Being around teenage girl culture I have seen up-close a phenomena that took me completely by surprise– Directionerism – the blind devotion to the boy-band One Direction. I have seen more than one girl stricken with this frenzy. A close corollary to this strange new sub-religion is Belieberism- the blind devotion to Justin Bieber. The devotion inspired by these two forces is truly staggering to me. I saw several girls close to me swept up in the frenzy of these two fandoms. It was very much like a disease, and also very much like religion.
This made me think about how Evangelicals compare to Mormons, and about how religion works nowadays, and maybe where it will go. My resulting almost-fully-tongue-in-cheek thesis: Evangelicals are Beliebers, and Mormons are Directioners.
LDS & Evangelical Conversations 