While waiting for the bus, I met a mormon. He said he was from the Church of Jesus Christ. He was well dressed, like a car salesman. He had an accent, said he was from Italy. I am part Italian, too.
I decided to talk with him, even though I have chosen not to follow a religion. His last name was Caruso, I think. I told him my last name. He said it was very common in Italy, like Smith or Brown is here.
So, he wasn't going to be able to find my long lost relatives. But I let him speak. Not only was he dressed like a salesman, he spoke like one, too. He went on and on... I wondered what kind of training program they had for people to do this sort of thing.
He told me about the mormon religion. They do believe in the Bible, but they have another book called The Book of Mormons. I asked him if there were alot of mormons in Italy. He said there are more Catholics. That did not surprise me. I grew up attending a Roman Catholic Church.
He assured me that he was not trying to recruit me in anyway. Finally, he asked me what I though about what he said. I told him that I had friends of many different faiths... Christian, Jewish, Muslim. I don't believe any one religion is correct. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I don't want to belong to a religious group. And I'll keep my beliefs to myself.
Posted by elsie at April 28, 2003 11:07 PMOh! I really hate it when people come up to me and try to recruit me! I was at the Mobil station on Rt 9 (the one before Stop and Shop) and this guy came up to me. He asked me if I was a UMass student. Yup! I was! Well, anyway, he asked me if I wanted to go to his Christian group meeting and asked me if I was religious at all. I told him that I'm not very religious and haven't been to church in some time. He decided to bore me with talk about how important God is in everyone's life. I think he asked me if I believed in God too. I think I reponded with, "I believe that people have to make up their own minds." What I meant by that, and I'm not sure if he got this, was that religion can be used as mind control. And if you're not careful, you'll be going around to complete strangers trying to convert them.
Posted by: Elliott at April 28, 2003 11:34 PMWhat makes someone a "complete" stranger?
Posted by: Liz at April 29, 2003 01:22 AMNot knowing anything about who they are.
Posted by: Elliott at April 29, 2003 09:42 AMAnother rhetorical question answered. Thanks. ;)
Posted by: Liz at April 29, 2003 10:07 AM