Beyond Unity: Why “Family Harmony” Was Never the Goal

Leaving Mormonism didn’t break my family; seeing the difference between unity and enmeshment did

On discovering that unity was never the answer.

My family group chat is called “Uniquely United.”

For most of my life, I thought that name represented something beautiful: a family so close, so connected, that despite our individual quirks, we functioned as one harmonious unit.

Last week, my dad sent a message to that chat calling for exactly that kind of …