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Comment by seren | Hacker News Reader

What is interesting at the meta level is that some faiths, notably the Mormons, have a duty to proselytize, so if Facebook ad targeting is an efficient way to convert unbelievers, it becomes a moral duty to use Facebook ads rather than sending missionaries.

This also sounds slightly nightmarish once every faith will start bidding wars for some piece of your soul.

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Years ago, I got a video ad on my YouTube for the church of Scientology immediately after I had watched a few videos about it, so "bidding wars for some piece of your soul" really aren't new. It's refreshing that someone from the other side is doing something finally.

Really, though, I wonder if these things really should be a non-issue, and we should teach kids to ignore all advertising, and give basic critical-thinking skills from a young age.

Advertising and proselytization really shouldn't be as effective as they are; I think a large part of this is because (at least when I was a child) children aren't given the necessary skills to differentiate marketing from facts.

"This also sounds slightly nightmarish once every faith will start bidding wars for some piece of your soul."

That doesn't sound that materially different from the world we already live in....

It's been the status quo for milennia.

Just be glad they're bidding wars and not real wars (for the moment).

That's a pretty utilitarian outlook: "if we value Z, and approach X gets Z more efficiently than approach Y, then we should take approach X". A lot of ethical systems (e.g. virtue ethics) don't obey this rule. I wouldn't see any reason to expect the Mormons to obey it.

They won't. Much of the reason for their two-year missionary requirement is to solidify the "us vs. them" mentality at that critical age when young adults often abandon the faith they were raised with. The main strategy for growth of the Mormon church is still raising children as Mormon, retention of young adults, marriage within the church, procreation at higher than replacement rate.

Also seems like a matter of instrumental rationality:

>First, means to an end can be costly, or otherwise objectionable. Suppose that I ought to take a job in Alaska. One (sufficient) means is to fly there; another (sufficient) means is to take free passage on a merchant ship. But flying costs more than I would earn there. Presumably, I ought not fly. It may be said that I have some reason to fly, but that it is outweighed. This is an argument against Ought Sufficiency.

I can see a way that the Mormon church goes down that path, but the proselytize is typically a one on one nature by going on a mission rather than billboards. It does happen I've seen Ads for the LDS Church before (you'll never see one for Mormons).

I think the "moral duty" portion comes in on an individual basis within the church so it's a character building exercise to spread the faith as well as a moral duty. I can definitely see what you mean though there could easily be some interpretations that lead to Ads.

> I can see a way that the Mormon church goes down that path, but the proselytize is typically a one on one nature by going on a mission rather than billboards. It does happen I've seen Ads for the LDS Church before (you'll never see one for Mormons).

I thought the two titles (LDS and Mormon) were basically synonymous?

They basically are. There are some "Mormon" sects that aren't LDS but they are much smaller, and LDS adherents want to disambiguate.

They are, but "Mormon" is being phased out in favor of "LDS".

I had a dyslexic moment and read this as

> "Mormon" is being phased out in favor of "LSD".

Which is also very true at societal level.

"Buckle up kids, church is about to get weird."

> by going on a mission rather than billboards.

Two on one in mission work, and they also use billboards, TV ads, and other media extensively.

> It does happen I've seen Ads for the LDS Church before (you'll never see one for Mormons).

Presumably, this is a reference to the whole issue of the official name of the Church and the strong preference for it in media of all kinds, but ironically the the LDS official youth-oriented insipirational poster line is called “Mormonads”.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/categories/mormonad...

Funny, you won't see "Mormon" ads anymore but not too long ago (2011) they ran the "I'm a Mormon" campaign: https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/im-a-mormon

Joking: consolidate and create a religion ETF?

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