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Mormons Make Great FBI Recruits

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80 points churchill | 6 comments | 01 May 23 13:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.909s | source | bottom
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cashsterling ◴[01 May 23 14:50 UTC] No.35773559[source]▶
I worked with an ex-Mormon guy for about a year or so who was an ex-CIA contractor. He said there are a lot Mormons in the CIA as well and they called it the "Mormon Mafia" (mostly in a joking manner). So when he'd meet new people within the CIA who were Mormon they would sometimes ask him, "Mormon Mafia?", if they suspected he was Mormon.

This guy did his mission in Russia and speaks Russian... so there you go. He had some crazy stories about doing mission work in Russia. He was almost killed several times.

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1. cjmcqueen ◴[02 May 23 03:49 UTC] No.35783155[source]▶
As a member of the church that also served a mission in Russia, this all checks out. Putin's government and the Russian Orthodox church were incredibly brutal towards outside religions.
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2. oska ◴[02 May 23 09:11 UTC] No.35785038[source]▶
I would guess that they are 'brutal' (your word) towards evangelical religions, which does make sense if they want to protect their culture that is linked to the Russian Orthodox church. I don't imagine they are 'brutal' towards Buddhism, for example, which isn't evangelical (i.e. doesn't send out missionaries and only teaches its religion to those who express an interest by themselves).
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3. cjmcqueen ◴[02 May 23 12:32 UTC] No.35786418[source]▶
I lived in Ulan Ude, a predominantly Buddhist town and province of Russia near Lake Baikal. Lots of people, when asked their faith, would say "shamanism". But that was a cultural hint and misnomer. People would practice their religion out in the woods or travel to the large Buddhist temple outside of town because most public officials and the Russian Orthodox church did not allow for Buddhism practices in town.

When I was in Omsk I listened to a man testify that the Russian Orthodox church was good because Father Oleg the local priest had a man killed because he was trying to collect a debt on a member of the church.

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4. foverzar ◴[02 May 23 20:41 UTC] No.35793883{3}[source]▶
> because most public officials and the Russian Orthodox church did not allow for Buddhism practices in town

This is total bs. For one, it is always super fun to see how slavic-supremacist types get butthurt over being unable to do anything about religious holidays of other ethnicities.

And look, you've even ad-hoc'ed a dark unrelated anecdote. Pushing agenda much?

5. foverzar ◴[02 May 23 20:48 UTC] No.35793985[source]▶
In what way? I regularly get to enjoy pipe organ at a local Catholic Christian church.

I've only heard about controversies regarding Jehovah's Witnesses, but that's the problem nonspecific to Russia.

6. zeruch ◴[04 May 23 18:17 UTC] No.35819824[source]▶
They are brutal towards proselytizing ones, certainly.