# Proselytizing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 6, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198 "2013-09-06T19:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/21 "2013-09-09T13:31:25Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Some television evangelists are a real put off. I change the channel everytime. I wonder if all atheists think all Christians are like what they see on TV. I at least give the proselytizing Christians credit for caring. The luke warm Christians, though less annoying, seem more selfish. They are content in believing they are going to heaven, but don’t seem very concerned about the lost souls of everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/22 "2013-09-09T13:54:23Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > I at least give the proselytizing Christians credit for caring. The luke warm Christians, though less annoying, seem more selfish. They are content in believing they are going to heaven, but don’t seem very concerned about the lost souls of everyone else. A Christian just can’t catch a break on the SDMB, can he/she? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/23 "2013-09-09T14:50:33Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > A Christian just can’t catch a break on the SDMB, can he/she? 😛 Faith is ignorance incarnate, so no. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/24 "2013-09-09T15:30:54Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > BTW, Christianity **is** an Eastern religion. Christianity isn’t an eastern religion. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/25 "2013-09-09T15:49:23Z")
To people who are completely convinced Christianity is innocent or less evil than any other religion, do remember: you are reading history written by Christians. That’s not to say it’s necessarily more evil; just that everything you read in the States is mostly biased. It’s not easy to get non-Christian writings, and even more difficult to get non-Christian writings that aren’t automatically hateful towards Christianity! ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/26 "2013-09-09T17:05:44Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Christianity isn’t an eastern religion. What? Of course it is. Together with the Isis cult and Mithras worship. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/27 "2013-09-10T00:37:27Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Christianity isn’t an eastern religion. How do you get that? Abraham (to the degree that he existed as an actual person in history) was from Asia, and Asia is the birthplace of Judaism. One would expect it to follow that all Abrahamic religions are Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/28 "2013-09-10T03:58:00Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Why do two of the three abrahamic religions give so many shits about converting others to their cause? CMIIAW but Judaism doesn’t try the whole convert the infidel thing by force if necessary, neither do the religions of the far east e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism and Shinto. So whats up with those two, do they just want a reason to fight and kill everybody? Read the book of Joshua\* and get back to me about “the infidel thing by force if necessary” not applying to Judaism. In fairness, the Jews technically didn’t try to convert; they simply slaughtered every man, woman and child wherever they felt God was telling them to take over. To some extent, religions evolve, or go through phases, anyway. Modern Christianity, along with modern Judaism, are in a pretty peaceful phase. I think Christians are still in a proselytizing phase on average, although my impression is that that is fading compared with years past. But force is out. Middle ages stuff, and to some extent, an excuse to conquer the world during European takeover of the incompetent. Islam, unfortunately, is kind of permanently stuck a few hundred years back for a much larger percentage of its devoteees than is either Judaism or Christianity. \ ***Joshua 6:21** New International Version (NIV) _They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys._ ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/29 "2013-09-10T04:22:45Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Read the book of Joshua\* and get back to me about “the infidel thing by force if necessary” not applying to Judaism. In fairness, the Jews technically didn’t try to convert; they simply slaughtered every man, woman and child wherever they felt God was telling them to take over. However, this stuff certainly never happened. It was just wishful thinking after being oppressed and conquered so many times. Kind of like the 98 pound weakling dreaming of kicking sand in the face of the bully. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/30 "2013-09-10T13:50:52Z")
> [@](#): > > …Hinduism doesn’t expand outside of India except for sects like the Hari Krishna that proselytize. Hindus believe that all religions reflect the same basic truths, and thus everyone is a Hindu. So, in a sense, Hinduism has expanded everywhere via a much more effective methodology that proseltyzing: redefining things. 😉 > [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Read the book of Joshua\* and get back to me about “the infidel thing by force if necessary” not applying to Judaism. In fairness, the Jews technically didn’t try to convert; they simply slaughtered every man, woman and child wherever they felt God was telling them to take over. You are assuming that the stories in Joshua are not apocryphal, or adopted from another culture. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/31 "2013-09-10T13:58:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > How do you get that? Abraham (to the degree that he existed as an actual person in history) was from Asia, and Asia is the birthplace of Judaism. One would expect it to follow that all Abrahamic religions are Asian. “Eastern religion” doesn’t mean “Asian-origin religion.” East and west are relative terms. In terms of religion, the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam --are the major western religions. Hinduism and Buddhism are the major eastern religions. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/32 "2013-09-10T18:42:21Z")
**Chief Pedant** has a point. I should have stressed _modern_ Judaism. In one of the Jewish groups I belong to, a member was very upset that a friend has said the Jews were guilty of genocide. She was furious and expected us to be furious too. Instead the response was ‘Well, we did wipe out the Canaanites and the Amelakites’. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/33 "2013-09-11T02:52:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > However, this stuff certainly never happened. It was just wishful thinking after being oppressed and conquered so many times. Kind of like the 98 pound weakling dreaming of kicking sand in the face of the bully. I don’t think that gets you off the hook in terms of where your fundamental paradigm is. It’s pretty clear that for a couple thousand years the Jews were all good with an oral and written history of genocide. Now it’s kind of reassuring to say it was all bs. At some points in time of Jewish history, it would have gotten you executed for heresy. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198/34 "2013-09-11T03:31:33Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Now it’s kind of reassuring to say it was all bs. At some points in time of Jewish history, it would have gotten you executed for heresy. AFAIK, only pronouncing the Ineffable Name qualifies as heresy punishable by death. However, claiming that biblical events never happened or were allegorical would probably get you banished. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proselytizing/668198.md?page=1)