Chattanooga has erupted in controversy over the opening of a new deli downtown. Some say the owners are simply a cult trying to recruit students from UTC. Others say they are a harmless group of people living out their faith in their community. As with most polarizing controversies the truth probably lies somewhere between the extremes. My problem is rather than looking at facts people in the Bible Belt tend to jump to conclusions and not let little things like facts get in their way. I recently responded to a string of opinion articles on the Chattanoogan.com site concerning the controversy. You can check out the opinion articles here. I would love to have input from those who have dealt with the Yellow Deli or the Twelve Tribes group that runs it. I have included my response to the opinion articles below. What are your thoughts?
My Response to the Chattanoogan...
I hesitate to respond to this opinion article because so many people have already written but it bothers me to see so many half-truths and false assumptions. I feel compelled to respond.
The first unfounded accusation is that the Yellow Deli located near UTC only to take advantage of "lots of non-religious individuals and a place where people are lonely and searching for meaning". That is a very broad assumption about the student body at UTC. My oldest daughter starts there this fall and I think she is pretty well rounded. She isn't lonely or searching for meaning; she is simply attending a local college in order to further her studies as are most college students. The Yellow Deli will be grossly outnumbered at a rate of at least 10 to 1 by all of the Christian organizations on campus including, non-denominational Protestants, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, and numerous other Christian clubs and organizations. Do these organizations so poorly represent their beliefs that the only place students can find answers to their real life problems is from a "cult" in a sandwich shop?
Christians in the Bible Belt jump at the chance to expose a "cult" and are quick to deny them the same liberties that they themselves enjoy. The problem is that most define a cult as anyone who doesn't look, act, and worship just like they do. Every Church claims to want prayer in the schools until they realize that it's not just their denominational beliefs that will be represented in those prayers. I wonder if some of the Mennonite community came down from Muddy Pond to sell their homemade bread, sorghum, and crafts at the Chattanooga Market would they be met with the same reception as the Yellow Deli? After all they are a cult because Mennonites don't allow their children to watch TV or attend movies and if they disobey they are quick to punish them by striking them with a rod.
If the truth about a group isn't enough to change your way of thinking why not throw in a story of how they are followers of Sun Myung Moon and their leadership was deported? All accounts of the Twelve Tribes that I read list Tennessee native Gene Spriggs as their founder and leader. Even with our new Homeland Security policies I don't think you can deport a US citizen born in East Ridge, Tennessee. This kind of gross misstatement of facts does little to win educated people over to your line of rationale.
It is obviously far easier these days for people in the Bible Belt to tell us what they are against than to simply live by example as Jesus did. Hypocritical, bigoted, and politically motivated are the terms many use to describe today's church. The church is so out of touch with this upcoming generation it's no wonder that most young adults never return to it after High School. Could it be that the hurting needy people all around us can't hear the Truth because of all the noise coming from the Church itself?
Scott Pollard
RevScottie@gmail.com
