The Secrets of the Christian Right's Recruiting Tactics

The old ass kissing technique. I thought that it was obvious, but apparently it is not. I love the turning point in cult movies, and by that I mean movies that actually depict cults, where the ass kissing turns the corner into dictatorship. Curveball.

I just wanted to weigh in on my own personal experience. I'm Mormon. I've served two years as a missionary in South Korea. I have held a few different leadership positions in my local church (we call them wards). Some religions may engage in the type of cynical, deceptive "lovebombing" described in the article, followed by banishment of those who fall away. That has not been my experience with what is taught and practiced in my church. When talking to non-Mormons, ex-Mormons, struggling Mormons, or whoever, we are asked to not only act kind and sincere, but to be kind and sincere. In fact, we are asked to be honest in all of our dealings with other people.

As a missionary, of course I would tell people the good things about my religion. You want to put your best foot forward. I would also tell people the truth when they asked about things that troubled them about my religion. I tried to be kind to people who were interested in learning about my religion. I tried to be kind to those who weren't interested too. I still keep in touch with a few of those I met in Korea who have no interest in converting. Also, my local ward is currently providing food assistance to two families in my neighborhood who are having a tough time financially. Neither family has the slightest interest in joining our church. We still help them because we can and it's the right thing to do. The money to do this comes from our church members fasting for one day each month and donating the money they would have spent on those meals to take care of those in need. As for banishment, that hasn't been my experience with those I've known who have left the Mormon church. Just the opposite, in fact.

As to the main topic, those high-pressure, deceptive tactics might be good to get some people in the door, but it won't keep them there once they see how the operation really works (i.e., how members are recruited through manipulation). Also, I haven't read the book you referenced, but I have a hard time seeing how deceptive tactics like that can establish brand loyalty if the product sucks.

I generally am alright with everything you said there Voight, but not the best foot forward part. That is a sales technique, you are selling your religion when you do that. Sales techniques are biased and unethical, if your religion is truly about honesty then you should honestly present the positive and negative aspects from the begining. And let me ask you this, do you think if you were born in korea or afganistan or whatever random country that you would be mormon?

Sure, it's a sales technique. Not every sales technique is per se unethical. The question is whether it is deceptive or not. As a missionary, I would teach the basic doctrine to those who wanted to learn. I would invite them to ask any questions they had and I would answer as honestly and completely as I could. If I didn't know the answer, I would tell them that and try to either find out the answer or point them in the right direction to find out for themselves. I wouldn't lie to them. Ever. And trust me, with my horrible Korean, it would have been incredibly difficult to manipulate any Korean into joining my church. Plus, most of the people I taught were a lot older, smarter, and more educated than I was.

You mean, would there be much of a chance that I would be born into a Mormon family? Statistically, probably not. The odds aren't all that high for a kid born in the US either. If you are asking whether I would convert to Mormonism if I came from one of those cultures, I would like to think that I would. I've personally taught people from other cultures in other languages who have converted because they believed they recognized truth in what we taught. There is little we teach that is not in harmony with their culture.

Edit: I just wanted to add that what I am writing is just based on my own personal experience and what I understand about how my church and its missionary program operate. Others may have had negative experiences that were quite different from what I described. If so, sorry. Someone from my church screwed up.

JVC, I'm sure you are being very fair to the people you're talking to, especially compared to other evangelists. But I'm just saying, the concept of putting your best foot forward is always a deceptive, biased sales technique. With the question part, I was saying would you choose to be mormon if you weren't born into a mormon situation. I know you'd like to think you would, and maybe you would, and of course people have been converted. Did the converted people get equally timed religious pitches from other forms of christianity, muslims, jews, buddists, secularists (haha), etc. Probably not. But, all I'm really saying is that the situation a person is born into has a hell of a lot to do with what religion they are. So in my book it's always a good exercise to think about what you'd be like if you were born into a totally different situation.

Sorry I got a little off topic there Ludwig. I vaguely know what you're talking about with the Saturn drivers but how exactly did they love bomb the Saturn people again?