Missionaries in Bulgaria behaving badly...maybe

[_Mercury]

http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/christian-orthodox-priests-want-mormons-out-of-bulgaria-report/id_29809/catid_66

Compare to this incident around temple square:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=4038

[_TrashcanMan79]

I'll offer Smac's post on this from the MAD/CFR board since there appears to be conflicting accounts of what actually occurred. He wrote:

Here:

Bulgarian Orthodox Church priests from the town of Bourgas on the Black Sea have asked the authorities to extradite a number of Mormon ministers, all of whom are foreign citizens.

According to local-based website bourgasinfo.com, the Orthodox priests from SS Cyril and Methodius church in Bourgas wanted the state to ban the preaching of the Mormon religion in Bulgaria.

These requests follow the June 5 2008 incident that happened at the church. During the service for Spassov Den (the day of the Ascension of Christ the Saviour, celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter), the Mormons entered the church and interrupted the service by talking to people, according to the priests.

“This is inadmissible. They started walking around the church talking to people. They have crossed all boundaries because that way they infringed our religious freedom as Orthodox Christians. It was an act of religious hostility,” father Zahari Dachev told Bourgasinfo.com.

“We have sent a letter to the state institutions and to the US embassy asking them if this is how their citizens live in our country by breaking our rights and freedoms,” he said. “Bulgarians' tolerance is being taking advantage of.”

Dachev entered into an argument with the Mormons, who were physically removed out of the church in the end, reports in Bulgarian media said. Dachev has filed a complaint with the police.

According to him, this was not the first time that the Mormons have come to the church. At Tsvetnitsa (Palm Sunday), they were handing out flyers about Mormon religion to9 people waiting to enter the church.

The LDS Church is is standing up for its missionaries:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released this statement: "Contrary to erroneous media reports, two missionaries serving in Burgas, Bulgaria, did nothing to disrupt the services of a local church, and when asked to leave, did so immediately. The missionaries were invited to attend the church service by a member of the congregation."

And here:

The LDS Church said an Orthodox Christian priest's allegations that Mormon missionaries interrupted a religious service and had to be removed are "erroneous."

"Two missionaries serving in Burgas, Bulgaria, did nothing to disrupt the services of a local church, and when asked to leave, did so immediately," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement. "The missionaries were invited to attend the church service by a member of the congregation."

Church spokesman Scott Trotter declined Monday to answer questions about the incident reported in Saturday's edition of The Sofia Echo, a newspaper in Sofia, Bulgaria.

According to the report, the Rev. Zahari Dachev of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Bourgas, Bulgaria, told Bulgarian media missionaries entered the church Thursday during services for the ascension of Christ and "interrupted the service by talking to people."

Dachev reportedly argued with the missionaries and had them taken out, then later filed a complaint with Bulgarian authorities and asked for the the LDS Church to be banned in the eastern European country, where it claims more than 2,000 members and a single mission.
...
The LDS Church emphasized in its statement that "missionaries and members of the church are brought up to show respect and tolerance to the doctrines and members of other religions."

And here:

The website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bulgaria posted a statement on the issue in response to the news that was reported intensely by Bulgarian-language media.

"Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not invade in SS Cyril and Methodius temple in Bourgas," the statement said.

"Missionaries and members of the church [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] are brought up to show respect and tolerance to the doctrines and members of other religions and this respect is reflected in the doctrine of the church [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints].

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is officially registered in Bulgaria in compliance to the country's laws and church members follow these laws completely."

[_Inconceivable]

I recall the tracting tactic of getting "buzzed in" to secured tenament buildings by unasuming home owners - LDS or not. As I reflect back, it wasn't this single homeowner's right to permit us to infringe upon their neighbors privacy. It was a dead wrong strategy on our part as missionaries desperate for success.

In like manner, Mormon justification to crash another religeon's church service by claiming an invite from an unassuming congregant is deceiptful and contemptable. It's no excuse for such behavior. The Mormon church should have stepped up and expelled the missionaries from the country. But they didn't. They know what they are doing because it's policy.

When your philosophy is right and everyone elses is "all wrong", "the end justifies to means".

If the church loses this one, they will do what they always have done: Propagandize the loss as unjust persecution and a despicable act of Satan.

Taking into account the history of the country, Bulgarians have a more vivid recollection of what true persecution is. The Bulgarians deserve a break.

[_Sethbag]

I'm mixed on this one. I can very easily see a priest from another church being overtly hostile to the missionaries and basically making more of it than it really was. I don't think I fully trust either the Priest's version of things, or the LDS Church's.

I never attended an actual Sunday church service in another church on my mission, but I did go into a Catholic cathedral in Ravensburg toward the end of my mission and enjoy the chanting and organ music. It was a musical service for some Catholic holiday, and there was a chanting choir, chanting priests, and the pipe organ. Really cool. My comp and I went in there though not to talk to anyone or proselyte, but rather just to take it all in and experience it.

I'm all for the missionaries being able to go experience others' church services in this way, but to be more respectful perhaps they should remove their badges and decline to discuss Mormonism with people while they're there.

On the other hand, there's such a thing as freedom of association, and if a group of people holding a church service does not wish the Mormon missionaries to be present during their service, then the missionaries should leave.

One last thing. It's my experience that a lot of Mormon missionaries do have a somewhat cavalier attitude about some things, that derives specifically from the certitude they feel that they have the real, honest Truth to give people, and that they're doing people a huge favor just being there (whether the people appreciate that or not), so who knows.

[_Boaz & Lidia]

"Missionaries and members of the church [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] are brought up to show respect and tolerance to the doctrines and members of other religions and this respect is reflected in the doctrine of the church [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints].

HORSE CRAP.

BULL CAAHH CAAAH FECAL MATTER.

Mormons are brought up being told all others are in error and have closed minds and hardened hearts.

It is the wet dream of every zealous Mormon missionary to walk into a xtian service, push the minister to the side and preach Mormonism to the congregation.

Remember what Jesus told Joseph about the other religions??

Sure, they claim to have respect and tolerance, but actions speak louder than words and this one screams.