After I moved to a small town the locals said when they were in High School the Apostolic Christian girls were the most fun.
Like some others, I get a visit from the Jehovah’s Witnesses 1-2 times a year, usually female and they never get beyond my door and I never take paperwork from them. No LDS folks in recent memory.
Can’t think of anyone from a Church trying to convert me, one young guy at the gym started a conversation with me and tried to get it turned into a ‘Jesus loves you’ talk, but I simply said I’m not interested and after the second try he went away.
Have you been reading this thread?
I get the JW’s or maybe the Mormons a couple of times a year. They generally go away politely.
I’ve had a good friend’s husband argue and argue and argue with me, on multiple visits, about how I should join his church. He gave up eventually, and now when she comes to visit she comes without him; I think his version of giving up might be not speaking to me. OK with me.
I’ve had somebody try to put the fear of hellfire into me at another friend’s funeral. (The friend who’d died was a member of the same church, but not like that at all.)
Years ago, when I lived in a village, I had a man in his late 90’s and obviously frail walk across the street and down a couple of houses to come talk to me – in a full scale blizzard I wouldn’t have gone out in, and I was in my 30’s at the time. At first I thought he just wanted to tell stories about the old days, and they were interesting to listen to; I was happy to listen. But it turned out he wanted to tell me that I needed to join his church or I would burn in hell. He gave up and went home, eventually.
I’ve had a fellow farmers’ market vendor go on about a great Christian bookstore in a conversation with me and another vendor, and how great it was that it was specifically a Christian bookstore. After a few minutes of this I said that I wasn’t a Christian so didn’t care about that part, but it sounded like an interesting place; and she looked at me and said ‘Well. We’ll have to have a long conversation about that some time!’ I said “No. We will not.” I apparently got enough vehemence into it that it not only stopped the conversation dead for a couple of minutes before the third party came up with something neutral to say, but she never did bug me about it again.
I could go on. These days, for instance, I get letters; again maybe two or three a year. And I expect there were incidents I’ve just plain forgotten.
– I’m not including as ‘trying to convert me’ the people who invited me to church, once, and then let it go; too many of those to count, and they’re not really proselytising anyway, they’re just saying ‘you’re welcome if you want to come, OK if you don’t’. I’m also not including the people who came looking for lapsed Catholics and asked if anybody in the house was Catholic, and who took it entirely in stride when I answered “Nope. Right now we’ve got two Jews and a Hindu” (which was accurate at the moment, if leaving out actually being atheist doesn’t count as making it inaccurate.) They, like the Chabad people only looking for non-practicing Jews, were only looking for non-practicing Catholics.
No, I’m not in the Bible Belt. I’m in the Burned Over District in upstate New York. Some of those fires are still burning.
Other than the mandatory visit by some Jehovah’s Witnesses every few years, and maybe one or two visits by Mormon missionaries, I’m pretty sure never.
In fact, when I lived in Kentucky I lived next door to Mormon missionaries for a few months. Nice guys, a few years younger than my wife and me. They never once asked either of us about religion. Not only that, but when I worked in broadcasting, I did the Sunday morning shift, and we had preachers come in every hour for their paid Bible talks. Some were nice, a couple were obnoxious, but none of them ever even asked me if I’d like to stop by their church some time.
I question this. I don’t feel the complaint is about religious people proselytizing other people. I see a lot more complaints about religious people imposing their religious practices on other people. A lot of religious people seem to feel that if they can force other people to share their practices, it doesn’t matter if they share their beliefs. Their program is coercion not conversion.
I live in northern New England, the least religious part of the country if you go by church attendance. The last time someone I know- as opposed to people who knock on the door with literature a couple times a decade- tried to interest me in their religion I was a sophomore in college.
The last time anyone asked me if I go to church was 2 years ago, and it’d been at least 8 years since the 2nd most recent time I’d been asked.
My father use to force me and my siblings to catch a bus for a local church. After about a year my mother told my father if he can’t get up on Sunday to go to church, we shouldn’t have to go either. In high school I dated a gal for a while. She tried to convert me but I resisted. She then started questioning things about the church and this did not make her parents happy. I was asked to stay away. From that point on I haven’t had anything to do with religion and have no interactions with anyone trying to change my ways. My wife and I have some friends that are very religious and they have no problem with our choice to not include the church in our lives.
Moderating:
This post and the one it responds to are off-topic and objectify women. Please drop it.
On a few occasions I’ve run into someone at some shindig or other that we’d start talking religion. We’d talk about the bible, theology, stories of the bible from both the New and Old Testaments, maybe even share bible versus.
Then they’d ask where I go to church, I tell them I don’t, they’d invite me to theirs, I’d decline, and realize that they probably thought I was a Christian, and then I’d have to find a way to let them know politely.
Usually wouldn’t go well, especially when they realized I knew more about their religion than they did, but didn’t believe in it.
Now I only talk religion with atheists.
A friend I have known since we were 6 became a JW about 10 years ago. I am an atheist, we have had some interesting discussions. He somewhat gave up when he realized I knew the Bible better than him. One time he wanted me to debate someone from his church, I was tempted but declined.
I like talking about religion. But i also like to go to other people’s religious services. So I’ve often accepted invitations.
I love door-to-door evangelists. They are always so polite and earnest, and despite what blinkered version of the universe they inhabit, they believe they are doing the right thing. I think it was Penn Jillette who expressed tolerance for people who try to save you because they honestly believe you’ll go to hell if you aren’t saved. Sure, they are wrong, but they are TRYING to help.
All those religious types who want you to convert will do it through kindness, politeness, and understanding, if they have a lick of sense. Me, I’m the atheist equivalent. I want to show the religious types that atheists aren’t evil - we are kind, understanding, open-minded people and should not be feared.
So when proselytizers come to my door, I greet them cheerfully and tell them how much I respect their efforts. Then I tell them that they have ZERO chance of converting me, because I am completely comfortable with my world view. However, if they’d like to leave some literature, I will most likely read it because I’m genuinely curious about these things. And if they would like to use the bathroom, or if I can offer them a drink of water, they are more than welcome.
No one ever takes me up on the bathroom/glass of water offer, but they usually leave their pamphlets, thank me for being nice, and head off to the next house with evidence that maybe atheists aren’t all evil (or maybe they think I am a cunning puppet os Satan. Whatever. I do my best.)
I think we’ve had JWs or LDS missionaries come to the door two or three times in the forty years we’ve lived in this house, but I’m in Canada where religion is much less of an in-your-face deal. I have no idea what religion (if any) most of my friends are - it’s simply not a subject that comes up in normal conversation.
About the only time I recall a serious attempt to “convert” me was when I decided at about 12 that I didn’t believe in god and wasn’t going to get confirmed. My mother had the minister come to talk to me, but I wasn’t changing my mind, and that was that.
The last time I had someone try to personally convert me was when I was in college in the early 2000s and that was just some guy by the cafeteria trying to talk to anyone passing by. Haven’t had any people ring my doorbell since 2007ish either which is weird. I remember we used to get it almost every weekend day back in the 90s.
My friend however is in a living hell ironically enough, he lives in between a Jehovah’s Witnesses church and a Mormon church and when I say lives in between, both churches are literally a 5 minute walk from his house. This means he will literally get people knocking on his door EVERY SINGLE DAY. I thought JW had rules about not bugging your neighbors so intensely? He literally had to get TWO sets of gates around his house because when he had just one gate they would literally climb over it to ring his bell.
My father became a hardcore fundamentalist Christian about 30 years ago. It was (and still is) impossible to carry on a normal conversation with him, because everything he said had to relate to his beliefs. And his beliefs can be distilled down to: “You’re going to hell unless you interpret the bible exactly and precisely the same way I interpret it.” He would also proselytize at family gatherings, actually wanting to argue about religion, and attendees would try their best to avoid him. When our children were teens, he was constantly preaching his beliefs to them. I told him to stop, but he didn’t; he changed tactics, and would quietly “share” his beliefs with them when my wife and I weren’t in earshot.
Suffice to say, I haven’t had much to do with him over the past 30 years. Unfortunately he will die a lonely man, having alienated everyone around him. Last night I found out he was admitted to the hospital after passing out at home, and today he’s going to receive a pacemaker. I will probably go and visit him during our lunchbreak at work.
That sounds absolutely beautiful. A few things like this happened to me when I was a kid and I have never forgotten the kindness of those good humans, and in fact I hope I learned kindness from them along the way. Thanks for sharing this, Procrustus – I needed to be reminded of Good this morning.
We do not get JW or Mormons coming to our door. They know our road is private and we or our neighbors will call the police.
At work I can think of two times people wanted me to join hands with them and pray. Both times I couldn’t help but chuckle and explain that wasn’t happening.
Oh wow. That would freak me out.
I occasionally see a mature and conservatively dressed couple standing next to a small display of (presumably) religious literature, usually at a busy public location like a shopping area or a scenic viewpoint. They do not approach people but it looks like they are expecting people to approach them. Anyway, as I pass by them I do say “hello” to be polite and to acknowledge a fellow human being.
However, when they enter my private realm and ring my doorbell at dinner time and the dog goes wild I am less courteous, as I have a sign at my door described above that clearly states their efforts are unwelcome at my home. Sometimes I’ll let the dog out on the porch to give them a good sniff for their ignoring my sign, before saying “no thank you” and shutting the door.
Noted about the Chabadists, or whatever they are called. I need to keep an eye out for them as I would very quickly end up in their crosshairs.