Mormons turning to virtual door knocks

● Disciples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints take to social media

With their perfect grooming and cheery disposition, Mormon evangelists are known for receiving endless slamming doors with a smile and good grace.

Now forced by the global coronavirus shutdown to swap tactics away from knocking doors to targeting online meeting groups, disciples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are having to get used to the digital equivalent of the slamming door – the snarky Facebook comment.

Early this month Elder Josh Hales made his first attempt at virtual church recruitment with a post in ‘The Meadows

Share’, a local Facebook group with more than 33,000 members. The group serves as “a community board for those within walking distance of the Meadows to share resources, tools, skills, information”.

Mr Hales posted: “My friend Elder Jarrett Mcallister and I are giving away copies of the Book of Mormon if anyone needs something to read during lockdown”. His post was accompanied by smiley face emojis and a photo of stacked copies of The Book of Mormon. Within the post comment thread, Mr Hales clarified he was able to mail copies of the book to Scottish residents living outside of Edinburgh.

His offer was not received particularly warmly by members of The Meadows Share.

One group member Jack Barnes commented: “Would I like to read a book that claims to be the revealed truth and condones punishment on orphans and widows, cannibalism, murder ... nah mate I’m sound cheers.” Kaitlyn Nicole Wright commented: “Used to be Mormon. I thought lockdown meant I was finally free from this, but apparently not.”

Her thoughts were shared by

Janet Bruton, who replied: “I may have misunderstood, but I did not think that this group was platform for any religious belief” Other members of the Facebook group were more sympathetic to Mr Hales’ efforts and felt disturbed by the backlash he received.

Diego Maria Malara commented: “Since when is it okay to ridicule religious people on a Facebook group? Maybe admins can answer?”

Aftermrhales’postamassed 113 comments and more than 160 reactions, administrators for the group turned off settings enabling comments.

Mormons in and around Edinburgh have separately formed their own Facebook groups for people living in and around Edinburgh to join.

Malcolm Adcock, spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said: “We’re reaching out to lots of people and want to brighten their day through online chats. If they’re interested, then we’re happy to share our belief in Jesus Christ and reflect on his Gospel.

“During lockdown, there’s been an increased interest in reading the Book of Mormon. That interest has even come from people with no previous religious backgrounds.

“Since lockdown began, our full-time volunteers have assisted over 1,000 people in Scotland through online chats and other interactions. Essentially, we want to share goodwill and help people through the crisis.”