June 20th, 2007 patriotism+religion=ignorance
So I have been at BYU for about 2 and a half weeks now. I have generally observed that the natives here are much more “friendlier”. The reason I put that in quotes is because sometimes, the friendliness is so over-the-top that it seems too superficial. Here is a typical scenario:
::Maxx walks out of his apartment onto the 2nd floor balcony, and there are some people standing below on the courtyard.:::
Stranger: Oh Hi! How are you!
Me: Hi, I’m ok. You?
Stranger: I’m doing great!! What’s your name?
Me: Uh.. Maxx.. Yours?
Stranger: My name is ********. You’re with the math program here?
Me: Yeh…
Stranger: Awesome! What are you guys doing?
Me: We are still learning new stuff for the most part…
Stranger: Great!
Me: yeh..
Stranger: So do you want to join us later on? We are having a bible study and then a water balloon fight (or singing or watching some 60s movie.. etc…)
Me: Uh… actually.. no thanks..
Stranger: Aww.. why not???? So where are you from?
Me: I’m from NJ..
Stranger: Wow.. quite a trip out here huh? So do you like it here so far?
Me: Yeh.. I guess its a lot different here… I’m atheist so..
Stranger: I see… I went on missionary to Russia last year… this must like that for you! Like you were in Russia or something…
etc etc etc…
I was standing in line at McDonalds, and I ran into someone who lives right below my apartment. After the typical conversation above, he said to me,
****ApartmentMate: Isn’t America just so cool??
Me: Um…. depends on what you mean by cool?
****ApartmentMate: I mean the story of how we came to be.. this is such a great country…
I kid you not. The above conversation really happened.
The strong vibe I am getting about Mormonism so far is that the Mormons really truly believe that America is the direct result of God. The Book of Mormons tells a story of Jesus Christ visiting the US, so as far as they are concerned, USA is sort of like the new Israel, a holy land that was made democratic by the power of their God. So then why are they not outraged that America has become one of the least free democracies in the world? Do they even know this? Do they know that the Netherlands are more democratic than the USA?
