# Proselytizers: Go get a life **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322 "2011-10-30T22:13:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/61 "2011-11-04T19:03:19Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > The OP makes a good point. Only people like us should be allowed to talk to us. As someone else pointed out, it ought to be legal to pepper spray people who are not like us. > > Jesus. Point-\> Here You------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\> Here ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/62 "2011-11-04T19:05:21Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I don’t believe that you’re really Jesus. I think he meant you should pepper spray Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/63 "2011-11-04T19:08:11Z")
Or maybe he was just quoting Jesus. He’s been known to handle certain situations rather harshly. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/64 "2011-11-04T19:10:08Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Or maybe he was just quoting Jesus. He’s been known to handle certain situations rather harshly. You are probably right-he just forgot the quotation marks. It must have come from that “Occupy Nazareth” parable in Luke. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/65 "2011-11-04T22:44:43Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > LOL. You know what’s _really_ funny about that? Mormons refer to anyone who _isn’t a mormon_ as a gentile. :smack: > > I _know_. Mormons call Jews “gentiles.” How hilarious is that? I recall a story about a itinerant Jewish peddler in Utah in the 19th century who once brought legal action against a Mormon who called the peddler a “dirty Gentile”. The peddler claimed that he had a legal right to be insulted in the traditional form of his people (i.e., “dirty Jew”) and that the new form of insult rattled him. I don’t know if it’s true, but it ought to be. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/66 "2011-11-05T00:40:56Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > I recall a story about a itinerant Jewish peddler in Utah in the 19th century who once brought legal action against a Mormon who called the peddler a “dirty Gentile”. The peddler claimed that he had a legal right to be insulted in the traditional form of his people (i.e., “dirty Jew”) and that the new form of insult rattled him. I don’t know if it’s true, but it ought to be. …That is fucking hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/67 "2011-11-05T04:12:35Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I don’t believe that you’re really Jesus. Don’t make me laugh, I am defending free speech here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/68 "2011-11-05T04:26:18Z")
Bread, fish, and pepper spray. That’s what Jaysus would do. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/69 "2011-11-05T04:28:04Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > …That is fucking hilarious. I got it from _The Travels of Jamie McPheeters_, which, while fictional, is the only historical fiction book I’ve ever read that had four pages of bibliography. I can’t swear that the story is true, but I suspect that it is. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/70 "2011-11-05T14:10:47Z")
My default look is kinda grumpy anyway so I just try to enhance the look when I see someone getting prepared to sell me something, be it God or life insurance and anything in between. It mostly works. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/71 "2011-11-05T18:17:16Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > The OP makes a good point. Only people like us should be allowed to talk to us. As someone else pointed out, it ought to be legal to pepper spray people who are not like us. > > Jesus. I’m pretty sure you’re not retarded, so then you know that the OP said absolutely nothing of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/72 "2011-11-05T22:16:36Z")
I do like the pepper-spray idea, though. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/73 "2011-11-05T22:48:02Z")
Spice trading was da bomb in Jaysus’ time. Some pepper spray in exchange for the word of gawd is a fair trade. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/74 "2011-11-05T23:09:02Z")
We’ve had only one group of Mormons to come to our door. They looked so well-scrubbed and cute. I let them know that I am a Presbyterian and then I talked with them about the little I know about the Wasatch Mountains. They were bright and pleasant. As they were leaving, I wished them luck. There was absolutely no reason to be rude. I don’t know why some of you think that Mormons in general would not know what a Jewish religious symbol is. They are not exactly cut off from the rest of the world. > [@](#): > > **YourAdHere** : I ran into someone last weekend who seemed to me to be fairly clearly schizophrenic. You ran into someone with a serious mental illness and you decided to play with his mind? That seems so cruel. What were you thinking? Would you pick at someone with a different illness? Pull at burned flesh perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/75 "2011-11-05T23:18:58Z")
Religion is, at times, cured through ridicule. If pulling at burned flesh solved the problem, then I’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/76 "2011-11-05T23:35:10Z")
Many years ago, I was looking at some roleplaying game material in a book store, guy comes up and expresses interest, I invite him around try it out as a game. He comes round a few days later, pretends to be interested for a few minutes, then whips out a book about Jesus really existing, and starts the talk. In retrospect I almost wish Id punched him, but it probably would have just reassured him how godly and stuff he was if I had. Door to door has some level of honesty to it at least. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/77 "2011-11-05T23:38:18Z")
You probably should’ve beat the shit out of him. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/78 "2011-11-06T00:51:44Z")
I once watched a woman reading a library copy of [Unexpected Adventure: Taking Everyday Risks to Talk with People About Jesus.](http://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Adventure-Taking-Everyday-People/dp/0310283922) I made sure to stay far away from her. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/79 "2011-11-06T02:21:14Z")
**Zoe** , you must have never been to Utah. Or southern Idaho. Mormons are by far the majority and have their own sort of insular culture going on. I would assume that the majority of the missionaries are from very Mormon areas and through no fault of their own probably don’t know much about other religions except that they are, if not precisely wrong, at least nowhere near as right as theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322/80 "2011-11-06T15:48:04Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > **Zoe** , you must have never been to Utah. Or southern Idaho. Mormons are by far the majority and have their own sort of insular culture going on. I would assume that the majority of the missionaries are from very Mormon areas and through no fault of their own probably don’t know much about other religions except that they are, if not precisely wrong, at least nowhere near as right as theirs. I would agree that 99% of Mormon missionaries have no idea what a mezuzah is. But Utah senator Orrin Hatch famously wears one around his neck for some reason. But there is some sort of mistaken idea that proselytizers are only looking for religiously unaffiliated folks. They’re not. I don’t care if you have a picture of Ratzinger inside a cartoon heart on your door. If they’re gonna knock, they’re gonna knock. Also, let me assure those posters who think ridicule and physical abuse will enlighten Godbotherers, you’re dead wrong. It has quite the opposite effect, actually. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizers-go-get-a-life/601322.md?page=5)