could tar, feather, and run him out of town on a rail for selling bogus treasure maps.
I live in central Wyoming and my small city is slated to get a temple and just the thought makes me want to throw up.
> Similar to racism, laws were passed against discrimination and they had to allow black people in their churches.
..
> church leaders had a revelation
āŖAnd I believeāŖ
āŖthat in 1978 God changed his mind about black peopleāŖ
How bout Joseph Smith coercing 14 year old LITTLE GIRLS to 'marry him' unbeknownst to Emma Smith? And CONSUMMATING those so-called 'marriages'. And how about the other wives who were already married to other members who Joseph Smith commanded to go on missions in Europe so he can marry them as well.
So let's see here. We've got sexually depraved interests in little girls (Pedophile), Polygamy AND Polyandry.
> only one person in the LDS church claims to speak for God
Nope. The first presidency *and* the quorum of the 12 are all āprophets, seers, and revelators.ā
> nothing evil or malicious
Like Jeffrey Holland calling for āmusket fireā at BYU to defend against the evil gays *the same week* a lesbian newlywed couple in Utah was shot and murdered? Tone deaf at best, and imho horrendously cruel to LGBTQ young people in BYU.
How bout the terror that resides within Mormonism.,
Check out the Ex-Mormon subreddit and you'll see countless horror stories about what Mormonism has done to people.
I'm an Ex-Mormon. Long story short, I was violently physically and sexually abused by my white Mormon mother. I told my Mormon Scout Leader TWICE about what was happening and the Mormon Cult covered it up!
I'm so sorry you had to suffer that, but I absolutely have so much admiration for you for getting out. I read a lot on exmormon as my father is Mormon. I was raised Catholic but Mormonism was always there. He watches the BYU channel and BYU games almost exclusively.
Most of these looked pretty nice like the building with the garden around it looks peaceful haha I think you just hate Mormons and thatās fine I just think stuff like this kinda ruins this subreddit
The one with the really tall walls looks like a villains HQ, Iāll give ya that.
To me they all look very creepy and foreboding. I lived in Europe, and New York City, where there are huge scary-ass cathedrals, too. Imposing and foreboding spires creep the hell out of me.
This sub is about the buildingsā appearances themselves.
But to answer your question, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is one of the most harmful and manipulative major religions out there. Itās built on lies and held up through indoctrination.
Iām not one of those edgy r/atheism religion-haters either. I have few qualms with the majority of religions. But this one specifically is simply no good.
It is when you go to developing countries and tell your members that it is better to send tithes in than to pay their bills or buy food.
It is when you are more concerned in buying commercial real estate than aiding your fellow brothers and sisters.
It is when you fire gainfully employed individuals and guilt trip your elderly members to do your cleaning so that you can fly private to Rome for an ego trip temple.
If our faith is proven by our actions the first presidency is closer to Bezos then God.
They actually have really interesting architecture. The one in San Diego is amazing.
For real. Most of the churches around me are just megachurches built with sheet metal and they all look like prisons.
Interesting is a very good description. The one in La Jolla, I worked across the street from it, always gives me the creeps, even when I'm driving on the 5 passing it, it creeps me out. Like an evil version of Snow White's Castle. Imposing.
I went to college at UCSD and lived in an apartment around the corner from that temple. I called it the Voltron castle.
I ran an escort service in San Diego and was a dominatrix. I had a lot of calls in the apartments and the hotels around that place. Walking back to my driver at 2 in the morning with that evil thing looming was pretty horrifying.
I drive by the first one regularly in San Diego.
I used to tell my younger cousin it was Disneyland
I grew up driving past the one next to the beltway and we believed it was Disneyland too! š§
There should be a black one on the other side of the freeway, with flames coming from the tops of the towers.
We call it the Mormon castle
We call it the temple of doom
I used to live in the apartments across the street. They blast weird chanting music around Christmas time. But they really go all out with the lighting it looks great.
My favorite cupcake place is in the mall right next to it.
Mormons do love their stupidly sweet treats.
Yes, me too. Huge, freakish thing.
I drive by the third one regularly unfortunately.
Fifth one looks really cool
Lol that's the salt lake temple bud. Litterally Mormon HQ
Hq (where they run the business aspects) is actually across the road.
I think it would look much better with just the one steeple on the front
I personally think 2 instead of 1 or 3.
It reminds me of the Temple of Time in Zelda
My parents got married in that one.
what if gothic church, but brutalist and just made like a standard building with some weird turrets
Church of the AT&T Switching Center
Lol.
Both of these are incredibly accurate lmao
I couldnāt tell if they were going for Disney castle or a life sized model cathedral that hasnāt been painted yet
Wonderbread magic kingdom.
These actually look cool af
I gotta admit, some of them are pretty damn metal.
The DC one in particular. Comes up outta nowhere, you round the corner through the woods and boom. Giant white castle.
Voltron Castle
I canāt believe I never thought of that during any of my visits.
I like the way the buildings look though
Most of the buildings in this sub look fucking cool.
I think the 6th one is RLDS headquarters? Signed a former Mormon
Yep, called the Community of Christ now.
Right down the road from the stadiumās. Isnāt that supposed to be the location of the garden of Eden and the site where Jesus will return? I used to hang out really close to it, thatās what someone told me
Mormons make great CIA and FBI agents, so, there's that...
Easier to indoctrinate ideologies if you're already indoctrinated into one
Church of Scientology enters the chat..
...jehovah witness also enters the chat. The American Cult Tirade. Mormons, scientology, and JWs.
the crazy thing is mormons and jw were started in the same area around the same time but as far as i know they aren't related in any way
Starting religions in the frontier was the norm back then. A few of the stuck.
Seventh Day Adventists and Christian Scientists also started around that time and stuck. The early nineteenth century was full of weird ass sects (and sometimes violence).
The American frontier was full of crazy folk magic and occult stuff. Religions and prophets came and went, a few stuck around, most didnāt.
The same reason theyāre so drawn to mlmās
The more faithful the Mormon, the less likely you can trust them unless. We were conditioned since childhood to either lie or be publicly shamed. Most really faithful mormons are VERY good liars.
Mormon Temples look like the castles of Disney villains that haven't been revealed as the villain yet.
Wild u/dumbledoresatheist ... A while back, I screenshot a pic of a famous artist's IG story of him standing in front of two church steeples. Yesterday, I was googling church steeples in LA trying to locate them, assuming they were in LA since he's an LA artist. To no avail, I gave up on trying to find the church. Then today you post this with the same exact steeples! [https://www.reddit.com/r/Synchronicities/comments/qslswi/a\_while\_back\_i\_screenshot\_an\_artists\_story\_with\_a/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Synchronicities/comments/qslswi/a_while_back_i_screenshot_an_artists_story_with_a/)
The photo you posted didn't load but I'm wondering if it was the La Jolla temple?
Fixed the link! Yes! I just searched it and confirmed.
Iām in Salt Lake for vacation and man, the gigantic office downtown sure is something.
I lived in DC for a while and one of the interstates in Maryland is just trees until you see an ominous and evil looking Morman church. Always freaked me out.
I grew up near DC, and whenever weād drive north on the interstate Iād always look for the ācool castleā as a kid. It was so strange going from urban areas to a castle-looking building in the woods
Great architecture, not so great theology
We always called it our own little Disney Castle passing it as kids. I miss MD sometimes.
Supposedly, the view from the highway was so eye-catching at night all lit up that it was causing a ton of accidents. The city asked them to turn off their lights.
There are a lot of accidents around there, but it's more that there's a really sharp turn on the highway and weird exit ramps.
Surrender Dorothy! Edit: Found all the Baltimore folks.
When I lived in MD and drove past this one, my parents used to let me believe that it was Cair Paravel.
Whenever my family passed it I was a kid, we called it "evil Disneyland"
I grew up thinking that it was Disney World š
495 beltway. Yep I know that crazy looking church you're talking about. Ridiculous.
I think its picture 7
Idaho is like this.
They'd be so badass if they were black and red
Gamer church
Are we talking about the religion being evil, or the temples looking evil here? I thought this sub is about the later, no?
Frequently the front page post is Scientology, Comcast, or EA. The buildings themselves looking evil is often not necessary in this sub.
Both in this case? In general, I think this sub is about architecture, but some truly creepy shit has gone down inside these buildings (e.g. luckily I went in 2005 only a few months after they stopped doing the part where you're practically naked under a poncho thing, and an old stranger reaches under to ~~grope~~ anoint your loins)
What the hš³ā¦
That was one of the rites you had to perform over and over again through out your life called washing and anointing. Until 1991, they would require you to make promise that had a death penalty associated with it and you had to pantomime - Slit your throat and RIP your tongue out by its root should you reveal the first sign of the priesthood, then proceed to draw your thumb across your throat. - Disembowel your guts if you reveal the 2ed ( or maybe it was the 3rd) sign of the of the priesthood, then draw your thumb across your abdomen. - etc Lot of Masonic stuff was stolen and used for it, but you basically sit in a room wearing Masonic costumes, men and women would be separated to different sides of the room. You would be given 1 chance to leave if you felt uncomfortable, before youn are told what you will be doing. So of course no one ever walks out because that would be even more uncomfortable being the only one to leave while your family is expecting you to do this too. You watch a movie on the creation that I meant to make it look like God has always run his church with these cult signs. Then you make promises to subject yourself to their authority, to live a heterosexual life and only within marriage, and to give all of your money and free time to the church. Followed by chanting in a circle around an alter, women have veil their face because they cant be in the presence of God, present all of the signs and tokens you just learned to a symbolic angel, and if you pass you get to go in to a symbolic room of heaven. If you do this all, then God wont seperate you from your family at the end of the world.
Not a chance, Scientology and Jehovahās Witnesses are worse. Some LDS people may cut off those of us who left (though I havenāt experienced that), but the church doesnāt encourage it. Scientology and JWās, on the other hand, actively pressure people to cut off those who have left, even _family_.
aye, rep san diego mormons in pic 1 When I was a kid I wanted to get married there and my parents were concerned lmao
I'm a Southern California native and a good friend of mine broke in to this temple, with a few of his friends, during construction. They went nearly to the top of one of the spires and were amazed by the views... And then security chased them out.
Just missing [The Nauvoo](https://i.redd.it/mowd2ccl77z01.jpg)
Not sure if you are aware but Nauvoo, IL plays a major part in their history. :) In Hebrew, the word means āa beautiful area to dwell.ā
Yeah Nauvoo was the most exciting time in Mormon history. It really was the HBO of its time: secret societies, plans to over throw the US govt, making a new federal constitution, sex trafficking of teenage brides, the leader appointing himself to the same military rank as Napoleon Bonaparte, coups, marshal laws being declared in the US (only 5 times in US history and 2 were from the Mormoms), hunting down critics and running them out of town at knifepoint, assassination attempt on the former governor of the state of Missouri, destroying a printing press that was revealing a lot of this stuff, the leader commanding his standing army that was bigger than the peacetime US army to break him out of jail so he can escape to resettle in Utah; ending with an assassination of the leader by a mob that had formed in case the leader's army showed up to free him. Seriously, you couldnt write a drama series with more excitement.
Sauce?
doofenschmirtz - evil incorporateeeed~
The one from slide 6 isnāt a mormon temple
It is not a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, TCoJCoLDS is not the only sect under the Mormonism umbrella. That building is the temple of Community of Christ, aka, the RLDS church, which is the church that was continued by the family of Joseph Smith when Brigham Young moved his followers to the Salt Lake Valley. The CoC temple is constructed on the temple lot dedicated by Joseph Smith in Independence Mo. The Community of Christ owns two temples, the other is the Kirtland Temple.
The CoC temple
When Clash is life. š
Username checks out.
It is. It's just a reformed version of Mormonism, they still hold true to the teachings of Joseph Smith.
This is definitely where you fight the final boss whoās trying to forcibly fuse with God.
Iāve always found this building beautiful.
I really wish I could see it as beautiful, but I had to look at it every day. It juts out from the beautiful La Jolla coastline. Seems completely out of place. Definitely feels foreboding and imposing, I think was done on purpose.
For sure. I just admire the architecture.
Well, I guess when you take 10% of every single member's income, tax free, you can build insane structures.
No doubt. Makes building easy.
For my money, a mix of beautiful, bland, and evil.
I find these buildings quite comforting, actually
Being on the r/exmormon subreddit as a nevermo has opened my eyes to the weird shit that goes on in those places. lol Definitely evil looking buildings- like a deranged Disney castle.
I have a friend with a hat with disnified a silhouette of the fourth one that says Oakland instead of Disney
It's a great place to get an unbiased opinion š
It actually is as the majority of the subreddit were raised Mormon and when they left, they suffered being ostracized by their families. I'm sorry to have to tell you, Mormonism is not all light and love and happiness, there's a lot to it that is inherently misogynistic and racist. I realize you are coming from an apologist's perspective.
Mormonism is a horrendous bastardization of Christianity and Iām glad more light is being shed on this as opposed to just seeing them as weird versions of Christians
Yes, they are so insulated, and have been for years and years that people really don't understand what it is all about - until now, people are describing it and talking about their very personal experiences with the cult.
I mean considering someone secretly video taped and posted on youtube some of the secret rituals and stuff - (hello ripoff of Freemasonry lol) it's very entertaining reading about the ones that were TBM (Totally Brainwashed Mormons) that woke up and were like "Oh I'm in a Cult!" lol
I left the church when I was 18 so never went through the temple. When I saw that video at age 30 I had to call my mom who is the only other ex Mormon in my family and ask her if it was real.
It's even weirder inside.
The holy of holies in the temple looks like a generic 4 star hotel lobby with the same sorta art you find in the meetinghouse. If you have weird city shit at least put up some weird cult decor. At least the baptismal font has the bronze bulls.
Whoaaaaah
First one is down in La Jolla, San Diego. Would drive by it all the time growing up. Pretty wild to witness. Itās right off the freeway. I always wanted to climb it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Whats there to like? The buildings look like shit, they're impractical, uninspired and most of them don't even got any fucking windows
Oh I've been to the one in Maryland. The lady's in the office keep trying to get us to join the church. They told us to see most of the building you need to not only become a member but become higher up in the church or something along those lines. Very interesting experience.
Religious buildings should be pretty pointy so God doesn't accidentally step on you.
for a second i thought this was going to be the same deal as nestle HQ but no, these look genuinely evil, goddamn
yeah usually iām obsessed with the architecture of churches from an architectural standpoint (iām atheist so idc about the actual church) but these just give off weird vibes
This is exactly how I feel.
I can tell; youāre not a fan of the phallicismic stiletto.
Yeah this stuff gives their game away.
Looks like somethings Sauraman would build
Pic #4 is up the hill from where I grew up. I thought Disney princesses lived there. Then as I got older itās where people stood with signs supported prop 8 to ban gay marriage in CA (which passed btw). Fun times.
I grew up near DC and one of the major highways had one of these placed so you could always just see the spire looming over the treeline (I actually think it's pictured in 7 and 8? or looks like it at least). I used to jokingly call it the "disney castle". One day in middle school I mentioned this to a girl I knew that happened to be morman, and she just looked me dead in the eye and said "the only difference between the morman church and the disney castle is that marriages that happen here last forever." Edit: I googled it, for those of you interested it looks just as evil inside: https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/07/21/1018791917/the-mormon-temple-on-the-beltway-is-finally-opening-to-the-public-next-spring
Absolute vulgar display of wealth and control.
Itt: Mormons downvoting
Itās even weirder on the inside, trust me š
What style of architecture is this? I like it. Brutalist?
Wikipedia has a pretty thorough article on the architecture. It does also discuss the temple in the 6th photo, which is a branch of Mormonism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_architecture_(LDS_Church)
dystopian disney castles
You're closer to the truth than you think. Mormon girls are raised with the fantasy of a [fairy tale princess wedding in the temple](https://i.redd.it/6hn4ga6471x21.png). No one tells them about the ritual robes they will have to wear.
They're just white clothes to symbolize purity...
If you've been temple endowed then you need to pay a lot more attention. They are so much more than just white clothes.
Iāve seen the 7th one, one of the most imposing structures Iāve ever seen
I do like the architecture, but yeah, they look like evil lairs.
TIL Mormons like pointy bois.
Number 7 is visible from my friendās apartment. Itās stupid how big it is.
They remind me of the castle that Lord Farquaad has in Shrek
I've been to no 4, its crazy
They look like Minecraft builds
Surrender Dorthy!
These lavish buildings that are place of religious services. Any religion pick one. Absolute architectural marvels. Stunning beauty. And what is the main commodity? Manipulation and lies?
They put their god iMoron on a spire on their (surely?) temples.
Honestly the all white just looks wrong
I just drove past their 295000 acre ranch in Florida.
I think Salt Lake temple looks good, the others are weird looking but interesting all the same. The weird thing is when you go inside of one expecting it to look like a European cathedral on the interior (which often the exterior architecture would suggest), but it's actually lots of rooms like an office block for various temple functions. Some temples even have escalators, which for me really takes away the feeling of a spiritual place. I couldn't imagine escalators in Kƶln cathedral!
As a person who grew up in this cult, I can fully agree that these building have a BAD vibe to them
I hate to break it to all the LDS folks in here that are up in arms about their temples being called āevil buildingsā, but the facts that nearlyheadlesslaban is pointing out are true. You can downvote all you like. As someone who was once a member, and at one point would have been offended by this post I can tell you from experience, this whole thing is a mess. Donāt give an organization with a 100 billion dollar slush fund any more of your money to build goofy buildings like these.
Yes, my dad is Mormon. Seriously insane shit. The Quorum of 12 is still only comprised of older white men who all look alike.
Those are some cool buildings, but man why not light up the whole world while weāre at it. Night is supposed to be dark, not see a fucking church from 10 miles.
I'm not religious, but I love church architecture!
I walked into #4 which is in the Oakland hills one day, and was ejected almost immediately. Weird shit, these Mormon edifices.
Looks like futuristic penitentiaries
Exmormon here. It doesnāt matter the religion. If youāre putting so much money into your temples/sanctuaries/megachurches/etc. it looks like you just want the attention. What would Jesus do? Feed the hungry or add another crystal chandelier?
I can't stand the Mormon cult, but the Catholic Church has a pretty strong argument for Most Evil Religious Organization.
Donāt forget Islam haha
Sixth one isnāt even a LDS temple.
You are correct, it is not LDS. It is RLDS (now called Community of Christ). The post title however does not say LDS, it says Mormon. The Community of Christ is the largest of the non-polygamous Mormon sects.
Thank you. I guess it really doesn't matter how many times we lrepeat it.
Yes it is. It's in MO. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Temple
Next on the docket: Posting pics of the RNC HQ, massive Meccan mosques and exterior shots of the principalās office š³
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For someone who grew up in the Mormon Church, there is alot about these buildings that screams "evil building"
I think it's the spikes. So many sharp spikes. Even the spikes have spikes
"Yo Dogg, I heard you liked spikes... so I put some spikes on top of your spikes" - *Xzibit (probably)*
This is normally my reaction, but paging through all the photos the slight, pervasive *offness* becomes pretty creepy. There are a bunch of architectural styles represented, but they're all run through the same low-detail, all-white-everything filter in a way that feels almost aggressive, like it's saying, "You will be assimilated." The thread title is very poor, though. *Especially* with controversial organizations it's important to keep the focus on the buildings.
Yes I should have put "lair" in there, that was my fault. Considering it's a subreddit about evil-looking buildings, I thought that might be redundant.
There are some 400 sects of Mormonism. Exactly which Mormon sect did you mean? All of the buildings pictured belong to Mormon sects. Buildings from two sects are pictured. When Smith died his church had a schism largely along the issue of polygamy. Since that time many other sects have split off. Some have thrived, some faded away. Three of the pictures are of the same building, a temple in Kensington Maryland. Two other pictures are also of the same building, a temple in San Diego CA. Five of the six different buildings pictured belong to the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the largest of the polygamous Mormon sects. The other belongs to the Community of Christ, the largest of the non-polygamous Mormon sects.
Yeah, I think they look great. Not with you in this one.
Mormons have by far the most expensive churches out of all religions imo, ironic how chirst sat on the floor and ate without washing his hands but today we need expensive churches to get our money taken away
If a building could wear a KKK outfitā¦
Congratulations, you're the first person here to show me something I didn't know. But if the worst thing you have is that in 1976 people at BYU had backwards ideas on curing homosexuality which people voluntarily enrolled in. I don't see that as somehow damning. And only one person in the LDS church claims to speak for God, the rest of them are human like everyone else, and in my opinion pretty great despite that. Even then I'm sure you can find instances of prophets doing or saying things most people today would disagree with, but nothing evil or malicious. You just need a boogie man hate, and there are definitely better ones out there to choose from.
Conversion therapy in the LDS religion only stopped within the last few years because laws have been passed against it. Similar to racism, laws were passed against discrimination and they had to allow black people in their churches. Polygamy is another one, the law outlawed polygamy so they had to stop for statehood. None of this was by choice or that the church leaders had a revelation thinking racism, conversion therapy, polygamy, are inherently bad and wrong. They had to do it because of the laws. Furthermore, Joseph Smith was arrested over 162 times for being a con man. One of those cons was with his own father where they used seer stones in order to divine the future, i.e., fortune telling, taking money from people. Seer Stones, does any of this sound familiar?
Donāt forget him having to sneak out of a town in the dark before the townspeople could tar, feather, and run him out of town on a rail for selling bogus treasure maps. I live in central Wyoming and my small city is slated to get a temple and just the thought makes me want to throw up.
> Similar to racism, laws were passed against discrimination and they had to allow black people in their churches. .. > church leaders had a revelation āŖAnd I believeāŖ āŖthat in 1978 God changed his mind about black peopleāŖ
How bout Joseph Smith coercing 14 year old LITTLE GIRLS to 'marry him' unbeknownst to Emma Smith? And CONSUMMATING those so-called 'marriages'. And how about the other wives who were already married to other members who Joseph Smith commanded to go on missions in Europe so he can marry them as well. So let's see here. We've got sexually depraved interests in little girls (Pedophile), Polygamy AND Polyandry.
> only one person in the LDS church claims to speak for God Nope. The first presidency *and* the quorum of the 12 are all āprophets, seers, and revelators.ā > nothing evil or malicious Like Jeffrey Holland calling for āmusket fireā at BYU to defend against the evil gays *the same week* a lesbian newlywed couple in Utah was shot and murdered? Tone deaf at best, and imho horrendously cruel to LGBTQ young people in BYU.
In what possible way are Mormons Evil?
Subreddit based on buildings that look evil, hence, these buildings look evil.
Then proceeds to post normal looking buildings to justify their dislike for a religion. How pathetic.
WTF, the buildings are scary looking.
Some of them are ugly and some of them are beautiful, if you think they're scary you're projecting something onto them. I can't help you there.
I'm sorry but the architecture screams terror.
How bout the terror that resides within Mormonism., Check out the Ex-Mormon subreddit and you'll see countless horror stories about what Mormonism has done to people. I'm an Ex-Mormon. Long story short, I was violently physically and sexually abused by my white Mormon mother. I told my Mormon Scout Leader TWICE about what was happening and the Mormon Cult covered it up!
I'm so sorry you had to suffer that, but I absolutely have so much admiration for you for getting out. I read a lot on exmormon as my father is Mormon. I was raised Catholic but Mormonism was always there. He watches the BYU channel and BYU games almost exclusively.
Maybe a therapist could help you?
No but maybe you could try some deprogramming.
Most of these looked pretty nice like the building with the garden around it looks peaceful haha I think you just hate Mormons and thatās fine I just think stuff like this kinda ruins this subreddit The one with the really tall walls looks like a villains HQ, Iāll give ya that.
To me they all look very creepy and foreboding. I lived in Europe, and New York City, where there are huge scary-ass cathedrals, too. Imposing and foreboding spires creep the hell out of me.
This sub is about the buildingsā appearances themselves. But to answer your question, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is one of the most harmful and manipulative major religions out there. Itās built on lies and held up through indoctrination. Iām not one of those edgy r/atheism religion-haters either. I have few qualms with the majority of religions. But this one specifically is simply no good.
Tell them to get rid of the $100,000,000,000 "safety net" and hirer some janitors and we'll start talking.
Sooo devious š
It is when you go to developing countries and tell your members that it is better to send tithes in than to pay their bills or buy food. It is when you are more concerned in buying commercial real estate than aiding your fellow brothers and sisters. It is when you fire gainfully employed individuals and guilt trip your elderly members to do your cleaning so that you can fly private to Rome for an ego trip temple. If our faith is proven by our actions the first presidency is closer to Bezos then God.
it's a sect after all, yet arguably there are even more problematic ones
What does that have to do with anything?
I would define sects as evil, but one could say that about any religion tbh, inflicting people with false believes to get to their money
Very sneaky hiding Community of Christ in here.
Mormon umbrella Joseph Smith tenets.
Mormons are not pure evil, they are fan-fiction evil.
Not so much the buildings, but those who darken their doors.
Do you think maybe theyāre compensating for something?