Door-to-Door Atheists

Seeing as my last article was a real downer, I figured it was about time to post something a little sillier and came across this video over the weekend.

An independent filmmaker, tired of being bothered by door-to-door Mormon missionaries, decided to turn the tables on them. He and a friend dressed up as "atheist missionaries" and went door-to-door in Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the Mormon church, preaching the beliefs of atheism - or, I suppose, the lack thereof. The results are pretty much what you would expect. Even the Mormons, who themselves spend a year or two as young adults going door-to-door, don't much like it.

From a spiritual technology standpoint I've wondered for years about churches that try to recruit by going door-to-door. It amazes me that anything so generally annoying to most people would be even marginally effective at bringing in new members. But I suppose it's a little like spam e-mail - even though I've never met anyone who will admit to responding to ads for penis enlargers or letters from Nigerian princes looking to launder illegal funds, the scammers wouldn't keep doing it if there was really no money to be made there.