I was substituting a high school class today at the International school. During class a group of students began talking about David Archuleta, the heart throb American Idol contestant who also happens to be Mormon. The conversation started out innocent enough:
"Do you think he's cute?"
"I think he's too young looking,"
etc.
Then another girl pipes in, "He's Mormon," (in a tone that was like, even if he is cute he's freaky because he's Mormon).
The only guy in the conversation totally showed his ignorance by saying, "What??? There are Mormon's in Austrailia?"
The girls quickly clued him to the fact the American Idol is in America, not Austrailia and the conversation died.
This isn't the first time I've heard kids/adults talk about Mormons as if they were something eerie. Sometimes I pipe in and stand up for myself, other times I let the conversation go so I can listen in and get a better idea of what people really think about my religion. One time a class was researching different religions, and as the students were researching on the computer one said to another, "Yeah, but you know what the Mormons did? One of them predicted Jesus Christ would come in like the 1940s on a certain date, and then he didn't come." I felt it was necessary in that situation to set the facts strait. I told the kid he must have the wrong religion. He assured me he didn't, and I told him I should know because I'm Mormon. After a little googling we were able to find it was in fact another group. With comments I've read from the internet regarding Mormons and encounters such as these described above, I continue to wonder on a scale of 1 to 10 how freaky does the World believe Mormons are?
7 comments:
Its beyond our comprehension. Its big. They do. But the bottom line is, they should. We stand out and thats the way it is suppose to be. I see the gap growing everyday and I am so glad I am with the freaks. We are standing on the solid ground side. Thats fine by me. I know it will change one day. It will have too. We will have what the world needs, and they will still probably think we are freaks when we are helping them out. Its okay.
I have often wondered the same thing. There are a lot of really extreme religions out there compared to us. However, it has been prophesied that we would be called a peculiar people. So peculiar we are. One day those kids might want to be a freak too. Mormons are not freaks, but some freaks are Mormon.
Is Michellemybelle Michelle Spurgeon?
yes it is Michelle S.
My students in B.H. had never met a mormon and were constantly asking me ridiculous questions about how many husbands I had, etc. I couldn't believe the ignorance and flat out bigotry that surfaced as a result of the romney campaign. So crazy.
What is Michelle's blog?
mymichellebelle.blogspot.com
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