Last night my 'TBM' bf asked me if i would like to go to a inner faith fair that was happening at the institute building on his college campus.

I actually coudldn't believe this was actually going to happen, so I said yes thinking I would go and just be told how great TSCC is.

To my surprise there were other churches present:Jewish, Methodist, Lutheran, TSCC, and a couple Non-Denominational Christian churches.

There were a good amount of people but I later realized it was mostly mormons.

When it came time for the churches to present on their religion, most of them talked about what makes their church unique or how they celebrate the Sabbath day. When it was TSCC's time to present all they did was gather all the Mos in the room and have them sing a hymn, which was the longest hymn ever there was a lot of premature clapping going on. Of course the Mos' singing didn't compare to the hip christian worship teams that where there, and they didn't present any information about what makes their church/beliefs different. It was odd.

So odd, that my 'TBM' bf towards the end mentioned that he thought his Church's presentation was lame compared to the others. He said "We didn't tell them anything about we believe! They didn't learn anything about my Church."

On a side note! The Jews brought wine into the building! :D

When I was in institute we had a Jewish rabbi come speak.
I noticed that he seemed let down that we didn't get the point...at all.

His whole point was that Jews aren't a religion. They're an ethnicity or a culture. Some aren't religious at all...including himself, a rabbi, and being religious isn't even required to BE a rabbi.

He clearly seemed insulted by some of the questions...including mine. Mormons consider themselves modern-day Jews, and our questions were all in a self-serving wannabe context. For example I pointed out that the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-sponsored organization, had denounced the door-to-door distribution of a christian ministry anti-mormon DVD in Arizona. We were basically all saying hey cool we're with you and you're with us...persecuted for our faith!

Waitaminute...He just tried to say he was an atheist, only a Jew by birth and culture, and as a rabbi he ran a cultural center...not a church, not a faith. Jews were persecuted just for being Jews by birth...not for anything they professed or did, not for their faith...not by choice.

Mormons on the other hand are only rarely persecuted to the total degree that Jews massively were...that is outright murdered, stripped of all rights and property, exiled, jailed, etc. And, when crimes ARE committed against mormons, civil authorities respond.
What mormons most often call "persecution" is nothing more than civil criticism and objections to what they openly claim and do. And, some of what they call anti-mormon lies are true. They're actually lucky that just enough people lie or misrepresent them that they can blanketly act like ALL critics do.

Incredibly, mormons have compared themselves to both Jews and blacks. They have insulted both these.

I degress, but my intended point is that Mormons "appreciate" other religions only inasmuch as those religions can be put in a mormon box anyway.
They say "there are lots of good people in the world" (people that kinda act like mormons).
They say "there are lots of good values and beliefs in the world" (that seem kinda like mormon values and beliefs).
But they're still xenophobic in calling so many other value systems "immoral".

We were transparently communicating to this rabbi that we appreciated his "faith" because WE have faith and we know what it's like to be persecuted and misunderstood for our faith...missing the point that 1) he thought faith is bullsh1t and 2) He's not persecuted for his faith...Jews were persecuted for their ancestry.

I find that mormon interfaith interest is shallow, only intended to aggrandize themselves.

I really enjoyed reading your response.

It helps to explain why of all the tables, my 'TBM' bf wanted to spend the most time there talking to the rabbi about the Old Testament.

Fantastic post. I can't tell you how much you have my mind spinning from reading that.

CuriousObserver Wrote:
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> Last night my 'TBM' bf asked me if i would like to
> go to a inner faith fair that was happening at the
> institute building on his college campus.

Holy Crap! You are a cheap date! What are you doing next weekend? Taking turns hitting each other in the head with rocks? Donating blood then seeing who can run the farthest before passing out! Have some self pride. Hold out for a trip to Mcdonalds Playland for $1.00 McDouble and a water at least.

Haha, I rally am a cheap date.

I was satisfied with the deserts all the Churches brought. It really just turned into who has the best goodies at their table.

I have to say one of the non denominational churchs won; they had some Indian stuffed pastry things filled with potatoes, peas and spices. I was a happy girl at that table.

They just sang??

Of the mountain of propaganda the church has to offer, and they just sang?

I can only guess someone said only missionaries are allowed to talk to non-mos about what "the church" is about.

Lamest.Interfaith.Participation.Ever.

and then hearing this, you just don't see the enthusiasm, do you!?!?