Religion

First thing that came to mind.

 

Might hit you up on that. Been meaning to chat with ya anyway

 

People, regardless of what they believe, shouldn't force their views onto anyone.

People who come and knock on doors I do find annoying- I don't care if they are trying to sell me fish, Christianity or LoveFilm, the only people I want knocking on my door are friends and the postman. Same with phoning me, don't phone me trying to sell me stuff, go away. I barely answer the phone now because of them.

 

Living in the Bible Belt, this happens to me often and they rarely take no for an answer. I remember living on campus, I was meeting someone for lunch. I sat down at a bench and shortly after, some nice guy sat next to me. He introduced himself and we got to talking about the weather and basketball (our men's team had been having some issues) before he asked me about beliefs. I told him that I just started considering myself agnostic. After explaining what that meant to him, he started with the whole "how can you not believe God is responsible for such a beautiful world" crap. I explained that I had a religious background and I didn't become agnostic out of ignorance; it was a personal choice based on my personal experiences, "soul-searching,' research, and how religion fails to give me any answer I ask for or any legitimate reason to believe in it. He said he understood and I apologized if things were awkward. He told me it wasn't awkward at all and he loves hearing other people's opinions. I thought I finally met the one non-pushy believer who actually wants to talk about different beliefs and their flaws.
Until he asked me what I did believe in. Jesus, the moment I even mentioned evolution, I was hit by Creationism. It got awkward so I changed it to there are too many religions for me to be comfortable with just one and then those different beliefs were all not followers of the "True God." Aside from the fallacies in everything he told me, he had the most condescending attitude about it. To paraphrase the best line out of that conversation, "I just don't understand how anyone can possibly look at how complicated and beautiful the world is to think it was all a mistake and not due to God. It doesn't seem LIKE AN INTELLIGENT STANDPOINT. There is really no way evolution is real if you think about it." At that point, I faked a call to figure out where the hell my friend was (MOTHER****ER DIDN'T REALIZE THAT 'THE FRONT OF THE DORM' MET OUTSIDE, NOT THE LOBBY.) So I excused myself and left.

That's pretty much the basis for most conversations I have with people like that down here. They're as polite as possible while making me feel like an ******* for not wanting to have the conversation. I'm usually very open to it (otherwise, I wouldn't be engaged-to-be-engaged with a devout Baptist and actually attend church with her). Hell, where I work, lots of the older people try to talk to me about it, but they're rarely pushing it on me. It's usually them giving me a free book (I'll tell them I'll probably just give it to my girlfriend or a friend and they don't care as long as it "does someone some good") or in one specific case: Jimi Hendrix's bass player's ex-girlfriend (or she claimed. She had a biographical book, though) came in and we got to talking about the differences in the world today and the world when she was my age; she was a "heroin addict, gangster's girlfriend, and just a bad person in general," but Jesus saved her and now she travels the world giving away her book and sharing her stories with prisoners. During her entire testimony, she never once asked me what I believed or pushed the religion on me, it was simply why it was important to her. It was her personal religion, which I adored. Granted, I didn't really ask to hear it, but I'm glad she realized that it was her personal relationship with God and not mine and she was giving Him the glory without asking me to. If it helps you, it helps you and I'm not one to take it away even if I do think the world would be better without it. But if I wanted to go back to that life, I would. If I wanted to hear about your Lord and Savior, I'll ask or open my Bible or do the damn research myself. If you ask once and don't have a problem when I say "no," then that's fine, too. I understand your religion asks you to share the gospel; I did it when I was a kid. But when you try to fake manners so I come out looking like the bad guy for not wanting to listen to you, then yeah, I get rude.

Like I said, down here, "no" is not an answer most people take lightly. I get along great with the ones that do some of my best friends are Christian and I don't mind talking about it. However, when they get to share their views on it and then get offended when I share mine (Granted, I am prone to the occasional angry Atheist rant, specifically where Young Earth Creationism or other religions are involved), it's a problem. When they're nice about it up until I say I don't want to hear it, it's a problem. Or when they would knock on my door every other day and send someone new despite me and my Catholic roommates saying each time "No thanks, not interested," it's a problem (WE KNOW YOU'RE FROM THE SAME CHURCH. IT'S ON THE PAMPHLETS YOU FORCE INTO OUR HAND) specifically when we asked not to be bothered anymore (seriously, it was Finals. Unless Joseph Smith's tablets were a cheat sheet for Accounting, now is not the time).

tl;dr: I stop simply turning them away politely after they keep pestering me because they have made me this way (and I feel like crap because I remember doing the same when I was younger)
/rant

 

Calm down, Repliku.

Seriously though, what's up with all the long wall o' text posts today?

 

I'm honoring a fallen member.

 

I think this is reaaaaally interesting to bring up in here because it seems like there's this balance of people who don't experience this or people who find it pretty common -- I get solicitors coming to my door a lot, but rarely ever religious people. I live in the godless north tho so I imagine it happens much more frequently where there are a lot of religious people

 

Honestly, I'm going to just go around and force people to take my pamphlets. When they open it and realize it's completely blank, I'm just going to say "exactly" and leave.

 

I hate it when people waste my time. I do not like idle chit-chat. I do not like it when people say hi, I ask what they want and have nothing to say. I do not like people who want to share their ideas without taking in others'.

I would rather be left alone unless the person is really interested in having a back and forth conversation where they hear my ideas and I hear theirs with equal standing.

The kind of people who solicit are not looking for this. They go out hoping to convert people. That is annoying enough with sales people. Unlike sales people, religious solicitors feel personally convicted in it. They believe you will go to hell for disagreeing. When they fail, it shows in how they reply. I believe that is what Bueno has experienced. It is extremely rude and annoying and I have nothing but disdain for them.

Sorry the necropost. I was bored and it seemed interesting.