Kontextmaschine

28th April 2023

Post reblogged from The grace of a collapsing cathedral with 90,494 notes

sinnahsaint:
enki2:
Which is why it’s important to not be mean.
Their cult teaches them that the world is full of scary monster people who hate them for being so good and loved by god. If you swear at them and call them names or get in their face you’re just doing the cults work for it.
I’m not saying you have to listen to their presentation or try to debate them (and really getting into a debate without thoroughly understanding what they’re being taught will just make things worse)… I am just saying to be polite and say no thank you like if they were trying to hand you a flyer for something you don’t care about.
It’s easier for them to see the world outside their bubble as less scary if they see everyday people just going about their business and being as nice to them as you are to everyone else. This goes doubly for anyone who happens to dress modestly, not swear, and not drink or smoke because whatever you believe, they’ll see you as a “good” person who happens to strangely have no interest in their “message”, and that might be enough to get some curious about the possibility of themselves living in the real world.
It’s sometimes hard to be nice to people who seem to represent something you dislike. Just remember these “elders” are sheltered young men, some of which are getting their first real contact with people of other/no faiths.
They are not your enemy. They are victims.
They aren’t being sent out to actually convert people, they are being sent out hoping that they will be harassed and treated poorly so they view those outside the cult as dangerous and evil and stick to the safety of the familiar group.
You being mean to some teenager isn’t sticking it to anyone, you’re doing exactly what their church elders want to happen.

Like, it’s great we’ve picked up on the “indiscriminate proselytizing yields much rejection which solidifies connections with community of origin” trick but performed at scale it really does draw converts too. At a small but regular rate that’s pretty independent of any content, and seems to correspond to the rate of people in the world looking for a major life change, though the relative wealth/quality of life of the target and missionary may matter.

Christian churches, Scientology, and the Mormons really do gain converts in proportion to the efforts they put into seeking them.