But Mike is your friend, he knows you and your situation and genuinely tries to help. The original post and everything I wrote in this thread so far is not about people like him. Like I was saying, there are two sorts of proselytism. I am severely allergic to one of them, and it's not that of your friend. It's not so much WHAT a person is doing, but rather HOW he/she is doing that and whether there are sings of mercantile intentions behind the act(s).

BTW, it's a wonderful story about the boy. I firmly believe that if you seriously set your mind to something, the outer world will come around and cooperate. Whether people call that God's interference or something else - doesn't matter.

And... I don't answer any unexpected doorbells or knocks without looking first. The door eyelet is a terribly convenient thing. If people on the porch are not someone I know, sure as hell I don't open the door, not at 7am, not at any other time. And since my kids are teens now, those pesky door-to-door goers can ring and knock in the morning to exhaustion - I wouldn't even hear it since I usually go to bed at 4-5am. But with small kids it was a real nightmare... oy, don't get me started.

I think people need to put a ban on religious fueled harassment. Freedom of religion doesnt mean people should be aloud to torment you about thair beliefs. I like to hear other beliefs, as long as they don't harass mine. This is really bad what these proselytizers do to people.

quote:

I think people need to put a ban on religious fueled harassment. Freedom of religion doesnt mean people should be aloud to torment you about thair beliefs. I like to hear other beliefs, as long as they don't harass mine. This is really bad what these proselytizers do to people.


Life, love, liberty, freedom, justice and equality for all......

.........for all regardless of any other reason.

I agree with you. My friends all hold different religions and have different ideas of faith, I don't mind discussing it with them because they're respectful and are willing to let me hold my own beliefs. I just wish more people would be respectful.

Totally agree with that, too. I have friends who have different religions, but we can discuss differences, similarities, and opinions in a mature and open-minded way. I like to open people's minds to different ideas because it gets you in touch with bigger ideas. This then exposes you to whole new world of bigger ideas; you see things and possibilities that weren't there before... its one of the reason I'm against the whole "narrow-minded, conservative" mindset... but that is my perception and everything is about perception.

If this happens again, why not ask....

"Have you read Matthew chapter 6?"

quote:

Originally posted by Morrigan's Witch:
If this happens again, why not ask....

"Have you read Matthew chapter 6?"

I envision two possible scenarios: 1) they have no idea what you are talking about and try to proceed with the original script; 2) they do have a clue and are trained well enough to make a careful detour and proceed with the original script. It's a prolonged bother in both cases.

i love watching them scurry when i tell them i'm pagan. you really have to be rude to some of them and i hate that. my friend recently went to a dinner at the jehovah witnesses' church as she felt obligated cuz the 2 guys who came to her house had been so nice. she had no intention of converting but she felt it was only the nice thing to do to accept their invitation. she wanted to drive her own car but the guys insisted she ride with them and their chaperone, a worthless local doc who has been busted for skimming from his elderly patients. he was so stoned on something, he kept nodding off and running off the road. when she got there, she had no one to talk to and everyone behaved strangely. she wanted to go home but the guys told her they couldn't drive her home alone and she'd have to wait until a chaperone could go too. she ended up helping a handicapped lady get her plate and talked with her for awhile. she said the poor lady had ragged old clothes and a sad life story and it seemed the church didn't help her any. she came to the dinner to be able to eat. my friend had to stay and help clean up and finally around 9 pm, an angry girl reluctantly agreed to take her home. she said she drove so fast, she was scared and then she spun in her yard damn near throwing her out of the car. the next day, she called the guys and told them their bible and booklet would be in her mailbox for them to pick up. she told them she was busy so she didn't have time to talk right then but she would never convert and that's that. 10 minutes later as she and her family were sitting down to dinner, they show up and want to know what's wrong with her. it pissed her off. she told them she was busy and they came over anyway AND they wouldn't let her leave the church the night before due to a lack of a chaperone but damn if they couldn't get there in 10 minutes when she said she wasn't interested. i've been to j.w. churches before when my dad was studying religion to find his path and it was very uncomfortable around them. they were a strange group and i feel that's pretty much universal with them.

Well yes, most of them confuse "being nice" for "being a prospective convert."Your poor friend has my sympathies.

Here's my take on it, I say f*ck em. If they don't respect me when I tell them nicely to leave me in my peace and beat feet, they deserve the lack of my respect. That's all I've ever thought, no need to take a high road, lay a person to waste with a simple backhanded compliment. If a Judeo-Christian follower came up to me and actually had a great conversation without shoving their thoughts down my throat, it would be an awesome day, but since I haven't come across that often, I long for it. Only people I've ever had that happen with were my close friend, and my grandfather. He ties every conversation into Jesus somehow, and while I respect the man for having a strong conviction for Jesus, and he handles it well, he also understands when I fire back that I don't believe that way, and why I believe what I do, and what I believe, he is fine. We have a great discourse going on actually.

But allow me to close with a paraphrase of a Ghandi quote. First they laugh at you, then they ridicule you, then they try to convert you, then you win.

quote:

Originally posted by CoffeeOwl:

quote:

Originally posted by Morrigan's Witch:
If this happens again, why not ask....

"Have you read Matthew chapter 6?"

I envision two possible scenarios: 1) they have no idea what you are talking about and try to proceed with the original script; 2) they do have a clue and are trained well enough to make a careful detour and proceed with the original script. It's a prolonged bother in both cases.

The few times I've used this, they're usually stunned by being asked by this, and the few seconds it takes them to think up the reference, I'm already gone.

We had some many ppl knocking at door that I finally made a sign about solicting that they haven't knocked on our door in over 6 yrs.

When someone approaches me or my family with their holy than thou,I stop and ask if they have a premit to be solicting.They say no I don't,then turn around and walk away.Believe me it works every time.



Here lately we don't get approached cuz they see me wearing my pentagram earrings and necklace.I get alot of stares and of course bad mouthing but oh well.

quote:

Originally posted by CoffeeOwl:
Well yes, most of them confuse "being nice" for "being a prospective convert."Your poor friend has my sympathies.

i will pass it on to her. lol!!

what i really hate is when they go door to door in freezing weather with babies in strollers. not cool. maybe they think you'll let them in so the baby will not be cold?

my friend wanda is mormon and she often talked about the missionaries from idaho. they sounded like the sweetest older couple but i was surprised to learn they were required to leave their potato farm behind in idaho to do missionary work, leaving family to tend to their affairs. also, they had to pay for everything, including helping others in their temp town, and they were only allowed to talk to their family one day a week.. or was it once a month? i think they were only allowed to talk to male family members as well but don't quote me on that. fu*k that. my family comes first and damn if i'm going to leave them behind to convert "lost" souls and not even be allowed to have contact with them.

quote:

Originally posted by MamaKat:
what i really hate is when they go door to door in freezing weather with babies in strollers. not cool. maybe they think you'll let them in so the baby will not be cold?

I can totally see them using their own kids as a guilting tool. They seem to have normal priorities upside down and backwards in the name of saving others.

My mom yelled at me for being rude to my Grandfather when he was trying to force Jesus on us. He's the most intolerant person I know. When My brother and I were kids he called child protective services on my mom for not taking us to church. And she gets mad when I call him a racist and such things to his face. She agrees, but for some reason I have to pretend to be okay with his intolerance.