Thursday, October 15, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Engines Revved at a Stoplight
Late Thursday evening I made a trip down to UCSD’s Giesel library to check out some of their Mormon themed books. As I was skimming through Thomas O’Dea’s classic “The Mormons,” a folded printout fell onto the floor. The counter-cult had left there calling card, a print-out from Mormon Research Ministries about the Book of Mormon and DNA. I pulled it out and set it aside.
Next, I thumbed through Hardy’s “Solemn Covenant” and once again found the print-out compliments of Mormonism Research Ministries. This time it was a testimonial from a lady who had spent 20 years as a Mormon and then decided to get the heck out of dodge.
UCSD has an extensive Mormon Studies section, completely taking up 2 bookshelves, comprised of 200-250 books. Given that the randomly selected books that I had picked up from different shelves had both had been visited by concerned Evangelicals, I wondered about the rest of the books. Sure enough, somebody had taken the time to pain-stakingly produce several hundred printouts and insert one into every Mormon themed book in the library.
I removed the print-outs from the dozen or so books that I looked at that night. As I did, I imagined somebody returning the next day to take tally of how many printouts were missing and reporting back to his counter-cult ministry that twelve people had been exposed to the “real” Mormonism through their diligent efforts. Nobody would be there to burst their bubble and let them know all their efforts were wasted on an already slightly disgruntled Mormon who found their stealth tactics disingenuous.
I felt defensive for a moment. I contemplated going through all the books and undoing all their tedious preparation. Standing there in the library I was reminded of something I had concluded years earlier: The Evangelical counter-cult is riding the intellectual short bus. I had spent way too many years in my teens and early twenties playing cat and mouse games with them. I would feel all the dumber for playing along on this night. I couldn’t be bothered to go through a dozen more books, let alone two whole book shelves to undo their work. I dumped the dozen or so printouts that I had collected in the recycling bin on my way out and walked out of the library with a smirk on my face, feeling satisfied that the short bus had revved its engine next to me at the stop light and I had refused to race it.
Next, I thumbed through Hardy’s “Solemn Covenant” and once again found the print-out compliments of Mormonism Research Ministries. This time it was a testimonial from a lady who had spent 20 years as a Mormon and then decided to get the heck out of dodge.
UCSD has an extensive Mormon Studies section, completely taking up 2 bookshelves, comprised of 200-250 books. Given that the randomly selected books that I had picked up from different shelves had both had been visited by concerned Evangelicals, I wondered about the rest of the books. Sure enough, somebody had taken the time to pain-stakingly produce several hundred printouts and insert one into every Mormon themed book in the library.
I removed the print-outs from the dozen or so books that I looked at that night. As I did, I imagined somebody returning the next day to take tally of how many printouts were missing and reporting back to his counter-cult ministry that twelve people had been exposed to the “real” Mormonism through their diligent efforts. Nobody would be there to burst their bubble and let them know all their efforts were wasted on an already slightly disgruntled Mormon who found their stealth tactics disingenuous.
I felt defensive for a moment. I contemplated going through all the books and undoing all their tedious preparation. Standing there in the library I was reminded of something I had concluded years earlier: The Evangelical counter-cult is riding the intellectual short bus. I had spent way too many years in my teens and early twenties playing cat and mouse games with them. I would feel all the dumber for playing along on this night. I couldn’t be bothered to go through a dozen more books, let alone two whole book shelves to undo their work. I dumped the dozen or so printouts that I had collected in the recycling bin on my way out and walked out of the library with a smirk on my face, feeling satisfied that the short bus had revved its engine next to me at the stop light and I had refused to race it.
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