| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"L. Raymond" |
| Date: |
05 May 2005 11:00:24 AM |
| Object: |
Johnny Appleseed - Loathsome cultist? |
[Apologies if anyone sees this twice. It was never delivered by my own
news server, and it's not in Google so I assume it was never received]
Here's a question about a semi-obscure American cult I'm hoping someone
can help with.
I'm reading a book on home schooling by an evangelical Christian for
evangelicals, and when it comes to curriculum he advocates complete
historical revisionism based on bible thumpers' prejudices. One of his
examples is to stress that Johnny Appleseed[*] was not "a nice man", but
rather was "a missionary for one of the most loathsome cults that has
ever existed".
Johnny Appleseed was a member of the Church of the New Jerusalem, which
is still around today (http://www.newchurch.org/). Their site is all
fluffy-bunny love stuff, of course, and it looks about the same as a lot
of sites that push grace rather than hellfire. Their founder's writings
are all online (http://www.heavenlydoctrines.org/), not that I plan to
read all of them, but so far I see only minor deviations from standard
bible stuff. So does anyone know why an evangelical would call poor old
Appleseed's church a most loathsome cult?
* John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, is an American folk hero who
traveled about planting apple trees so settlers had a source of food as
they pushed west.
--
L. Raymond
.
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
