Good magazine has an interesting look into what is easily the most annoying religion on the planet in, The Mormons are Coming.
Each year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends 20,000 missionaries around the world. These highly devout Mormon youth are the force behind the rapid expansion of what is arguably now the world’s fastest-growing religion.
Mormon missionaries hit my door at least twice a year. they are persistent and annoying. At least the Korean Bible Believing Baptist church that called at my home yesterday was polite enough to leave without too much fuss. I don't expect to see them. They understand "Not Interested". The Mormons (and the JW) come back again and again. After reading The Mormons are Coming, I understand why.
And after two months of doctrinal and foreign-language training, graduates will travel the world as part of the most successful missionary force on the planet. Warby and Mortensen are just two of the 20,000 recruits to come through the training center each year who go on to convert roughly 300,000 people annually.
19 year old men and women pay their own way through the training program. They volunteer in droves. It is a Mormon right of passage. Missionaries are in 145 countries were they focus on conversion of the existing religious populations. Did I mention Mormons scare me?
Today, he and Warby are relative veterans on-site; just hours earlier, the new recruits wept as they said goodbye to their parents. The welcoming ceremony was reminiscent of a college freshman assembly, with a mix of inspirational exhortations (“You have now joined the ranks of over 53,000 missionaries throughout the world who are carrying out the Lord’s work”) and the mundane details of institutional life (“Don’t lose your meal cards.”) But here you’ll find no floppy-haired nonconformists, little racial diversity, and only a handful of women. Apparently, conformity breeds camaraderie: After one drill, an instructor congratulates his underling: “That was awesome! Damn! Great explanation of why we need to be baptized!”
With a well organized missionary effort, Mormons are set to convert the masses. Read the article for yourself and then ask, as I have, is this good?
3 comments:
No. How long do canned goods last anyway?
Someone tried canned food from the Napoleonic era, and while they were full of lead, they were still edible.
It's scary that so many people pump so much money into something with so little gain. Maybe "we" should start an atheist (strike)indoctrination(/strike) camp? Charge $2.50 per head, no food, no board, and your job is to go out and persuade the religious that you're right. First one to survive more than a few days is awarded a medal. Or something. (Or give them the tough territory: Utah.)
Can you imagine: "Hi, I'd like to persuade you that this life you have is all there is. That 'God' character? Don't exist. Never has, never will." Oh, yeah. That's going to go down real well. :-)
Pity.
Religion: it dulls the senses.
Carolyn Ann
PS Apparently "< strike >" is not allowed. :-(
I would hesitate to take the article seriously if they're uncritically reciting the standard press-release line that LDS Inc. "is arguably now the world’s fastest-growing religion."
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