[ExI] Do you have a secret family pass phrase?

[Darin Sunley]

The LDS missionary program is only secondarily about recruiting new members
from the general population. Really, the people running the program don't
care if the nice young people in the shirts and ties and nametags ever
convince anyone of anything.

The program is designed from the ground up to cement the lifelong emotional
loyalty of the missionaries themselves, who are barely trained children
spending two years living away from home in a commune under a
complete media blackout.

The carrot is that, after they finish their stint as a missionary (which
they themselves paid tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege), they
are on a track that, if they pursue it, can take them into
senior leadership positions within the church..

They are barely equipped to even present the elevator pitch for their own
theology, much less grapple critically with anyone else's, because That Is
Not The Point.

On Sun, Dec 29, 2024 at 10:11 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On 27/12/2024 14:45, efc at disroot.org wrote:
> > The mormons often seem more afraid of me, than I of them, when we
> > start to discuss philosophy and they soon tire of the conversation. ��
>
> I've had a similar experience with Jehovah's Witnesses. It's odd that
> the god squad seem most reluctant to talk to people who seem to actually
> know something about religion! It's like mathematicians being leery of
> anyone who shows any knowledge of maths.
>
> This may be my cynicism showing, but I suspect that it's because they
> are more interested in compliance with their particular viewpoint than
> understanding. If you want to understand things, you're obviously not
> good convert material!
>
> I think it was Luther who said that reason is the enemy of faith. Seems
> he was right.
>
> --
> Ben
>
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