I don’t know which forum to put this in because a) it’s not a general question that has a specific answer b)not intended to be a flame c) don’t see how it’d be a debate.
Yesterday I was walking and saw 2 men going in and out of people’s homes. They saw me and stopped me. They were trying to tell me about their religion. I politely told them I have my own. But I’m curious-
Those of you who go door-to-door, has it ever worked? Has anybody ever changed their religion or decided to start being in one when you talked to them?
PLEASE…I am not trying to start something here. When they talked to me it got me to thinking about that. This really is just curiosity. And if this needs to be moved to a different forum please do so.
MaryAnn
I’m into superstition, black cats, and voodoo dolls (<—written in case Ricky reads this board)
What religion were they? Were they LDS (Commonly known as Mormons)? The Mormon Church sends out missionaries all over the world, and have been met with great success. They go door to door to preach the Church’s message, perform community service, visit other members, things like that. They try not to be to aggressive or annoying. From what I understand, they are pretty successful. THey are out in the field for two years.
“The bitch, oh the bitch, the bitch is back…I’m a bitch cuz I’m better then you, it’s the way that I move
The things that I do…” Elton John
“People try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend…” The Moody Blues
“To start, press any key. Where’s the any key?” Homer Simpson.
To me its not so much that they go door to door, what pisses me off is that they drag their kids around with them.
People have the freedom of chosing their own religion but also have the right to close the door on someone who isnt welcome in their home. What exactly are they teaching their kids when they drag them door to door and this is happening?
Give your children these two things: One is roots, the other, wings - Wally Wally He’s our Man
Sue, who does this? I’ve never had to deal with Jehovah’s Witnesses, so I don’t know about them, but the Mormon missionaries are 19-21, and certainly don’t have any kids to drag around with them.
Re the OP: When I was in high school, several of my good friends were Mormon. Because I am interested in religion in general, I asked one of my friends to tell me about her beliefs. She told me a little, then said, “You know, the elders [Mormon-speak for missionaries] could explain it a lot better than me. Why don’t you talk to them?” And so I ended up doing just that. Once a week for five weeks, two of my friends and any random group of LDS friends and I met for a couple hours to talk about Mormonism. I made it clear from the beginning that I didn’t want to convert, I just wanted to learn. They were very friendly and not at all forceful. I didn’t convert, but I did learn a lot about Mormonism. So my experience with missionaries has been very positive.
I’ve read that the door-to-door visits in fact are not very successful. They only win a convert from one person in a thousand visits. Arguably, the real point of the visits is to bond the church members doing the visiting into the church.
My Mezuza is clearly placed outside of my current house(and all previous houses), and I always seem to have to shoo them off.
Hell, it came down to having to answer the door in my boxers to ward them off
Once, a girl came to the door(I’m presuming that she was JW), asking for me to buy some of her books. She was standing right next to the mezuzah! I told her I was not a christian, and she told me “these books are for everyone”, and she insisted that I would be interested.
I finally flat-out told her that I was a Jew and that I didn’t wish to have her fundie literature. She got the door in her face.
So, no Danny…the Mezuzah is not akin to the cross thrust out at a vampire(unfortunately ;)).
Kyla, where I live thats exactly who does it. The Jehovah Witnesses drag their kids around constantly having them stand in front when you answer your door.
Like I said, everyone is entitled to their religion, but using children? thats pretty sad in my eyes.
Give your children these two things: One is roots, the other, wings - Wally Wally He’s our Man
When we moved out to the sticks, we had no neighbors and nearly weekly visits from the Jehovah’s. I never let them inside, and they caught me outside working on my large peice of property. I won’t be rude to them because they are doing what they feel is right and trying to make a difference for the better. They are polite and so am I.
HOWEVER, they must have thought I was close to being recruited ( fat chance) and came by one summer quite a bit. I finally got rid of them in the old fashion way ( and this method is the way we get rid of unwanted house guests too.) I was raking our yard and said, " I’ll listen to whatever you have to say, but you have to rake while you do it. Many hands make short work, etc." They were gone in under two minutes and haven’t been back.
One of the reasons I like living in base housing is that door-to-door solicitation for anything is strictly forbidden, and we havn’t had our door knocked on since we’ve been here. (I mean, except by people we like…you know what I mean)
However, my brother, who is absolutely uninterested in any sort of religion, but is a very friendly and mellow guy, had his very own Jehovahs witness for quite a while. I believe Matt was his name (the Jehovahs witness, not my brother. I know my brothers name.)
Apparently, since my brother would happily chat with Matt whenever Matt came by, Matt thought he was always really close to winning my brother over. It took about a year of every month or so visits before Matt clued in to the fact that all he would ever get from my brother was a friendly conversation and an offer of something to drink.
Well, I’ve been “cruised” by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews for Jesus and those annoying Mitzvah vans in New York. I just tell 'em all the truth: that I’m an atheist. Freaks them out, because they have no answer for that. They can always argue that THEIR religion is right and YOURS is wrong, but when you tell them you don’t beleive in religion at all, they are stumped.
I had some church people knock on my door several months ago. I smiled and told them I was a Wiccan. They said “A what?” I said. “A witch.” They said “Have a nice day!” and left, very quickly.
(FYI, I am a pagan, but I’m not a Wiccan. I just wanted to see what they’d do.)
Cristi, Slayer of Peeps
I made my husband join a bridge club. He jumps next Tuesday.
Whenever I see them walking in my neighborhood, I turn my stereo up full blast as the speakers are right next to the door. Works best with esoteric stuff like John Cage or Edgard Varese. They don’t even bother coming up the walk.
Not related to the success of their little door to door quests… but I have a great JW story from my childhood.
I was a a sitters house (lovely woman, her house was always filled with kids, her own, the ones she sits for, and friends from all over the neighborhood). One rainy cold summer day, we were all in her living room There must have been 20 or so kids… between infant and 15 or 16 running around. (keep in mind, I’m from a rural area, and about 80% of the people here are PA dutch… all of the kids in this house had blond hair, and most had blue eyes) The JW’s arrive and knock at door… Sitter answers, when they start asking about if she would be interested in their literature ect… she just looked at them and said quietly, “no thank you, I’m catholic…(true btw) excuse me I have to go, the children need me”
the answer she got was “how disgusting”
She didn’t even realize what they were thinking until they had hurried off down the walk. We’ve been laughing for years
“If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research.” - Albert Einstein
It isn’t just LDS and JWs. In our town you sometimes get local church groups going around. Once I got some overbred woman with husband and kid knocking on my door to ask me point blank if I felt that God’s will was being done on Earth. I had a dozen nasty answers for her, but I was polite and just said I didn’t wish to discuss such things with total strangers on my doorstep. I felt sorry for the kid, though.
When I lived with my parents, we had a big Dalmation that is VERY territorial. Nothing like a snarling beast to make them shorten thier pitch.
I had lived in apartment buildings with roommates before and we opted for the “quick, religious looney coming up the walk!” diving under furniture routine. Eventually, they get tired of knocking, and you find all sorts of change under your couch.
Now I live alone in an apartment in the back of a single-family house. The driveway is gated, and unless you know there’s an apartment in the back, you’d just be entering someone’s backyard. No one has bothered me yet!
“I go on guilt trips a couple of time a year. Mom books them for me.” A custom made Wally .sig!
My iguana's sick.
He's all floppy. Could he have
Reptile dysfunction?
-Chef Troy, Haiku Master
depending on my mood, i’ll usually either be polite enough to give them a 60-second hearing (i constantly curse my parents’ drumming politeness into my pysche), or else say straight off that i’m not interested. but i’ve always loved the solution a pagan friend shared. a buddy of his who lived a couple doors down the block called to warn the door-to-doors evangelists were heading his way. he promptly grabbed a can of that spray-snow stuff and applied a pentagram to his front door. seemed to work pretty much like the lamb’s blood at Passover. :: snicker :: i’d love to try something like that. i’ve got a nice plaster cast of a demon’s skull i’ve threatened to hang out front, in place of our welcome sign. now if i could just come up with a similar early-warning system…
next one who says “Fates a bitch” gets whacked with my measuring stick.
ChiefScott - Thank goodness I wasn’t drinking when I got to your post. At least instead of spraying cola on my keyboard I only emitted a huge and resonant snort of laughter and then settled into small titters. Still smiling
