Religious door to door callers are dense....

There's an 87-year-old woman living across the street from me who seems to
think that the world turns on being able to eventually get me to attend her
church. She calls at least weekly on the phone and invariably gets around to
her real reason for calling. I have told her at least a dozen times that I
am simply not interested but it doesn't sink in. I don't want to alienate
her as a neighbor, I enjoy talking with her when she's not going on about
the bible, but she gets mightily offended when I don't go along with what
she says. Last time she did it, I borrowed the refrigerator-sized diamond
analogy from Sam Harris and the Orbiting China Teapot idea from Bertrand
Russell. I tried to be gentle and hope it worked but I might need to tell
her that I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster....

Sherry wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:00?pm, "jmcquown" wrote:
Helen Miles wrote:
This is a minor rant, so bear with me...

JW's are quite possibly THE most annoying people on the planet. I
have a BIG sign on my front door that says

"No salespeople, NO religious callers, NO political canvasing.
Official callers must have ID."

To me, that is perfectly clear. I don't like to be disturbed by
people I am not expecting as it disrupts the cats and it invades my
privacy.

JW's just don't get the hint though. Apparently they are immune to
signs telling them to get lost.
(snippage)
Helen M (who is very relieved that Miss Lily Whiskers is fine)

I'm relieved Miss Lily Whiskers is fine, too! I haven't seen any
JW's for a while but from time to time the Baptists come to call.
And they don't like to take "no" for an answer, either. But I recall
one funny experience almost 10 years ago, shortly after I moved to
this apartment. A father and son knocked on my door and started
their spiel about why I should attend *their* Baptist church. When I
could get a word in edgewise I said, "Just one problem, I'm not a
BAPTIST!" I swear they were practically signals to ward off the evil
eye as they backed away. They probably marked my apartment somehow,
like the hobos used to do, warning everyone else away. I've not been
bugged by door-to-door religious nuts since then.

IME, Baptists will call (other denominations too)...when someone first
moves to invite them to their church. I don't think it had anything to
do with "evil eye". Usually they don't come back unless you've
expressed interest in their church.

Sherry

It was just funny the way they literally backed up away from my door when I
proclaimed I'm not a Baptist, like I'd said something very evil and they
were likely to be whisked promptly to hell if they stood close to me a
moment longer.

I don't think religion should be a door to door thing. It's a highly
personal subject and to do so is very intrusive.

I worked with a woman who would send out bible scriptures via email to all
sorts of people in the company. This included email to a highly religious
Jewish man who wore a yarmulke every day. Trust me, he didn't welcome
getting emails about Jesus.

There was another woman who would constantly engage another member of the
department, who was a Muslim, in debates about the contents of the bible vs.
the koran. Totally inappropriate; it was not her job to try to "convert"
this guy.

The department supervisor finally had to go to Human Resources and have them
spell out a policy about not sending emails or debating religious matters in
the work place. It's too controversial and doesn't belong at the office (or
at my front door).

Jill

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:48:30 -0500, jmcquown wrote:

It's too controversial and doesn't belong at the office (or
at my front door).

Or in a newsgroup dedicated to cat anecdotes. :-)

--
Joey DoWop Dee
Remember: It is To Laugh

On Feb 20, 3:48�am, "jmcquown" wrote:
Sherry wrote:

It was just funny the way they literally backed up away from my door when I
proclaimed I'm not a Baptist, like I'd said something very evil and they
were likely to be whisked promptly to hell if they stood close to me a
moment longer.

I don't think religion should be a door to door thing. *It's a highly
personal subject and to do so is very intrusive.

I agree with the last line for sure. Then I thought, I support
overseas missions wholeheartedly. What a hypocrite I am.

Sherry

"Sherry" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 20, 3:48?am, "jmcquown" wrote:
Sherry wrote:

It was just funny the way they literally backed up away from my door when
I
proclaimed I'm not a Baptist, like I'd said something very evil and they
were likely to be whisked promptly to hell if they stood close to me a
moment longer.

I don't think religion should be a door to door thing. It's a highly
personal subject and to do so is very intrusive.

I agree with the last line for sure. Then I thought, I support
overseas missions wholeheartedly. What a hypocrite I am.


I had to rethink my attitude toward missions years ago when one of Charlie's
cousins went overseas as a missionary - to Germany.

Jo

On Feb 20, 11:22?am, "Jo Firey" wrote:
"Sherry" wrote in message

oups.com...
On Feb 20, 3:48?am, "jmcquown" wrote:

Sherry wrote:

It was just funny the way they literally backed up away from my door when
I
proclaimed I'm not a Baptist, like I'd said something very evil and they
were likely to be whisked promptly to hell if they stood close to me a
moment longer.

I don't think religion should be a door to door thing. It's a highly
personal subject and to do so is very intrusive.

I agree with the last line for sure. Then I thought, I support
overseas missions wholeheartedly. What a hypocrite I am.

I had to rethink my attitude toward missions years ago when one of Charlie's
cousins went overseas as a missionary - to Germany.

Jo

Well, that's irony for you. Germany is probably more civilized than we
are.

Sherry

Sherry wrote:

On Feb 20, 3:48?am, "jmcquown" wrote:

I don't think religion should be a door to door thing. It's a highly
personal subject and to do so is very intrusive.

I agree with the last line for sure. Then I thought, I support
overseas missions wholeheartedly. What a hypocrite I am.

I don't understand missionaries, myself. What was wrong with the
religions the people were already practicing? Why do they need to be
converted? Were they asking to be converted?

I personally don't understand the whole proselytizing thing. I come
from a tradition where not only do they not proselytize, but in fact,
you have to *convince* a member of the clergy that you really do want
to convert. That always seemed a bit extreme on the opposite end - my
belief is that people should be able to choose whatever spiritual
practice works for them. They shouldn't have it forced on them (as
adults - raising one's children in a faith is something different IMO),
and they shouldn't have to jump through hoops to prove they're worthy
to join the club, either.

I'm sure by saying this I've oversimplified a few things. But since
faith is such a personal matter, why do we need to control what other
people believe?

Joyce

Sherry wrote:

On Feb 19, 12:00�pm, "jmcquown" wrote:

Helen Miles wrote:

This is a minor rant, so bear with me...

JW's are quite possibly THE most annoying people on the planet. I
have a BIG sign on my front door that says

"No salespeople, NO religious callers, NO political canvasing.
Official callers must have ID."

To me, that is perfectly clear. I don't like to be disturbed by
people I am not expecting as it disrupts the cats and it invades my
privacy.

JW's just don't get the hint though. Apparently they are immune to
signs telling them to get lost.

(snippage)

Helen M (who is very relieved that Miss Lily Whiskers is fine)

I'm relieved Miss Lily Whiskers is fine, too! �I haven't seen any JW's for a
while but from time to time the Baptists come to call. �And they don't like
to take "no" for an answer, either. �But I recall one funny experience
almost 10 years ago, shortly after I moved to this apartment. �A father and
son knocked on my door and started their spiel about why I should attend
*their* Baptist church. �When I could get a word in edgewise I said, "Just
one problem, I'm not a BAPTIST!" I swear they were practically signals to
ward off the evil eye as they backed away. �They probably marked my
apartment somehow, like the hobos used to do, warning everyone else away.
I've not been bugged by door-to-door religious nuts since then.


IME, Baptists will call (other denominations too)...when someone first
moves to invite them to their church. I don't think it had anything to
do with "evil eye". Usually they don't come back unless you've
expressed interest in their church.

I think that practice may be more common in smaller
communities - I never encountered it anywhere I lived in Los
Angeles, nor in the area of Phoenix where I live now.
Actually, it's rather a nice gesture, if they're content to
simply let you know they have a church in your neighborhood,
and invite your attendance - makes you feel someone at least
noticed you're alive. (Being a new resident in a strange
city can be rather lonely, at times.)

Christina Websell wrote:

"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message
...


(You may be confusing them with the Mormons, who are a bunch of
fascist psycho thugs).


I have to take issue with this opinion. A lot of my family are Mormons,
although I am not myself. A nicer bunch of people you couldn't meet.

Tweed

You realize you responded to some idiot troll, don't you?
However we may feel about door-to-door proselytizing, most
of us appreciate the "family values" most Mormons profess.
(They may not approve of homosexuality, but they certainly
don't engage in hatemongering - about that or anything else!)




============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk
==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660
4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554
975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739
557

Pat wrote:

There's an 87-year-old woman living across the street from me who seems to
think that the world turns on being able to eventually get me to attend her
church. She calls at least weekly on the phone and invariably gets around to
her real reason for calling. I have told her at least a dozen times that I
am simply not interested but it doesn't sink in. I don't want to alienate
her as a neighbor, I enjoy talking with her when she's not going on about
the bible, but she gets mightily offended when I don't go along with what
she says. Last time she did it, I borrowed the refrigerator-sized diamond
analogy from Sam Harris and the Orbiting China Teapot idea from Bertrand
Russell. I tried to be gentle and hope it worked but I might need to tell
her that I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster....

I have a friend who every once in a while e-mails me some of
her "born again Christian" literature with instructions to
pass it on. My invariable responses telling her I respect
her right to believe what she chooses, and wish she would
return the compliment, don't seem to have much effect. In
every other way, she's a good friend of many years'
standing, but I DO wish she'd keep her religious views to
herself!