A new cult in town..

A new cult has moved into the middle school near my house. It appears to be related to this "church planting" organization.

The middle school had been occupied by this cult., but eventually they got their own space.

So of course, what we need in our middle school is for another cult to move in.

Anyhow, I thought it was time to make sure, given the recent spate of burglaries in the neighborhood, that the last thing I needed was more fliers telling me about their wonderful "church which isn't really a church." So I contacted 'em...

To Whom It May Concern:

Please do NOT distribute leaflets in the Westridge Place neighborhood, which surrounds ________. In particular please do not leaflet or come to my house (______). Please have no people come and call for us or proselytize. Do not phone us. You are not welcome on our property. We have no wish to join your cult.

_________ has had a rash of burglaries lately, and your organization would not want to be liable if your leaflets left in doors or elsewhere advertised to criminals that some house's occupants are not home. If that were to happen to my house, and your leaflets were left in our door or elsewhere, I would contact a lawyer to initiate legal action against your organization. Do not take this personally, I have the same policy towards other cults, pizza joints, cleaning services, and so forth. Please enjoy the facilities you have rented, but please be respectful of our neighborhood.

The last cult that was in ________ leafleted the neighborhood continuously, despite admonitions to do otherwise. I would hope that you would be a better and more conscientious tenant, and I would humbly hope that you show greater respect than they did.

You are on notice.

In addition, I would note that I personally interpret the idea that yet another cult's church needs to be "planted" in our neighborhood smacks of arrogance and pride. Pride, being a form of greed, is a serious poison to humanity. It is also clear that in the past few decades, with the explosion of fundamentalist and literalist cult churches such as yours, America has experienced a decline in morality, and an upsurge in greed, hatred and ignorance. This, to me, seems to naturally stem from the very premises of biblical literalism. I harbor no illusions that I have any chance of dissuading you from acting on your cult's beliefs, but I still am compelled to ask you to reconsider your cult's belief system. Regardless, even if you do not, I would ask that you treat your neighbors who do not follow your cult with respect. While I have no problem in principle with your cult meeting at our local middle school, I would ask that you try to remember your are, as we are, guests who are only temporarily here. Let's not be nuisances.


Finally, perhaps you have taken umbrage at my use of the term "cult." According to yourdictionary.com, your stated beliefs do indeed qualify for the use of that term, since they are clearly extremist. Again, if you take umbrage at the use of that term as applied to your organization, perhaps you might want to reconsider your belief system and practices.

Cordially,