In any thread about atheism on this board, many people will complain about being constantly put upon by people aggressively proselytizing to them. I certainly agree that it is rude and offensive to proselytize, but it’s something that basically never happens to me.
Maybe it’s because I live in a big liberal city? I’ve seen street corner preachers raving, but I’ve literally never had anyone just approach me in the street and try to strike up a conversation about Jesus…oh, wait, I just remembered one time. Likewise, I have had missionaries knock on my door exactly once in 54 years. I’ve been approached by Chabadniks a handful of times, but they won’t bother you if you don’t admit to being Jewish.
Likewise, I’ve never had anyone I knew personally, including people who were really really religious, try to persuade me to join their sect.
Am I just really fortunate, or is this experience actually quite rare?
I lived in a modestly-sized city in Southern California (pop. 160,000), extremely typical by most measures. California is of course a relatively liberal state, and my city was relatively conservative by those relatively liberal standards. I got door-to-door proselytizing from one of several churches on a monthly basis, and religious materials left on my car or front door much more often than that. I was often also approached in shopping malls or other busy public venues.
Outside of my family, I haven’t had anyone try to convert me in a very long time. However, I had a group very sneakily attempt to convert my son (11 years old at the time). The local Christian college held a lacrosse clinic, and advertised to all the local schools. The flyer listed a number of things they would be working on, and he went. Only afterward did we learn that there was a 15 minute gospel presentation during the water break. I should have anticipated it, but it did take me by surprise. Maybe not as aggressive as knocking at my door, but still a pretty direct attempt to convert him.
I grew up in a small Northern Idaho town where you were expected to go to a nice Christian church, shut up and pretend to pray during public school prayer, and pretend to pray during meals. I went from there to the U.S.A.F. where, during Basic Training, religion was pushed to the point that if you didn’t go to the church on base you were assigned to clean up cigarette butts and other garbage for half a day. After I got out of the military the pressure to convert died down for a bit, then churches became megachurches, megachurches became political forces, then these political megachurches realized what they could actually do. I’ve gone to many religious services over the years and I have found out that for the most part the more powerful the sect the more I get pressured to convert to their particular belief system.
I was informed by a playmate once when I was a kid that I was going to burn in hell because I didn’t go to church. This did not make me want to attend her church, and rather colored the way I viewed churchgoers from then on.
Other than that, just occasional Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on the door.
I get the occasional JW or LDS door knockers but I don’t think anybody has tried to proselytize me in public with more than a proffered pamphlet since college nearly 40 years. I think those people probably figure the odds are better with younger people.
I’ve lived in the NYC area (at least the expanded suburban region) since 1984 and ride the subway decently often. I’ve often had the subway car in which I rode invaded by some proselytizing asshole, most often an angry proselytyzing asshole. (I do get the impression that they’re less aimed at trying to convert anyone than they are at earning some kind of brownie points with God for having made the attempt, but I’m counting it anyhow).
Gotten family pressure. They want what’s best for me. They think they know what that is, and their religious perspective figures prominently therein.
Was homeless intermittently between 1980 and 1984. Will never forget a charitable org in the west (Nevada? Arizona?) that offered food and a bed in exchange for labor. Coerced presence at prayer meetings and sermons, didn’t much care for me dissenting with them, put me out on the curb late at night instead of letting me get a night’s sleep first.
People in Boy Scouts were moderately pushy about it: didn’t matter which religion but I damn well better have one.
In junior high, despite Supreme Court decisions, we were led in prayer and had “guests” from other classrooms come address our home rooms talking about “being saved”. Each classroom put on plays once a year for the other classes and they were always Christian in theme. Public school, by the way.
For a non-Christian (or pseudo-Christian) experience, I was befriended by some young adults my age in Athens GA who invited me to meet some others and got the full-blown Sun Myung Moon pep talk, with lots of carefully calibrated giving and withdrawing of approval and admiration. Unification Church.
We get Mormons about once a year. THey ask if I’m intersted in talking about their religion and I tell them no. They accept that. Sometimes we engage in a little small talk, usually not.
I do have a good friend who is LDS During a hard time in my life he sent me the Book of Mormon. (not the play). He told me he found comfort in his religion during tough times. I thanked him, but never opened it. I saw it more as an attempt to be helpful rather than an attempt to convert me. (Maybe it’s the same thing?)
No other experiences with people trying to convert me. My high school AP History teacher became an Episcopal Priest… We became friends. I was at the ceremony where he was ordained, and he later performed my first wedding. Nonetheless, he never tried to get me interested in religion, let alone convert me.
We’ve lived in this house coming up on 19 years and we’ve had local church folk come to the door maybe half a dozen times when we were home, and a couple of times, tracts/fliers were left on the door. I don’t know if they were trying to convert us as much as get us to come to their church - subtle difference there, but I don’t recall anyone being really pushy.
Eons ago when I was in training in the Navy, a guy invited me to a picnic. Turns out it was a local church looking to “save” us, and they were disinclined to let anyone leave unsaved. I stood my ground and they eventually let me get on the bus back to base. It was a very uncomfortable experience.
A couple of months ago we were in Petra Jordan and our local tour guide spent about 30 minutes extolling the virtues of his Muslim beliefs, so that was interesting.
I’m Jewish by heritage, but am at least second generation atheist.
The worst I ever got was when as a teenager and worked in a grocery store. I was helping somebody take their groceries to the car, and the little kid in the cart asked if I was saved by Jesus or something. I ignored him, but then the mom was all “so are you saved by Jesus?” I’m sure I grunted no or some such, and ended up standing outside by their car for 45 minutes while mom went on and on about her church and gave me some pamphlets. It beat actually doing work.
Otherwise, I’ve gotten the standard door knockers, airport God-botherers (when that was still a thing), and campus folding table yellers.
I have some family that participate in Chabad things, so I see the rabbi a few times per year. At first he’d try to get me to be part of a Minion or something, but after I politely declined a few times, he stopped.
But,
I have some distant relatives who are rabbis, who I also see occasionally, and they’ve never once tried to bring me back into the faith, or even talk to me about being Jewish.
I had the same experience. Once I told them I was Jewish that seemed to excuse me from the Jesus based stuff, but inevitably they’d ask (trying to be inclusive) for me to say a Jewish prayer. Due to the second generation atheist bit, I didn’t know any.
My impression there was they didn’t want to convert me, just include me, as if going through the motions blessing the freeze dried camp food would get me into heaven, or that I’d get FOMO for skipping the morning devotional or whatever it was.
Every couple of months, Jehova’s Witnesses knock on my door. They’re not aggressive or anything, and I’m polite with them. I told the last group that I was born and raised Catholic, gave it because long ago I’d decided that I had enough, and wished them well.
There have been a few times that I’ve been someplace, a train platform, outside a store, etc. but not my home, and have been approached by a few young orthodox Jews, who appear to be on a real mission to do what, I don’t know. And they have approached me and have started the conversation (with a stranger, mind you) by asking, “Are you Jewish?” And I’ve responded that it’s none of their business, and they have just moved along. For the record, I am Jewish, and it isn’t any of their business.
It hasn’t happened often since I moved to Philadelphia. I grew up in suburban nothern Virginia. It happened there all the time.
I wear a yarmulke. Chabad and similar Jewish groups have come up to me. It doesn’t bug me. I have refused to be part of a minyan that excludes women.
I pass what I think are JW’s on the way to my psychiartist’s office. They stand in nice suits by a book stand and sign that says ‘free Bible study’ or some such. I veer around them. They haven’t bugged me yet.
Huh. Currently live in suburban northern Virginia (10+ years) and have never been approached at home or elsewhere. A couple times in college: a friend, lots of people on the quad wanting to “open dialogue”, and a guy on my floor in the dorms freshman year… One JW when I lived back with my parents 20+ years ago.