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By Kent Larsen
Salon Looks At Religion, Mormon Missionaries
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC -- The online magazine Salon launched a series of
articles yesterday on religion in the US, and started its coverage by
looking at LDS missionaries serving in Prague. The result is an entertaining
look at missionary work in a foreign country and at the potential for
religion in the US.
Salon associate editor Amy Standen observes that the US is actually a very
religious country, with 95% of its population claiming to believe in God and
54% claiming to attend a church at least once a week. Surprisingly, it also
claims that education and money aren't barriers to religion here, with no
significant variation in participation rates between the educated and the
non-educated, or between rich and poor.
What does make a difference is family status -- singles are more than twice
as likely to be non-believers as those that are married with children.
Standen interpretes this to mean that Americans see religion as a guidance
system for family and social responsibilities, rather than a personal,
solitary relationship with God. In this Mormonism, according to Standen, may
be ahead of other religions in transforming America into a country with more
volunteerism and community activism. Looking at the work of LDS
missionaries, Standen writes that the LDS Church "builds the duty of working
for the community into the meaning of being a Mormon."
In a separate article, journalist Tara Zahra looks at exactly what this
means for the average LDS missionary, in this case, in Prague, Czech
Republic. What she discovers about LDS missionary life is well known to LDS
Church members; 19 and 20 year old men and 21 and 22 year old women try to
get the Czech people to listen to the gospel, while living a life focused on
spirituality. Zahra observes the missionaries in a "street display," in
which missionaries try to attract attention by preaching in public. But, she
observes, "One man seems to mistake the missionaries for Disney World
characters, handing his camera to his girlfriend and strolling over to have
his picture taken." She gives the impression that this display is largely
unsuccessful.
But missionaries tell her that other strategies work. The missionaries teach
English classes and contact people on the street. One pair of Sisters tell
her that they strike up conversations by using the language barrier. They
sit down next to a prospect on the train, and ask the prospect for help
reading unfamiliar words in Czech in the Book of Mormon. They claim that
half the time they manage to give away the Book of Mormon.
Zahra is dubious about some features of missionary life, however. She sees
the lifestyle of missionaries, regulated by mission rules, as isolating them
from both their homes and from the people they are trying to teach, "The
practical effect of the missionaries' unity in isolation is that, for two
years, they live in a cultural twilight zone. They are fully part of neither
American nor Czech society; they're exposed to foreign cultures (many for
the first time), and also strictly sheltered from those cultures. How, then,
do the mostly American missionaries understand the Czech population they
serve?"
Culturally, Zahra also sees difficulties for Mormonism's acceptance by the
Czech people. She sees obstacles because beer is often cheaper than water
there, and because of tithing and sexual mores. But Zahra is impressed with
the way missionaries return from their missions, because of how the mission
changes them.
And she makes a connection with one missionary. An Elder Mattingly asks her
advice on a potential career as a science fiction writer. She tells him to
expect a lot of rejection. He immediately responds, "That's OK, I'm used to
rejection."
Sources:
Faith in America
Salon 20Nov00 N1
By Amy Standen
What does religion mean now? Is it a mystical experience, a collection of social protocols or just common sense?
and
When the saints go marching in
Salon 20Nov00 N1
By Tara Zahra
Mormon missionaries abroad lead a life of evangelism, community service and mind-numbing austerity.
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