"Do you want to be happy?"
"Do you want to be successful?"
"Take this 20 second scientific test..."
"Do you have a minute..."
"A New Start..."
Everyone's got a line these days. An introduction. A way into their secret world.
These are a few of the common things I hear or read the moment I step out of my flat in downtown Bratislava. It's Spiritual Propaganda. Apparently I live on the north end of a religious buffet table with every kind of strangeness served up.
Someone rings my doorbell. The voice on the other end of the phone asks "Do you want to be happy?" My first thought is - who are you and what makes you think I'm unhappy? Who is this? - Jehovah Witnesses.
I walk down the stairs. Two girls hand me a booklet entitled - "Do You Want To Be Successful?" Jehovah Witnesses, again. Who let them into our building?
I go to my car and find advertisements plastered on the window. "Take this 20 second scientific test" it reads. Scientologists.
I walk down the street only to be stopped by a shaven headed young man in orange asking me, "Do you have a minute..." Hare Krishna...I just keep walking.
A few steps later I pass two older gentlemen offering Watchtower magazines - Jehovah Witnesses, again. Actually, they are always there. I view them more as statues or permanent fixtures to the local environment.
I look up and see a poster - "A New Start..." This is an advert for a "Revival" meeting that took place last week. They were actually well meaning Christians. I visited the meeting for about 30 minutes but left after hearing too much about handling snakes, stomping on scorpions, casting out daemons and the like. I was a bit concerned when I tried to leave and the door was locked (an honest mistake?)... obviously I escaped to tell my tale. Christians, but strange. (Possibly it was just the gust speaker, not the church?)
I approach the crosswalk and wait for a green light. Across the street are two young men that look like businessmen, but somehow not. Their little "elder tags" give them away - Mormons.
Well, this is a typical 5 minute walk from home.
Here is a little clip of a "praise parade" that almost danced over me on my way home from work... they are everywhere!
