Well, I do not know what to say, except you seem to have encountered some strange characters. Whether they were strange because they were Mormons or in spite of it (or whether they were really Mormons at all), I am not prepared to say. However, I have never heard such things taught at church.
But what disturbed me the most was the gal I dated who gotten a divorce from a Mormon and had been driven out of the church. That was the first time I suspected how cloistered most Mormons are.
Once again, I have never heard of anyone being "driven out" of the Church because of a divorce. People can be excommunicated for serious offenses such as adultery or abuse; but divorce is not grounds for excommunication.
I suppose some Mormons may be considered "cloistered" in the sense that they avoid contact with the outside world, but most of us do not.
Your people drove me out of the Church just last week. See it all here on FR.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812842/posts
Start at about post #400 and read through to #1200 and you’ll get the feel for the interchange. Yep, last week after being browbeaten by the LDS, that I am not ‘truthful’ because I never resigned, I finally did it. I officially resigned. You are all such good and loving people, great neighbors etc, etc, etc....
Glad to be out!
You seem like a rational creature. I just have to tell you my encounters with Mormons are fairly regular here in Las Vegas and many of those situations have been quite strange. My boss is Jack Mormon turned complete atheist and he backs up my observations (I am not an atheist, so please don’t claim it is the satanic non-believers who are finding fault). So you may indeed be rational, but quite a number of your brethren are not.