Are they still together, or do you know?
Huh. Did you think that was a Mormon thing, or just that event?
(I’ve been to lots of joyful parties that were dry. Even some joyful weddings that were dry.)
Yes, and so far, mostly atheists on this board and Mormons door to door, but the Mormons are more polite about it. They at least admit what they are doing.
I had to do some work for the City, and I had some very bad thoughts about people with that sign.
I will buy GS cookies and even listen to the solar sale pitch, and I am polite to the Mormons, too.
Yeah, I have and other than Mormons once a year and the proselytizing here , It just doesnt happen. I call once a year very very rare. And I have seen those "elders’ actually pitch in and help people more than once.
Right. Be polite. That doesnt mean I have a respect for their church, mind you, but for them.
The Police are not going to come out for that. Missionaries have a 1st Ad right.
The thing about fedoras being bad came from one woman going thru a dating site, and deciding that dudes who wear trilbies (she didnt know shit about hats) were all pathetic losers- without actually you know- meeting them. 
Right! 
We have them, right here in River City. Like it or no. Any religion has militant members.
Exactly.
Yep. Not just the ones that have no faith. That’s their choice. But the ones that find a need to proselytize by insulting other faiths and religions.
In a way, it is.
Same here.
It what way are they “militant”?
Seems clear and polite to me. I sometimes do political canvassing door to door. I wouldn’t ring that bell. Why waste our time, theirs and mine both.
No one has a first amendment right to trespass. What a weird claim.
By insulting and denigrating other people faiths, calling them “stupid” and so forth.
Door-to-Door Solicitation - The Free Speech Center.
Court often upholds religious solicitation
Moreover, in many instances the Court has upheld the right of individuals to engage in door-to-door solicitations for noncommercial causes, especially those of a religious nature.
And there are levels of “trespassing”. Knocking on a “no soliciting” door, or walking up a driveway is one thing, and we have had SDMB lawyers say that sort of trespass is civil, not criminal. My driveway is just as much a "private road’ as some dirt track somewhere, maintained by the residents , but if I called the police on Missionaries for trespassing, the cops would get a big yuck down at the station. Cops are not gonna risk a big fat 1st Ad lawsuit over something as harmless as walking up a private road. Do the private road owners allow delivery trucks, fire trucks, visitors, etc? Then they pretty much have to allow missionaries.
Climbing over a fence? That would be illegal.
Never. Some occasionally try, but I’m either asleep or at work during the daylight hours.
And the old “I’m a practicing Catholic” always works as well when some prosletyzers slip through the gates. Pull the medallions from out of my A-shirt undershirt, and explain what they are, including the crucifix, and start citing things in Latin. They don’t like Latin, much, it seems.
Worst case? Nab a rosary from the car or a pocket and start “praying” the rosary in Latin, including the Salve Regina…all the way to the end. It doesn’t matter that I happen to be a non-believer, although a practicing Catholic who doesn’t receive the eucharist during mass. They get bored pretty easily and beat cheeks stat.
Some of those people who knock on the door (a long time ago…I think I must be on a “don’t bother” list), though…they were game when I grabbed my print copy of (a) Vulgate New Testament…it took a good twenty minutes of me being pretty drunk and just looking up their verses. It amused me, and they were pretty nice. LDS, I suppose. That was a long time ago, though, still at my own place, however.
Then you have no idea whatsoever as to the definition of “militant”.
Yeah, I’d go more with ‘contemptuous and insulting’ than ‘militant’. Far more obnoxious than any sincere evangelist, to me. I find evangelizing somewhat pitiable, but self-righteous atheists give me a stomach ache. Why can’t they leave us non-proselytizing Christians alone? We leave them alone. Why do they have to try to make us see the error of our ways, try to convince us how stupid we are? Doesn’t that sound exactly like what they complain of themselves?
In what possible way do atheists bother you? They don’t go door to door, they don’t go into churches and interrupt services, they don’t hold humungous rallies to incite people to physically harm religionists.
It seems that proselytizing religionists are more threatening than atheists could possibly be, so in what possible way do atheists actually bother you?
On this board, mostly. And many other online places. It’s pretty commonplace for stupid- ass things fundamentalist Christians say or do to be targeted by atheists for mockery, which is fine, except that they usually include everyone who believes in anything that atheists do not, in their sneering. It’s not ‘threatening’ (nor have I ever felt even slightly threatened by religious proselytizers). Just tiresomely insulting.
Imagine, for example, someone who took every opportunity to sneer about your family, or your culture, or the work you do which you love. They say they can’t understand how anyone could possibly participate in, much less identify with or take joy in, the things which are so important to you. Only an idiot would … blah blah blah.
How would you feel about them?
Wrong! Our road is a private drive with signage. Anyone coming to one of the 3 homes on the road uninvited is trespassing.
For salespeople there is also a permit required to go door to door, so they get ticketed for noncompliance with that as well.
The last time a jw/mormon/whatever came to our door was 18 years ago and the police told them they could not trespass. The last salesman on our road was this summer. Our neighbor called the police while he was at their house. His car wound up being towed because along with no permit and trespassing he did not have insurance.
I think you have something there. I would consider Chicagoland to be “big and liberal”, and I’m totally unsolicited by any religious groups. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve even seen any Jehovah Witnesses much less been approached by one.
Imagine living in a country where the currency proclaimed your belief in some utter nonsense.
I have only once felt slightly threatened by a conversion attempt, and that was by members of a cult. And in fact, they made no efforts to restrain me, and at the end of their meeting i was free to go.
Both atheist and religious proselytizing can be annoying.
There are enormously more dangerous religious nuts than there are people who are dangerous in any way related to atheism. But every religion I’m aware of has lots of low-key practitioners who are perfectly sane and constructive members of society.
Yeah, I can imagine it but can’t seem to drum up an emotion about it. I am constantly bombarded with broad statements that make no sense to me, I tune them out. Personal attacks are different, for me. I know that’s peculiar.
Also, thanks for thoughtfully using my imagination exercise to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Well done.
Are you saying it just doesn’t happen to you?
If so, that wasn’t clear. And if you’re saying it just doesn’t happen to anybody, you’re wrong.
There are such things as militant atheists, for certain definitions of “militant”. But atheism is not a religion.
Hey, a point of agreement! So have I.
I guess it depends on the crowd you run with. As an adult I’ve never been to a dry wedding or party, including kid’s birthday parties where the parents had beer/wine/cocktails.
Yeah, my MIL was an alcoholic, and I have a couple of friends with alcoholic parents – I go to a lot of dry events. But also, most of my friends don’t drink much, so there’s not a lot drunk even at parties where there is booze. I often host New Year’s Eve. I serve champagne and sparkling cider at midnight. I serve a LOT more sparkling cider than champagne. Sometimes I also serve whiskey during the main party, or someone brings some beer or wine (which I’ll put out with the other drinks.)
I poured a lot of wine down the sink after my daughter’s bat mitzvah, because the bartenders ignored my request that they open one bottle at a time.
I’m glad, but it is not uncommon. One day a couple of Baptists came to my door. I figured that saying that thanks, I’m Jewish would be a polite way of getting rid of them. Instead they told me how I had to be saved.
I responded with my patented rant about 2,000 years of oppression of my people by Christians. I’m quite good at it. They vanished, never to be seen again.
Plus the standard response of a Creationist who has lost on the facts is to tell me I’ll find out my errors when I die, with the implication this involves me going to hell. So the behavior of the minister is not that rare.