As far as I’m aware it seems to be a strictly Christian phenomenon, be it going door-to-door to just handing out leaflets. The point, as far as I’m aware, is simply to get others to convert to your particular flavor of faith.
Why is that such an important issue? My theories:
More members of a given church = more money for the church. What do churches do with this money? (And yes, I’m cynical.)
“Saving” people. Someone is a sinner by your moral code, sinners go to hell, therefore it’s in their best interest for you to try to make them come over to your side.
Are those the only reasons? I vaguely recall something in the NT about converting those amongst you, but why do only some sects do it and others don’t?
(And please keep this at a GQ level of discourse; I’m simply asking out of curiosity [inspired by a dream I had about Mormon missionaries] and don’t want a debate about the ethics of it.)
Ironically, it’s a matter of survival of the fittest. Religions that prosletyze grow and those that don’t, don’t. Eventually you will have the situation that the largest religions prosletyze.
Same thing for religions that encourage large families such as LDS and Catholicism.
Matthew 28:16-20
"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(NIV)
The New Testament commands the followers of Christ to go and make followers of all nations. The Great Commission
*
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(*
So it can be thought of as part of the mission of Christians to do so.
Might I suggest that it is in part because proselytizing religions are those whose believers feel it is the ONLY way to the truth? Therefore, the existence of other creeds is threatening to their own faith / belief system. They can lessen the threat by declaring non-Proselytists as pagans / infidels / unbelievers / those-who-would-be-with-us-if-only-they-knew-the-Proselytist-truth.
I considered that, but it doesn’t seem to work. Judaism, for example, doesn’t quite go so far as to discourage conversion, but certainly doesn’t proselytize, and they’ve been doing OK numbers wise for a considerably long time*.
Dr. Lao, that’s exactly the passage I was trying to remember. Thanks.
The question still remains, though: why have some forms of Christianity done away with it? I’m sure that if I were to go to a Catholic church and tell them I wanted to convert they’d be eager to help me out, but I’ve never seen the Roman Catholic church out ‘advertising’, so to speak. Is it just one of those natural divides that’s evolved, or is there more to it?
*I grant that in Biblical days there may or may not have been some ‘kill those who aren’t us’ stuff going on, which could have an effect, but still. Also, I know that some Orthodox Jews do in fact discourage conversion.
Proselytizing isn’t necessarily done by way of knocking on doors or advertising - it can be as simple as inviting a churchless friend to come with you to your church on a Sunday. Church events or activities open to the public are another way to get a lot of people to just come in the door, in the hope that at least a few will stick around. For example, many churches have a week of vacation bible school, open to anyone, in the summer, and Living Nativites open to the community in December.
I can think of other examples, but my point is that I think the divide you see may just be a difference in methods.
Or, church organizations do humanitarian work internationally and provide information about the church through the example of their actions, without directly proselytizing to people.
There are, as I recall, fewer than fifteen million Jews in the entire world. Compare that to over a billion Muslims, over two billion Christians, almost a billion Hindus . . . the numbers are very rough, of course, but according to this list, Judaism claims less than a percent of the world’s population. Even in the US, which has a lot of Jews, I don’t think they have more than five percent.
I think it is like married women who keep trying to get their single friends to experience wedded bliss.
Misery loves company?
No, seriously, I think there are those Christians who really feel they are on to something good and hate to see people miss out on it. I had a good friend who “found God” and I believe he wanted to share that happiness with me.
I kept telling him I didn’t need to find God because to the best of my knowledge, he wasn’t lost. He kept attempting to convert me until we basically grew apart. I believe he was always saddened that I was doomed for the firey pit.
The key to all movements is not the founder but the converts.
The first converts are the “true believers” and, opposite of the founder’s egotism, they are full of subjugation impulses. Some think it’s “reflected glory” but I think it’s simply a substitute for Mother, a way to be part of a family, to belong.
As a former proselytizing Christian, I can sort of give you my anecdotal reasons for doing it.
I was 12. Being 12, I didn’t really grasp social etiquette all that well.
I truly loved God, and every single source I had that claimed to be ‘‘of God’’ insisted that this is what God wanted me to do.
I genuinely cared for all of humanity and believed that they would find a joy if they converted, a joy that could not be matched by any other belief system.
I wanted those I knew and loved to understand me better, to share a big part of myself with them… for us to have something fundamental in common.
So basically altruistic motives for myself, with a little social angst thrown in. Don’t know about anyone else. Though I do have to say that I don’t think Christianity is the only religion that proselytizes. I’m not sure Muslims go door-to-door in any organized way, but I’ve certainly been ‘‘witnessed’’ to, in a sense, by them.
In many cases, because they think you’re going to hell if you don’t convert. They’re trying to save your soul.
If you saw someone unknowingly walking into the path of a speeding bus, wouldn’t you pull them out of the way? Well, that’s what the preacher man thinks he’s doing for you, except what he’s doing is WAY more important, because going to hell is infinitely worse than being hit by a bus.
When I went on my mission, a large number of the people doing it were going because it was expected of Mormons. I went to find out myself if I believed in the church, and pretty much found out that I didn’t.
Anyway, many years ago, I attended some meetings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses that were like sales meetings: Each “sales team” was assigned a territory. Targets were set by the “sales manager”, including:
Number of hours spent witnessing
Number of homes contacted
Number of items sold, classified into two groups: Magazines (Watchtower and Awake!) and books.
Number of times they were invited into the home for a discussion
Number of return calls scheduled
Number of weekly Bible studies booked
Number of people who agreed to attend a Sunday service
Each member of the congregation was expected to purchase a supply of magazines and books.
Also, there was a special group who witnessed full-time and who supported themselves and their family through the sale of magazines and books.