Proselytizing

[SLD]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Why would you want to pick on someone who is clearly cognitively handicapped? It takes zero effort to be evangelical. Why do you think it's popular?

 

[Keith&Co.]

I used to get braced regularly in the Navy. Someone would decide their patrol project was to bring all us sinners to Christ. Invariably, the discussion would end with them say, "Oh, that's not in the bible."
then me saying, "Oh, really? Do you have a copy?"

Now I just have idiots that make sweeping assertions then get upset if I ask questions or add biblical verse to the sign on the bulletin board.

 

[steve_bank]

When I was in Memphis in early 70s someone might put a bible in your face on the street.

For me it is always ongoing, a fact of life to deal with. Last time was a few months ago. It has gotten to the point I can see it coming and I am already saying no thanks before they start.

 

[skepticalbip]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

Not lately but I have been proselytized to, a good while ago, by followers of Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishna. Being the curious sort, I actually listened to them to find out what the hell they actually believed - weird folks they were. The literature I got from the Jehovah's Witnesses (mostly copies of the Watchtower) were pretty worthless but the Hare Krishna gave me a nice hard cover copy of the Bhagavad-Gita that I still have in my "weird religious literature" collection along with the religious books of other religions.

Is the Hare Krishna movement still active? I haven't seen them for decades. At one time it was impossible to go through an airport without running into a group of them.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The JWs come to doors in my town, including a persistent lady who kept telling me about Satan ruling this world after I specifically told her I was an atheist. And she tried to leave a Watchtower with me -- me, without a parakeet cage. I was patient with her because I've known her for years. Mormons come through some summers. If you tell a Mormon missionary dude that you're atheist, they leave in a hurry with a quick smile. I think their training manual tells them to do that.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If you tell a Mormon missionary dude that you're atheist, they leave in a hurry with a quick smile. I think their training manual tells them to do that.

Well, that's nice and polite of them. Good job by whomever wrote that training manual.

 

[RavenSky]

It's been a long while since anyone has tried to out & out proselytize; but then, I refuse to discuss religion (or my atheism) with anyone IRL so they don't ever get an opportunity to "save" me.

What typically happens is someone starts babbling about christianity (it's always christianity) and/or their god in the most inappropriate situations. Most recent example:

I was teaching a class the other day. It is very clearly a diverse group, yet one agent insists on bringing up priests and his church multiple times - working the references into my class topic in the weirdest, most obvious, ways.

 

[southernhybrid]

About ten or so years ago, some Mormons knocked on my door, but after I gently closed the door after telling them that I'm an atheist, nobody has bothered me again. It used to be that people where I live would ask newcomers what church they go to, but that hasn't happened to me in years. There's a Mormon church or whatever they call it about two blocks from my home.


About a year ago, a couple that my husband knows asked us if we had a home church because they wanted to invite us to their church if we didn't have one. We just told them that we weren't religious and had no interest in attending church. That worked. If the subject comes up, I usually just say that I'm not religious. Nobody seems to care anymore. While there are still some crazy fundies in the area, most of the Christians that I know care more about the community they get from their church, than they do about the beliefs. At least that's the impression I get. We used to have a couple of street preachers here about ten years ago, but that's stopped too.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

Not lately but I have been proselytized to, a good while ago, by followers of Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishna. Being the curious sort, I actually listened to them to find out what the hell they actually believed - weird folks they were. The literature I got from the Jehovah's Witnesses (mostly copies of the Watchtower) were pretty worthless but the Hare Krishna gave me a nice hard cover copy of the Bhagavad-Gita that I still have in my "weird religious literature" collection along with the religious books of other religions.

Is the Hare Krishna movement still active? I haven't seen them for decades. At one time it was impossible to go through an airport without running into a group of them.

Yes, there are still around. They were hard workers for some years to get money. They finally bought land, moved their communes there and started farming. Once they got that going they faded from the hard core proselytizing they were famous for.

 

[Tharmas]

Not lately but I have been proselytized to, a good while ago, by followers of Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishna. Being the curious sort, I actually listened to them to find out what the hell they actually believed - weird folks they were. The literature I got from the Jehovah's Witnesses (mostly copies of the Watchtower) were pretty worthless but the Hare Krishna gave me a nice hard cover copy of the Bhagavad-Gita that I still have in my "weird religious literature" collection along with the religious books of other religions.

Many years ago when I was in graduate school some Jehovah's Witnesses came by on a Saturday morning to proselytize. Now I had heard from a grad student friend who had been raised as a JW that they had their own translations of the Bible and were fanatical about getting everything exactly correct. So when these JWs offered me literature, I asked if they had a New Testament in the original Greek. They didn't, but they could order me one. So I let them come by faithfully for the next few weeks each Saturday and we made small talk about Jesus. You have to understand that at the time I was living full hippie, with the looks, drug paraphernalia lying around, and empty beer cans not cleaned up from the night before. Also I was studying Christian mysticism at that time, so my casual conversation about Jesus was probably a bit much for them. Altogether they were very nervous.

But then it came, a Greek New Testament with an English word-for-word translation and a normalized translation, all side by side. A real resource for my studies! That was the last time I saw my JW friends, who were probably very glad to be rid of me. And I had this valuable reference, which I still have by the way, nearly fifty years later. Cost me a quarter. (And three or four hours of time I'll never get back).

 

[Lion IRC]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

This post confirms my suspicion that many unbelievers deliberately provoke/invite proselytising while ostensibly considering themselves part of a group that wishes it was free from religion.

This forum has a "no preaching" rule while simultaneously allowing/encouraging counter-apologists and anti-theists to interrogate people like me about what we think and why. In fact, I've been banned from some fora for doing nothing other than responding to people like SLD.

 

[SLD]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

This post confirms my suspicion that many unbelievers deliberately provoke/invite proselytising while ostensibly considering themselves part of a group that wishes it was free from religion.

This forum has a "no preaching" rule while simultaneously allowing/encouraging counter-apologists and anti-theists to interrogate people like me about what we think and why. In fact, I've been banned from some fora for doing nothing other than responding to people like SLD.

I don’t wish to be free from religion. I am free from it. But I will defend the right of people to proselytize (in appropriate ways) to their hearts content. I wouldn’t invite it though. I just wonder what's going on. I am truly curious why we don’t see that much of it anymore. And I live in the Deep South. You’d think I'd get hit on a lot. Talkfreethought is my only outlet to discuss religion. Sigh.

SLD

 

[southernhybrid]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

This post confirms my suspicion that many unbelievers deliberately provoke/invite proselytising while ostensibly considering themselves part of a group that wishes it was free from religion.

This forum has a "no preaching" rule while simultaneously allowing/encouraging counter-apologists and anti-theists to interrogate people like me about what we think and why. In fact, I've been banned from some fora for doing nothing other than responding to people like SLD.

As far as I know, the only time that atheists "provoke" Christians, is when they are provoked by Christians. I usually just ignore them, but there have been times in the work place that in order to defend myself and my own beliefs, I had to get into a bt of an argument with them. But, unlike the Christians, I don't threaten them with hell or tell them they aren't saved, or arrogantly say that I will pray for them, or anything like that. I don't consider that provoking them. How would you feel if someone from a religion that was different from your own, made a point of telling you that you were wrong, that you were going to be eternally punished by their god, etc.? Wouldn't you feel the need to defend yourself and your beliefs? Considering some of the things that you post here, I find it difficult to believe that you would just walk away or listen respectfully.


When religious people used to knock on my door, I simply told them that I'm an atheist and I'm not interested in getting into an argument with them. Then, I wish them a good day. Considering where I live, I probably should have wished them a blessed day. Store cashiers here constantly wish me a blessed day, so I suppose I should speak their language. And, it really doesn't bother me that they use the term "blessed" because I know it's said with good intentions. I just take it to mean secular blessings since there isn't any such things as blessings from god. If those poor cashiers were blessed, they wouldn't be working for 8 dollars an hour. I feel for them.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

This post confirms my suspicion that many unbelievers deliberately provoke/invite proselytising while ostensibly considering themselves part of a group that wishes it was free from religion.

This forum has a "no preaching" rule while simultaneously allowing/encouraging counter-apologists and anti-theists to interrogate people like me about what we think and why. In fact, I've been banned from some fora for doing nothing other than responding to people like SLD.

I don’t wish to be free from religion.

Well, Lion never said you did have that desire.
He DID say that you appear to align yourself with a group that maybe holds that position, therefore you can be held accountable for that belief Lion has about that group he thinks you imagine yourself as part of.

Of course, Lion would be among the first to bitch at any post where anyone else refers to 'christains' as a solid, undifferentiated block, holding all of them accountable for any behavior displayed merely by the majority, or even a minority, or perhaps by people he specifically feels his is NOT aligned with, but that's a hypocrite of a different color, I guess.

 

[steve_bank]

How do you think FOX News would react if people stead going door to door handing out atheist pamphlets?

What would happen in say Uriah?

It would be seen as armegedon.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

If you tell a Mormon missionary dude that you're atheist, they leave in a hurry with a quick smile. I think their training manual tells them to do that.

Well, that's nice and polite of them. Good job by whomever wrote that training manual.

That was not my experience.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If you tell a Mormon missionary dude that you're atheist, they leave in a hurry with a quick smile. I think their training manual tells them to do that.

Well, that's nice and polite of them. Good job by whomever wrote that training manual.

That was not my experience.

Mine, either. They like to go back and tell everyone they converted an atheist.

I get better mileage telling them I'm a feminist. "Hey, why don't they have women missionaries?"

Last two were impressed that I was grilling, uncomfortable when they found I was grilling a dish they'd never heard of (tandoori chicken... Very deep into the mystic arts of Eastern cuisine...) and horrified that I was making the bread, too.

Man make meat with fire, very manly.
Man make the side dishes, like naan and raita, challenges their position in the food chain...

 

[Iznomneak]

I've been getting JW's visiting here recently on Saturday mornings rudely and mindlessly interupting my privacy.

My conversation usually goes like this.
- Did you see the "No Soliciting" sign when you drive into our community?
- Did you know that by coming here and to my neighbors you are breaking the law? (the local ordinance # is on the sign)
- Right now you are breaking the law
- You worship a god that instructs you to break the law.

They leave pretty quick after that. Friendly bunch though.

 

[Lion IRC]

Anyone been proselytized to lately? I live in the Deep South and it never happens to me. Maybe it’s an urban living thing. I kinda wish they would. I wouldn’t mind getting into it with some dumbshit evangelical.

SLD

This post confirms my suspicion that many unbelievers deliberately provoke/invite proselytising while ostensibly considering themselves part of a group that wishes it was free from religion.

This forum has a "no preaching" rule while simultaneously allowing/encouraging counter-apologists and anti-theists to interrogate people like me about what we think and why. In fact, I've been banned from some fora for doing nothing other than responding to people like SLD.

I don’t wish to be free from religion. I am free from it. But I will defend the right of people to proselytize (in appropriate ways) to their hearts content. I wouldn’t invite it though. I just wonder what's going on. I am truly curious why we don’t see that much of it anymore. And I live in the Deep South. You’d think I'd get hit on a lot. Talkfreethought is my only outlet to discuss religion. Sigh.

SLD

Compared to 25 years ago, door-to-door evangelising isn't a very efficient use of your time. That's probably the reason you don't get visited. I'm sure you'd find Friday night street preachers in your nearest city. But if you call them "dumbshit evangelicals" (or liars or creotards or Christo-fascists etc etc) they will probably leave you alone as well.

So that leaves you stuck with Talkfreethought and dumshit evangelicals like me.

And I tend a little more towards what they call 'offensive' apologetic preaching which is to say...critique atheism rather than defend religion.

For example, if I knocked on your door and you, as an atheist, wanted to chat, I would start by asking to Whom you direct your gratitude for this life, this world, this universe. Or do you (atheists) live without ever experiencing the awe and joy of gratitude to Something Higher than the terrestrial mundane world of accidental, unguided evolution?