People who come to the door with attempts of religious conversion

[Hopeless]

I had two ladies come to the door when I was on maternity leave with easy child. They came every week for six weeks straight. I was answering the door with a screaming hungry infant and they wanted to talk....I said I'm not interested and had to take care of my family. They never came back.

 

[susiestar]

I have yet to meet one who was not pushy or who went away when I politely said I was not interested. That is why I play with their heads. I have very deep faith in God and very little in organized religion. If and when I want to join a church, I will go and find one. Until then, they can stay away from my home unless husband invites them over.

The worst were in our old house. One neighbor was from some crazy church and she barged in one day while I had an awful migraine and was in bed. She woke me up to pray with her for the demons to leave my head, saying that demons were the cause of the migraine. After asking and then telling her to leave, I puked on her and told J to call 911 to report an intruder. Right in front of her. She then tried to take the phone from J. BIG Mistake. I think my head spun like the girl in the Exorcist as I told her flat out that I was filing assault charges for the way she touched my child, that her child would end up in foster care and she would be in prison because interfering in a call to 911 is a felony.

She sent people to my home for months to 'convert' us and to 'save' my kids. Wiz was still at home and I let him play wtih quite a few of them. A few mos later we found a map on their church website of properties owned by people who were demons or were possessed by them. We were number 3 on their list. Wiz was a bit offended, felt we should at least be number 2.

Then another family moved into the neighborhood and moved a very old, rusty, nasty looking trailer onto their property as their 'church'. On Sundays they blocked the entire road until enough of us called the cops enough times. They would move the cars if you asked, but only after you listened to their spiel and gave them a cash donation. I just drove through their yard instead. NOT the first time, or even the third. The sheriff himself told them that if they blocked the road then I had the right to drive on their property to get to and from my home.

That church is officially designated as a cult, and members turn over ALL assets to the church, live where they are told (I know several of them were told to live in small, icky houses so people in the church could have their homes, same iwth cars, etc.....) and do what they are told. They turned over ALL control to the pastor of their church, down to when they went on vacation, if they could change jobs, what they planted in their gardens or even if they had gardens. They were all nuts. And lousy neighbors.

After all of that? I have zero patience with anyone pushing their brand of religion on me. What I find interesting is that I have yet to have a non-Christian religious person come and push their religion on me. I have met many of other faiths (benefit of living in a town with a university with one of the largest and most diverse international populations thanks to theamazing agricultural programs, etc...) and have discussed faith with them. Many are open about their beliefs without pressuring you to convert or support them. I like that and I respect it greatly. I don't like those who pressure me over religion and often find they cannot discuss the Bible they wave about iwth any degree of intelligence. At least not around here.

 

[AnnieO]

What I find interesting is that I have yet to have a non-Christian religious person come and push their religion on me. I have met many of other faiths (benefit of living in a town with a university with one of the largest and most diverse international populations thanks to theamazing agricultural programs, etc...) and have discussed faith with them. Many are open about their beliefs without pressuring you to convert or support them. I like that and I respect it greatly. I don't like those who pressure me over religion and often find they cannot discuss the Bible they wave about iwth any degree of intelligence. At least not around here.

LOL Susie, you are very much right.

Of of my extremely close friends is very religious (Christian). She's invited me to go to church with her several times, but she doesn't jam it down my throat. If I am open to a discussion, we talk - if not, she's cool. She gave Meggie a "baby Bible" - a few rhymes about Bible stories - Meggie loves it, as do I. I don't consider it an imposition, though, because of the way she does it. We've had some fantastic discussions, too.

I worked in a hotel once where there was a female security guard who was a zealot. I hit her with two questions and told her when she had a meaningful answer to come back to me. "Can God create a rock that God cannot move?" and "Can God make a mistake?"

She never got back to me...

 

[greenrene]

Since I moved to FL, I haven't had any religious visitors, thank goodness. I'd probably just not answer the door.

However, if they get pushy, I am prepared. I grew up in a fundamentalist church (one foot in the "cult" category) in which one of the main thrusts is Bible knowledge. I was in church 3x a week, and from age 10 on I went to a school associated with this particular denomination, in which I had Bible class AND chapel every day.

As a result of all that indoctrination, I can out-Bible just about anyone.

ETA: I consider myself an "apathetic agnostic" these days - I don't know, and I don't really care. I went through a very angry period where I considered myself a hardcore atheist, but I've softened up lately.

 

[muttmeister]

I, too, have dogs that bark. Although the worst they would do is kiss somebody to death, they sound fierce so when those people come to my door I grab one by the collar in each hand and open the door and say, "Sorry, I can't let you in; the dogs might bite you," and while they stand there astonished I shut the door and go about my business.l They don't usually return.

 

[InsaneCdn]

What I find interesting is that I have yet to have a non-Christian religious person come and push their religion on me. I

Interesting... because, I have.
Not door-to-door, but at work or on campus. If they "know" you at all, they can be just as bad as so called "Christian" cults.

 

[donna723]

We get them every once in a while. I think the Mormons are really the most persistent. You can spot them a mile away when they're going through the neighborhood. the ones around here always seem to be two young men wearing black pants and white dress shirts. The Jehovah's Witnesses aren't quite as bad. I don't usually answer the door either because most of the time I'm here by myself. Anybody knocking on my door will set all FOUR of my dogs off in to barking fits which is usually enough to discourage just about anybody. The most I've ever done is to open the door just enough that they can slip their pamphlet in, all the while mouthing the words, "I can't hear you with the dogs barking!"

Funny story about the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was sitting in the living room watching TV when I heard a little knock on the door, then all four dogs barking full blast. I have three little windows on the top of my front door and I looked but didn't see anyone out there so I decided it must be my imagination. Then I heard the knocking again and again I looked and saw no one. Then I wondered if it might be a child, one of the neighborhood kids selling something for the school. So I opened the door just a little bit ... and there was this tiny little elderly Asian lady not much more than 4 ft. tall with a handful of religious pamphlets! I was suddenly surrounded by all three of my extremely friendly, clownish little Bostons who were now in a snarling and barking frenzy, showing all of their funny little picket-fence teeth. Scared that lady so bad that she screamed, threw her pamphlets up in the air, and practically flew down my front steps, sprinted down the sidewalk, jumped in her car, and practically burned rubber down the street getting out of there! And she's never come back. I wonder why?

 

[SuZir]

After all of that? I have zero patience with anyone pushing their brand of religion on me. What I find interesting is that I have yet to have a non-Christian religious person come and push their religion on me.

I have, quite often. Not going door to door but in public places. Especially Hare Krishnas tended to be very active and bothersome around here few years back. Only Jehovah's Witnesses, and at times Mormons, go door to door around here.

In our culture faith is considered very private matter. We may talk about religions in general, church politics or theology and certainly do, but when it comes to faith, it is just not talked much at all. Most people are much more comfortable talking about their sex lives with friends or even strangers than their faith. And I for example don't know if my in-laws are atheists, agnostics or believers. I do know they belong to church and go in big Holidays. And while I know bit more about my husband's thoughts about the matter, we both keep our innermost thoughts about the matter between us and our deity (if we consider there is one.) I'm also sure my sons don't know if I and husband believe or not (they of course do know that we are Church members and participate in big Holidays and every now and when otherwise.) And while I have some idea of difficult child's leanings, I have no idea if easy child does believe, is agnostic or atheist.

But as you can guess, I will not discuss about my faith with someone knocking on to my door. I can discuss about religion though. With Jehovah's Witnesses I'm usually polite but short and don't take anything from them. Even the smallest sign of interests keeps them coming back. Once I have been so angry with them that I really let them hear how I felt and scared them with our dog (we had a rottweiler at that time, she could be quite convincing when she felt that I was enraged with a stranger and wanted that person far away.) These two women had came to our house quite early afternoon, when most people are at work, and their school-age children are often home alone. When difficult child, he was 11 at the time, opened the door, they had asked if parents were home, and when told no, they have in fact came into our house and started to convert my 11- and 8-year-olds. They left some material to them and came back few days later at the evening, when I too was home and I really let them know what I thought of them soliciting kids. They had done the same to other families in neighbourhood and others were as enraged as I. I think we didn't had any Jehovahs going door to door in this neighbourhood in five years after that one.

Mormons I often ask inside and even offer something to drink and eat, when they come if I have time. Not that I would have any interest to be converted, but I find it rather fascinating that boys from USA come all the way over here, learn little bit of our small and obscure language and go door to door without any real success. So I ask them to come in and talked with them about how they have liked it here, why they chose to come here and things like that.

 

[BusynMember]

Suz, there is this unspoken rule here: "Don't talk about religion and politics" lol. Both can cause a lot of trouble. Most people are very good about not shoving either down the throat of a stranger. But every so often we do get mostly Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormans coming to our doors.

I also had some very very very very very fundamentalist christians living next door to me in my last house a nd every time they saw me I had to pretend to be very busy and run to my car or else I'd have to hear a sermon. They were relentless and never got tired of preaching. But that doesn't happen too often. At any rate, I avoid people like that like the plague. Most people are very cool about their faith and don't overtalk about it to others.

My son who left our family is a fundamentalist christian to the extreme and his church is almost cult-like. If you do not "believe" their way, you are not part of his family. The family of God. He thinks most Christians are heathens. Whatever. That's a big reason why he left our family. Before he left though every interaction with him was a preach. And you were not safe from his preaching even if you were a practicing Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, etc. because he didn't consider them real Christians. That's one reason why I really can't see us reconciling. Although I have respect for all faiths, I am not a Christian. To him that means all of us are hopeless!

 

[donna723]

These people are wasting their time on me and just need to take me off their list. I have my own beliefs and no amount of badgering is going to change that. And I have no intention of discussing anything as personal as my religious beliefs with a total stranger on my front porch!

Another funny about the persistent Jehovah's Witnesses. My tiny little house is close to the street on one side and actually has FOUR outside entrances. One of these is a door coming from the street side of the house in to my kitchen. There are three steps outside and a small landing outside the door. The steps are cemented-over cinder blocks but the little landing is just a thin slab of concrete that had a big crack going through it. Doesn't matter because this door is unused. It doesn't even open because my dryer is blocking it.

Anyway ... when I was still working, apparently the Jehovah's Witnesses figured out that if they came to the front door, the dogs can see them go past the window and would go in to their barking frenzy. So one of them decided to try knocking on that side door, the one that goes in to the kitchen. Bad idea! I came home one day and noticed a pamphlet had been slipped under the door handle to the screen door of this side entrance. I went to retrieve it and when I got close enough I saw that the concrete landing had given away ...there was a big person-size hole in the concrete slab with nothing but the edges hanging on! You could look through this hole and see the dirt underneath! Couldn't have been the Asian lady - she was so tiny she could have perched up there like a butterfly! So apparently some larger-sized chubbier Jehovah's Witness, in their zeal to convert me, had gone up those steps, put the pamphlet in the door handle, then the old concrete slab had given away under them just like a trap door and they fell through the hole! It's high enough that climbing up out of that hole had to be quite a feat! I would have given ANYTHING to have that on video! I would watch it over and over again. And when I told my landlord what happened, he was laughing so hard that I don't think he even minded that he had to pay some one to replace the old concrete landing!

 

[donna723]

OMG! I just had another one! I heard the dogs start another barking frenzy and peeked out the window to see a dressed up man with a handful of religious pamphlets on my front porch. So there I was, hair all squirrely, bra-less, in my oldest rattiest sweatshirt. I opened the door anyway. I couldn't really hear what he was saying but talked to him through the glass storm door, while attempting to hold my barking dog, Katy, away from the door ... backed him right up a few steps! Katy is my 32-pound muscular Boston that looks more like an English Bulldog than a Boston. She was barking her head off and he assumed that she was trying to eat him. I let him think that. In reality, Katy is the friendliest dog on the planet and was barking because she was excited to have "company" at the front door - she was thinking that maybe he'd play with her, maybe even roll her ball so she could chase it! I opened the door just enough for him to slide the brochure through and he made a hasty retreat to his car.

Then I looked at the brochure ... OMG! I wish my scanner worked so I could post a picture of it! I guess lightning is gonna strike me but I can't stop giggling at it! Don't mean to offend anyone but apparently this was Disco Jesus! He looks like he just stepped right out of a 70's era hair salon! Seriously! He has a big toothy grin, a short neatly trimmed beard and moustache and longish poofy perfectly arranged hair. This "Jesus" looks like he's right off of an old BeeGee's album cover, like the extra Gibb brother! Like Barry, Maurice, Robin and Jesus Gibb! In the picture he's wearing robes but looks more like he should be wearing one of those white John Travolta suits and doing the cool dance moves under the disco ball! I'm perfectly serious about real religion but I've never seen a hip "Jesus" before and this picture is hysterical! Now I'm sitting here all by myself, laughing till tears rolled down my cheeks, like a crazy person! I was going to toss it out but I think I'll save it to show my son - he could use a good laugh about now!

 

[witzend]

My dogs go crazy, too. They're quite frightful as the two of them slam into the picture window, Mandy at 85 pounds, and Oscar at 50. I used to have a sign on my front door that said "No Soliciting", and if they got past that I'd sometimes answer the door with Mandy or Oscar or Bubba straining and choking at the collar as I held them back. I'm the only one who knows they just want a kiss. Whatever they'd say, I'd ask them if they hadn't seen the sign. Half the time they'd say "no", the other half they'd say "I'm not selling anything". Either way I'd tell them that I didn't like them upsetting the dogs and not to come back. They never did. Other times I'd just hollar through the door that I'm not answering because of the dogs and they shouldn't come back. Either way, it was always a one time thing.

Rude? Who cares! I don't know about you, but if I were looking for a church, I would have found one!

 

[DazedandConfused]

Since I have a lot of family that are JW's, I can tell you that most of them dislike going "out in service" (making door to door calls) with a passion. Only the zealots truly like it. Most only do it because of the intense pressure. However, they must hide it because otherwise they would be questioned extensively by The Elders. They also have to logs their hours, or as they refer to it, "counting time". The more time you spend out in service (not necessarily bringing others in), the more status you gain within the congregation and the organization. They even have titles such as "Pioneer" for those that spend so many hours "spreading the good news".

I won't go further because of the rules about religion on this forum, but my extended family was destroyed by this organization because of their doctrine of shunning. I also know odd, funny things about them that I use when they make the unfortunate decision to knock on my door. I offer to show them my Smurf collection. Yes, you read that correctly. My Smurf collection. Years ago rumors spread like wildfire through the congregations that they are demonized. JW's are terrified of anything thought to have demons.

My sister once offered to show them her Smurf ceremonial head dress. :grins:

 

[BusynMember]

Thanks, Dazed Maybe next time a JW comes knocking, I'll open the door long enough to say I'm a Wicca or Pagan. Maybe that will make them think I'm a demon and they won't come back...lol.

When I worked at a hospital nobody liked having them as patients because of their views on blood transfusions.

 

[flutterby]

Donna, let me guess...Disco Jesus was also pale-skinned and blued eyed, too, right?

I don't have a problem with JW's or Mormons. They've always been very polite and courteous. They're people, too. It's a different branch of Christianity that isn't welcome at my door. The first time they came to my house, it was the pastor (who asked me the same question later asked of my daughter - "Do you know where you're going to go when you die?", which rankles me to no end because it infers that you join this religion to go to heaven which seems incredibly selfish to me - morals should be the reason for doing the right thing, not because you want to get into a mythical place when you die, but I digress) and I told him that I had enough of his religion when I lived in the south and wasn't interested. When the two old ladies came and confronted my daughter and wouldn't let her close the door...nuh uh.

 

[TerryJ2]

I've never had anyone refuse to let me close my own door! That's not their usual MO, in my experience.
It is good experience for the kids, though, to know how these things work.

I met a man once who was evangelizing across the U.S. It must have been 100 degrees outside. I am totally nonreligious, told him that he was very ambitious, wished him luck, and gave him a cold bottle of water. As he left, he said, shaking his head, "The nonbelievers are always the nicest." LOL!

 

[AnnieO]

Smurfs, eh?

The last time I got them, before I put up the No Soliciting sign, the one young man noticed my necklace. It is a cross made out of a spoon from a mess kit, by my something-uncle Fred, during WWII. I love it. The kid asked me if I went to church, and I solemnly said yes - just because the world is my "church", I'm going 24/7!

My beliefs are so convoluted... They cover everyone.

 

[nerfherder]

When I was a kid in Hebrew School in the 70's, there was a lot of concern in the American Jewish Communities over teens new to college or universities being mentally and emotionally sandbagged by what were later called "cults."

(I still don't like using that word in the newer context, it is easily misunderstood when applied to various orders and sub-orders in religious groups that engage in ritual specialized to their beliefs and practices. For example "The Cult of Mary." And in that older context, I am affiliated with a cult-like order within our religious organization.)

ISKCON (The International Society of Krishna Consciousness), Dianetics/Scientology, the following of Bagwan Sri Rajneesh (the guru who now goes by the name Osho), "Jews for Jesus," The Unification Church (Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the "Moonies") and a handful of others found especially young secular-leaning half-assimilated Jewish kids to be laughably easy targets.

I attended three or four annual seminars coordinated through the synagogues in our area, weekend retreats called Shabbatons, where we engaged in group exercises, role-playing, Q&A sessions on brain-washing, social engineering and manipulation, traditional or deliberately misleading or inaccurate translations of the Hebrew in the Tanakh (the 5 books of Moses, Apocrypha, Prophets, Writings,) and role-playing sessions on dealing with pushy, "nice" or intense evangelicals and missionaries.

Among the valuable lessons we learned:

* These people spend hours or their lifetime engaging in work like this. Just because you had a weekend talking about it doesn't mean you're going to be able to out-think these people.

* You were taught to be polite and nice to others. They will use that to get you into their circle - after all, they invited you to dinner! That's so nice! How can you say no?

* The best, fastest and safest way to deal with this is to say "Thank you for your concern" and walk away. Or shut the door. Or cut off all conversation in a way that leaves no possible doubt or opening.

* DO NOT GO TO WEEKEND RETREATS. DEX found this one out the hard way, sort of, in college he and a friend had a mutual friend who wanted to get involved with this group. He recounted to me how they kept everyone up late, fed very little (most meals were cottage cheese raisin sandwiches on whole wheat toast,) and learned first-hand that the combination of low blood sugar, sleep deprivation and "love bombing" is a really powerfully manipulative combination.

There was more, but the lesson that stuck with me most and best was "Thank You For Your Concern." Like I've said, I love the back-and-forth and discussion/debate with those who are able to think and not simply parrot what they've been indoctrinated with, but I am also capable of using that tool as a shut-off switch.

By the way, this has been a delightful thread! I loved reading everyone's contributions. Thank you for starting and continuing with it!

 

[SuZir]

nerfherder: Thanks, that was interesting. Thing about those who go door to door: That is not effective at all. That is why most movements which are big in converting people take another approach. They target vulnerable or friends, neighbours etc. of their members. And they know you get more bees with honey than vinegar. While I had been invited to religious gatherings time or two by friends (usually pentecostal) I only have understood how big this is even in our quite secular country after my difficult child's troubles leaked to public. After that I have been asked several times to this or that place so we could pray for my errant son by several acquaintances. Total strangers have called me and started to talk me about my son and how God can cure him. There has also been letters. Same has happened to husband in little lesser degree. And difficult child himself has gotten those calls, Facebook messages and letters even more. Even just a letters send to him to our address (his address is not easily available, ours is) make a quite a thick pile. difficult child is still young, was even younger when his mishaps came to public. He was living out from home, alone in the new city he only knew so many people. To be frank, I found some of those converters to be predatory. And I'm sure they don't put that much effort to 'save' every small time juvenile offender with addiction problems...

 

[donna723]

Thing of it is, most of us were raised to be very polite and never rude. It's a hard habit to break and it puts you in a difficult position with some of the more persistant ones that go door to door. And they know this, especially with women. They know that if they keep right on talking, you may be hesitant to stop them or to close the door. It was a very long time before I could ignore what they were saying, just say, "Sorry, I'm not interested", and shut the door. And if anyone ever tried to prevent me from closing the door, I guarantee you they'd be limping back to their car because that door IS going to be closed, whether their foot is in it or not!

In some instances though, they do seem to prey on the vulnerable and many times it's the elderly. I've known people who were actually so lonely that they didn't mind talking to them and even invited them in to their house!