|
Post by stormwarden on Mar 26, 2009 20:00:23 GMT -5
Do me one favor when I post this account: no derailing of the thread. That means you, Skyfire.
Okay, I had to deal with two LDS missionaries twice in two days. On the second day, I uncovered something interesting.
I found out that the missionaries read only their scripture or other holy materials, and that is IT. These particular missionaries didn't even have posters to read. They never heard of Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, or Bram Stoker, nor much in the way of literature beyond the church.
To say I find it disturbing is putting it mildly. Although, it was fun running circles around them with literary knowledge, the whole "scripture and nothing but" thing is a cause for concern.
|
|
|
Post by JonathanE on Mar 26, 2009 20:04:41 GMT -5
I would say that is rare, generally. I once knew a missionary from Arizona who had been a backup guitarist for Alice Cooper (studio musician - damned good one, too) Perhaps some of the Utah born guys would be not as well read in secular literature, but damn, that's just weird.
|
|
|
Post by stormwarden on Mar 26, 2009 20:07:33 GMT -5
Coming from you, JonathanE, it wierds me out that much more.
|
|
|
Post by Vene on Mar 26, 2009 20:12:26 GMT -5
That's really sad. But, I don't know if it's because they aren't allowed to read non-LDS materials or if, like too many people in the States, are functionally illiterate. Hey, if you can read, but don't, you're not any better off than being illiterate.
|
|
|
Post by antichrist on Mar 26, 2009 20:31:13 GMT -5
Mormons are allowed to read. Some things are frowned upon, but they're pretty liberal compared to most fundies.
Either they were trying to bullshit you, or like Vene said, they're just functionally illiterate.
|
|
|
Post by schizophonic on Mar 26, 2009 21:33:31 GMT -5
Or they're just idiots. They come in all shapes and sizes.
|
|
|
Post by Napoleon the Clown on Mar 27, 2009 1:54:19 GMT -5
That's way out of the ordinary for Mormons. Skyfire's not full of shit when he says you're encouraged to gain knowledge of the world as well as knowledge of god.
|
|
|
Post by Paradox on Mar 27, 2009 9:43:56 GMT -5
It's not that out of the ordinary for Americans though. I'm just glad that my parents started reading to me from an early age. I've loved books ever since.
|
|
|
Post by schizophonic on Mar 27, 2009 10:43:43 GMT -5
It's not that out of the ordinary for Americans though. I'm just glad that my parents started reading to me from an early age. I've loved books ever since. Reading was always one of my big hobbies, too. People were literally surprised I knew so much, when it didn't really seem to me I knew much at all. After all, anyone who cracked open a history book should know a lot of this, and we were in school, so you do the math. Or that I was well-versed in literature "for my age." I mean, I wasn't reading 1984 when I was seven, but I read an awful lot. My Dad actually got me into reading through comic books. He has a sweet collection of Spider-Man and Batman comics, the occasional Superman, etc. It's light reading, but it got me into it early. Then it was mythology. On top of reading stories like Tolkein (which I didn't entirely understand), Narnia, and the Chronicles of Prydain (Think I'm spelling that right, but the Lloyd Alexander books) he'd read "Just So" stories, legends from North America (Glooskap was my favorite), King Arthur and Robin Hood (Obviously not the darker shit), etc. And by reading them to me, he made them sound interesting and made me want to learn more. So I read more. But then, he challenged me in ways that people just don't seem to do commonly. He taught me almost everything I know about research, and prompted me to look things up instead of simply asking questions. Not that he wouldn't answer me or anything, just that he would often do so by helping me find the relevant info. Similarly, when there was a book and a movie about the same subject (the Black Cauldron, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), he'd prompt conversation about the differences. So I was reading, thinking, and learning. But to not even know names like Stoker or Christie is just plain wrong. You don't have to have read them, but how sheltered must they be (These particular people, not the Mormons in general) to have not even heard of them?
|
|
|
Post by peanutfan on Mar 27, 2009 11:07:10 GMT -5
There are fundies of every sect who say their religious text has all the knowledge anyone would ever need. There was even one politician who said something along the lines of, "The Bible contains the Word of God and the hymnal contains the best poetry in the world. All else is unnecessary and therefore I oppose all libraries."
But seriously...not to even know the NAMES, they must not watch any TV either. I constantly see references to Agatha Christie in commercials for movies based on her books, and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is still on TV occasionally.
|
|
|
Post by Caitshidhe on Mar 27, 2009 11:21:33 GMT -5
There are crazies in every group, especially in religion. Even though Mormons are encouraged to read and learn, that doesn't mean there aren't really fanatically controlling families or communities that discourage all learning and all media outside of what they think is 'right'. (And here, 'right' means 'will not make them start thinking too much or show them any viewpoints other than ours'.) They're the bizarre minority, though. I'd attribute it to the general lack of reading in the American youth today and not to their religion---if for no other reason than to get to sleep at night.
Also: Who the hell said that about libraries? Was it even said any time in the last 150 years? o.0
|
|
|
Post by peanutfan on Mar 27, 2009 11:29:16 GMT -5
Tracking down the original quote with only a partial memory is proving difficult, but I'll post it if I find it. I do know that it was made sometime in the twentieth century, though.
|
|
|
Post by delirium on Mar 27, 2009 11:37:54 GMT -5
Hahaha, last weekend some Mormons invaded my school. In Salt Lake City, you can sign up to have a friend be visited by a missionary, and some kid signed up his friend as a joke.
|
|
|
Post by ironbite on Mar 27, 2009 11:51:14 GMT -5
Bet their no longer friends anymore.
|
|
|
Post by peanutfan on Mar 27, 2009 11:51:43 GMT -5
Hahaha, last weekend some Mormons invaded my school. In Salt Lake City, you can sign up to have a friend be visited by a missionary, and some kid signed up his friend as a joke. With friends like that, who needs missionaries?
|
|