While I was waiting for the bus a woman came by handing out religious leaflets. I took one and thanked her politely; she told me Jesus loves me.

I didn’t really look at the pamphlet — it was about accepting Jesus as my savior and redeeming my sins and so on — but I noticed on the back there were a couple of interesting things. First it said ‘ALL TRACTS FREE AS THE LORD PROVIDES,’ which I take to mean that the Lord’s followers find it in their hearts and purses to fund the organization which prints them, but perhaps the pamphlets simply materialize in piles in Church basements.

Second, it was labeled ‘tract 118,’ and if you do accept Christ, you are invited to mail the pamphlet with your comments back to them. I wonder how they use this. Market research into which tracts are successful in coonversion? Or if I sent back, would they keep my return address for their own purposes, and I’d suddenly be on a list for Christian junk mail, as well as credit card offers?