A young family member is going on a mission
A young family member is going on a mission
So for the rest of this day, I'll be getting texts from 17 other people responding to this prayer request.
Edit: Other than the initial flurry of hearts and replies pictured below, it's actually been pretty quiet, thank goodness.
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My condolences. It's such a stupid, dangerous, and exploitative practice.
In my former religion, it was 2 years in a foreign country. I'm lucky many of my family members came back alive, given the places they were sent. They "laugh" about stories of being assaulted, robbed, houses broken into, extorted and threatened, but it's a joke now because it's all part of "gods plan"
So disgusting.
(Edit: It's also a way to make sure that they face stress and doubt away from any resources that might help them out of the abuse. Instead they're at all times with another cult member tasked with keeping them on the straight and narrow. It's more a 2 year indoctrination session where the member gets exposed to anti-religious views through aggressive proselytizing, but then is forced to work through that alternate view in a directed and monitored way so that they reach the "right" conclusion. When they get back, they're so much more incredibly difficult to have a conversation with, because they've entrenched all the bullshit)
I'm unfamiliar with missionary work like this, how is it exploitative?
You mean despite all the reasons i just listed?
Oh, exploitative to the missionaries. I thought you meant the people being preached to, your comment didnt touch on that which is why I was curious.
oh gotcha
No, not exploitative of the recipients of the proselytizing any more than usual.
The base point is to separate the cultist from their support network and put them in an unfamiliar environment where they only that the cult to rely on, building and entrenching their psychological dependence on the cult. That's the exploitation.
well, any converts are also exploited. but mostly, its the missionary being exploited. Frequently the "good works" jobs are labor for companies assotiated with the group, or for "donations". Then there's the rejection by people who are annoyed at getting woken up at 7am on a weekend (or 10 am, because one works nights,) which generally drives people into further solidarity. ("the world is mean, don't fuck our group up. OBEY." is the message here)
as for how it's exploitive of converts, tithes, and the general exploitation involved, yeah?