Another silly question for a Thursday morning, but I wonder how the LDS church compares to others for trying convert and have new members come to America (or another country). Joe Smith & Co. first and B. Young later really wanted a bunch of warm bodies to build up their personal kingdoms. More serfs, more power.

Were not the pilgrims the first religious immigrants??? That laid the ground work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2011 08:16PM by sukiyhtaky.

Well yeah, but they were escaping something they didn't like.

I'm pretty sure Thread Killer was asking if other religions go to other continents to recruit members with the main purpose being to bring them back to their own country like the LDS did in Europe in the mid 1800's.

thought it up, but it's probably a borrowed idea like almost everything else in Mormondom.

There used to be a quota of how many could come in from each country. Gee, what a brilliant idea. Then the politicians all wanted more votes and that is how we got in this mess. Some say Repubs wanted cheap labor but Dems love that too so don't be fooled. It is all about greedy politicians. The various religious groups love that their numbers increase as well. Churches should not be promoting illegal immigration. I am glad my church stays out of this madness.

I can't think of one.

Could this be something unique to Mormonism?

While emmigration isn't exactly what happens every time, the idea that members need to come together and live as one is common to a lot of popular cults.

Jim Jones gently leading his flock onto the pasture in Guyana comes to mind, but it depends on what you mean with emigration.

I think lots of cults like to take their victims to isolated places, or assemble them in one place. America is so big they do not need to "emigrate" for that, but in Europe it is almost by definition in another country than where the members come from. I once read an article in Spain's leading newspaper El País which claimed that the Canary island of Tenerife was the European cult capital, as a relatively large number of cults had gathered in its interior villages, but there are also many cults on mainland Spain and in Italy, usually in depopulated mountain hamlets.

So, in conclusion, many cults promote emigration. The mormon cult may be the only one that grew so big though.