OPINION & EDITORIAL
Deceptive religious recruitment far from ‘Christ-like’
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Also by Adi Lev-er:
- Madison unleashes progressive energy (October 24, 2007)
- Deceptive religious recruitment far from 'Christ-like' (October 10, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Greek life worthwhile for many (September 27, 2005)
- Don't be ashamed to know my name (October 25, 2006)
- Campus safety needs high priority (November 21, 2005)
- Swan song after 4 years in Madison (May 2, 2006)
by Adi Lev-er
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I practically collapse walking out of Memorial Library, feeling a migraine setting in and wanting nothing more than to get back to the serenity of my dorm room, when a girl asks innocently, "Can I give you this? My dad wrote it. He's a fireman." In my post-studying weakened state, I don't stop to question what she could possibly be handing me, until I open it up and one line, written in big, bold print, jumps out at me: "Lord Jesus Christ."
I have lived in Madison for less than two months, but being accosted by religious recruiters in the street has become a regular occurrence. Although this may be something we just need to get used to, living in Madison, I for one am tired of being treated as a target. A number of the religious organizations on campus work on expanding into the broader campus community but deliberately do not reveal what group they are promoting. Christian organizations should state proudly the beliefs and way of life that they encourage, for they are theoretically seeking membership from students with similar beliefs. So if they initially hide their intent, can we conclude that they are trying to convert students of different faiths?
Of course, I am a firm proponent of freedom of speech, and if you want to stand outside the Humanities building screaming "Fear God," fine. But if your goal is to get students to take an active interest in religion and perhaps join one of the University of Wisconsin's many religious organizations, then all I am asking is that you be upfront about it.
In early September, when thousands of freshmen students were filing out of the Kohl Center after the Chancellor's Convocation and gathering on the grass to eat lunch, bright yellow pieces of paper were floating around among the students. As I began to wonder what everyone was filling out, a student approached me, offering me a free DVD and telling me that if I filled out a short survey I could win a Best Buy gift certificate. It wasn't until I was halfway done with the survey that I reached a question asking if I was interested in becoming closer to God. Regardless of any desire I may have to improve my relationship with God, this organization's methods completely turned me off. This attempt at expanding membership underestimated the intelligence of our student population. If they just wanted to spread the word about their organization, there was no need to hide their intent to begin with, which means that they deliberately sought to trick students into signing up for an organization whose mission the students may not even support.
It disturbs me to picture students in these organizations sitting around at their meeting, plotting together: "Okay, how can we force freshmen with no interest in our organization into signing up?"
I'm not contesting the First Amendment rights that clearly protect these individuals. I don't want these students to be locked up or fined for their behavior. I just want to be treated with respect. Although the larger issue seems to be the morality of imposing your own religious beliefs on others, I'm not going to be the judge of that. When a group parades around the capital, shouting about the way to be saved, I can keep on walking; when someone approaches me on the street and asks how I feel about Jesus, I may be annoyed, but I can casually brush him or her off with no harm done. I'm just tired of being tricked. It's humiliating to find yourself in one of these traps.
Some of these religious organizations may be exceptional groups that promote social service, community and spirituality. But I can't help but wonder, how moral can these underhanded schemes be? I mean, really, what would Jesus do?
Adi Lev-Er (alever@wisc.edu) is a freshman majoring in communication arts and journalism.
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 2:18am):
See, the girl wasn't telling you her father was a fireman. She was telling you her Father is a Fire Man -- as in, if you don't do exactly what she says, she believes the Father will rain hellfire down upon you.
Somehow, Library Mall seems to attract a disproportionate number of lunatics.
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 4:29am):
Hmmm, how do you feel about an organization that spreads lies and half truths about a company involved in supplying troops in Iraq? Not only do they spread the lies, they also prevent other students from talking to the organization through intimidation, they disrupt campus when they are anywhere near it. They prevent rational students from talking to the company, they could at least show a little respect to the students who do not believe the lies.
I hope, for consistency sake, you are against these nut jobs too. I would venture to say you are not, because you do not believe in religion (and I agree, some of those pushing on campus can be annoying), but as long as the speech is not religious in nature, it is ok (or perhaps you agree with the anti-Halliburton because the VP once worked for them gang, whether the info spewed is truthful or not).
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 10:03am):
Too much religion, not enough drugs.
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 10:17am):
I was similarly deceived by left-wing activists during the last presidential election. I think it goes both ways. Stop whining that they tricked you, and do the smart thing: don't take fliers from people.
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 10:42am):
And it's not just religious organizations that do this mostly deceptive practice known as 'rebating.'
'I know, let's hand out free T-shirts to all the gullible college kiddies in exchange for them signing up for our credit cards bank accounts, cell phones, and newspaper subscriptions.' This always happens during the first week of class.
For once I would like to walk down the mall without being harassed by someone offering me something. Is that too much to ask?
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 12:49pm):
"At least they didn't come on with the 'SUBMIT OR DIE' theme used by Islam."
You are an ignorant fool.
Glad to see the same basic column in the campus papers about religious people hounding people for the fourth straight year. Keep up the good work!
Anonymous (October 10, 2007 @ 2:49pm):
What if her dad could actually summon hellfire? Maybe this article just pissed him off BIG TIME.
How does hellfire rain down? Isn't hell in middle earth with the hobbits, or something? Wouldn't it have to rain up, maybe like dew? Hell-dew doesn't sound too scary, though.
Anonymous (October 11, 2007 @ 1:19am):
You guys need to just walk by those idiots. What's with people stopping and listening recently?
No one ever used to do that and I liked them being ignored that way.
Anonymous (October 11, 2007 @ 4:52am):
I appreciated the author's primary point, but I wonder: did he really unknowingly misrepresented what actually occurred or was he purposefully twisting the facts to come to such a harsh conclusion. His accusation of devious students using plotting immoral "under handed schemes" to dupe and "force freshmen with no interest in [their] organization into signing up" for their organization is offensive and not based in reality. Perhaps it just a misunderstanding, but since he's dealing with some concrete, thought distorted, examples, this line of reasoning is offensive to those he's accusing.
Since I was one of those involved in inviting people to fill out a questionnaire, let me spend a couple minutes to shed a little more light on what happened and illustrate how far off the author is with his conclusions. I have to believe even the author of this article knows that he misrepresented the facts when he insinuates that people were unwittingly signing up for an organization. Certainly that would be ridiculous and wrong. Of course, no one signed up for an organization that day. What did happen? We used five simple, multiple choice questions to find out what people on campus thought and to survey a bunch of people in order to connect with people who really were interested. After we gathered the results, we simply respected those who freely expressed they didn't have an interest in anything we were offering by discarding their cards. We didn't hide the group's identity. In fact, many of us wore t-shirts with our group's name largely displayed. That information was right on the yellow cards as well as on flyers and brochures that were also available. With thousands of people streaming out of the Kohl center, there wasn't much time to convey all that information. But that doesn't make it deceptive. That was just the reality of the constraints of the situation. Like I said, anyone could see on the card the sponsoring student organizations. Remember, the point of this short questionnaire was to allowed us to connect with those who wanted to know and connect with us at another time. The fact that the author of this article realized so quickly that the questionnaire had a straight-forward faith component further proves how open we were. Again, we are against coercion and deception, but does anyone really think it is deceptive to use a gift certificate as an incentive and a reward to those who took the 45 seconds or so to fill it out. What's wrong with that? It's simple marketing and it isn't immoral? All questionnaires were entered into the drawing and already the student winner has received the prize. Who said that religious groups can't be a little savvy in their approach.
My point for writing isn't to defend religious folks who shame, guilt or use deception to win people to their side. I'm sure it happens. And, you're right, that would be wrong and not Christ-like. But be careful that you too don't defame others on campus through unsound arguments and use deception during your rants to recruit people to your viewpoint. That' wouldn't be righteous either.
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