Jehovah's Witnesses

[Xynonyx]

For the second time in less than a month I was awakened yesterday by the timid knocking of a Jehovah's Witness; the one window in my bedroom is right next to my front door, and in these summer months with the window fully open these religious freaks may as well be right in the room, for as clear as their intrusions are. There was no way I wanted to actually get out of bed, open the front door, and tell them to get lost, but it looks like the next time it happens I’ll have to try doing just that. Although, since these last two times it was a different person each visit, I doubt telling the next one to never bother me again will have any effect (and weirdly enough, each of the last two intrusions the one adult had a child with them -- poor, hapless cult victim).

Be it Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, or whatever random, fundamentalist christian missionary, I loath these loons who disrupt the peace and quiet of my home. At least I can partially credit the typical “mega church” protestant for their reduced annoyance: their religion has generally become so diluted and pallid that I never really have to worry about any of them bothering me with direct evangelism, say at work or when going about my business in public somewhere, let alone a couple of them showing up unwelcome at my door when I’m trying to sleep, read, or eat a meal.

[raycyrx]

Have you tried a No Trespassing sign?

[bob_rx2000]

In the 1930's my father was teaching one of his classmates to drive, and they were sitting at a stopsign in the town where they grew up. Down the street some was a Jehovah's Witness calling on houses. My father, not the most tolerant of people towards this denomination, was just set to make a nasty remark about this woman when his buddy said "There is my Mother!"...

[Spider]

While I don't welcome the intrusion, I always try to remember that these people truly believe that they are trying to save my soul. They believe that it is highly likely that I am going to Hell, the worst place ever. They don't want that for me. To them, sitting back and watching me damn myself is 10x worse than a family member who enables anothers heroin addiction. I think more about the mindset of those that say "He's going to Hell, but thats his decision, so whatever". Especially about those they care about. Sometimes I think this evangelicalism comes from a good place. The rest of the time they hit the sales pitch and ask for money, then the door hits em where the good lord split em.

[Xynonyx]

Have you tried a No Trespassing sign?

In my experience "NO TRESPASSING" signs rarely seem to work with door-to-door religion peddlers: most don't consider what they're doing as trespassing -- they're on a mission from their god to save your immortal soul. In years past, at previous residences I've made signs that explicitly read, "Absolutely NO salesmen, solicitors, or religion peddlers," and hung them on the front door, only to have some sales jerk, or mormon still knock. Once when I answered the door for a couple of mormon teens I brusquely asked if they didn't read the sign right in front of them, to which one replied, "But, we're not peddling religion." As the other kid suggested to his partner they just go I slammed the door.

Beyond that, to me your typical, manufactured "no trespassing" signs just look low class and tacky, and I'd rather not have one posted on the tree in front of the house, on the garage next to the house, and on the front door. It should just be a given that residential property is private. And about the only homesteads in Michiana I see such sign posted are run-down dumps with broken sidewalks, and tattered trailers on overgrown lots with busted toys strewn all over the yard -- places no one would ever want to "trespass" on anyway. I'd rather avoid that personal association with my own home.

[Xynonyx]

While I don't welcome the intrusion, I always try to remember that these people truly believe that they are trying to save my soul. They believe that it is highly likely that I am going to Hell, the worst place ever. They don't want that for me. To them, sitting back and watching me damn myself is 10x worse than a family member who enables anothers heroin addiction. I think more about the mindset of those that say "He's going to Hell, but thats his decision, so whatever". Especially about those they care about. Sometimes I think this evangelicalism comes from a good place. The rest of the time they hit the sales pitch and ask for money, then the door hits em where the good lord split em.

And thus we see the mindset and dynamic by which organized religion has caused so much harm throughout human history: believers simply can't accept you don't need or want their "help" or "salvation," and insist on foisting it upon you, "for your own good." This manifests by everything from an unwelcome knock on your front door in an otherwise quiet afternoon, up to genocide.

[Xenokilla]

While I don't welcome the intrusion, I always try to remember that these people truly believe that they are trying to save my soul. They believe that it is highly likely that I am going to Hell, the worst place ever. They don't want that for me. To them, sitting back and watching me damn myself is 10x worse than a family member who enables anothers heroin addiction. I think more about the mindset of those that say "He's going to Hell, but thats his decision, so whatever". Especially about those they care about. Sometimes I think this evangelicalism comes from a good place. The rest of the time they hit the sales pitch and ask for money, then the door hits em where the good lord split em.

And thus we see the mindset and dynamic by which organized religion has caused so much harm throughout human history: believers simply can't accept you don't need or want their "help" or "salvation," and insist on foisting it upon you, "for your own good." This manifests by everything from an unwelcome knock on your front door in an otherwise quiet afternoon, up to genocide.

A very good point!

[raycyrx]

This manifests by everything from an unwelcome knock on your front door in an otherwise quiet afternoon, up to genocide.

You didn't, in all seriousness, just compare those two... did you?!?

[Xenokilla]

This manifests by everything from an unwelcome knock on your front door in an otherwise quiet afternoon, up to genocide.

You didn't, in all seriousness, just compare those two... did you?!?

I would not compare knocking on doors to religious based genocide, however its the same root that causes both. Evangelism (the preaching of the Christian Gospel or the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others with the object of conversion), Proselytizing (the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion.) and Jihad (that's a tough one to accurately define, but for this purpose were going to have it mean the conversion of all non-believers) is the root cause of people knocking on your doors, and has in the past been the reason for knocking over your country.

[raycyrx]

I would not compare knocking on doors to religious based genocide, however its the same root that causes both.

You wouldn't compare the two, and yet you just did in the very sentence where you say you won't.

religious based genocide

Socialism caused much more genocide in the 20th century than probably all previous religious based genocides combined.