A little "controversy" is arriving in hundreds of thousands of mailboxes across Chicago – and it has nothing to do with local politics or the national election.
More than 600,000 copies have been mailed out – unsolicited – across Chicago and residents started getting them in the past week, said Dwight Hall, chief executive officer of Michigan-based Remnant Publications Inc., a Christian publisher behind the mailing blitz in Chicago and several other cities.
The book provides a history lesson on Christianity and focuses on freedom of religion, Hall said. A postcard tucked inside the book includes a note from the publisher that reads, "With our world in such disarray, with so little time left, we don't have time to bash religions or people or ideas – we only have time to discover the truth before it's too late."
One of the reasons Chicago was selected to receive the "gift" is the city's problem with crime, an issue that faces other big cities as well. Through Sunday, the city recorded 125 homicides, an 84 percent increase over the same period last year when 68 people were slain, according to official Chicago police statistics. Shooting incidents have nearly doubled with 575 through Sunday compared to 290 during the year-earlier period.
Some people who got the book have reached out to thank the publisher for the book, while others sent it back with a note they don't need it and won't read it, he said. "Everybody has a chance to read it, a chance to keep it or pass it along. But it's their book. They can throw it away if they choose to" Hall said.
"People believe if you go by biblical standards that the world would be a better place," he said, adding later: "The biggest thing is [the donors] can help somebody to have a better way of life. That's the whole reason for this," he said.
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