How would you react if I, an atheist, came up to you and asked "How would you like to join the local atheist organization"? Or anyone from a religion that you do not share?

Just wondering, because I know many religious people who complain about Jehovah's Witnesses/Mormons/etc that go door to door, but who won't hesitate to start berating my lack of belief and will shove their religion down my throat. 

It's unfortunate that some who have Christian faith feel the need to assert it to others when they don't want anything to do with it. So it's kinda the same thing for me, since I'm a Christian I don't want people with a faith different than mine to do this.

However, I'm willing to listen and discuss.

Missionaries from other religions don't bother me, I just don't like how persistent they are.. When I tell them I am not interested they send like 3 more people the next day to come and get me to believe in their ways. 

SamB : Huh, that's interesting. My dad is what our Mormon friends call a "friendly", (I think, I may be remembering wrong), because he lets new missionaries come by and practice with him. So I've never had the experience of them dropping by to actually convert me haha.

Though I did go to a Mormon camp once to be with friends. Constant attempts to convert me made me never go back.

Mormon missionaries come to my house sometimes. I've never had a bad experience with missionaries coming to my door. I politely turn down their offer to come inside, and just explain that I am not interested in any organized religions.

One of my friends was Mormon - long story short, I have concluded that it wasn't for me. So I can fairly say that I've gone through the whole meeting with Missionaries thing & going to church, and come out on the other side knowing that I'm not interested in being a Mormon. xD

Sometimes it's a little inconvenient, but they are never impolite, and they've never tried to push anything down my throat, or insult me for not being Mormon, or anything even remotely like being rude.

I wouldn't have a problem with it, though I don't even think that there is a point for an atheist to go door to door and do such a thing. I don't feel like there is a motive for them to do so.

I also wish more Christians would do it more often to reach out to their community rather than just keeping it to themselves. It is the Great Commission anyways. If one isn't comfortable with door to door, then at least get to know their neighbors and get to know them as people instead of possible converts and talk about your faith from there. Everywhere is a mission field.

Finally, I feel that there are people who use the term "shoving religion down the throats" very loosely. There are some people who think that just a simple mention of religion is "shoving," which is such an unhealthy concept itself if you look at it towards other subjects, like when debating in a forum, it would be incorrect to say that someone giving a counterargument as "shoving" their opinions. As long as they are not forcing you to believe in something or threatening you to believe in something, it should not be deemed as "shoving". Providing reasons to believe or to defend the faith is a normal and legitimate way of communicating and convincing others.

Annette : Haha I've gone to a Mormon camp, to be with friends, and long story short, it wasn't for me either. x3 I have lots of Mormon friends, but the camp had too many strangers who thought they had a chance at converting me.


play4fun : I absolutely love having religious conversations with people, and don't find that to be "shoving". What I meant was people who say "Well if you don't believe in this, you're wrong, you're going to hell, Jesus will change you, I'll pray that you're saved" etc. I find it offensive and somewhat in-your-face.

Ivory : Well...yes and no. Some of it may depend on how they say it. I may have to respond to that in separate parts using your example:

"Well if you don't believe in this, you're wrong"
I wouldn't say it the way you word it, since it doesn't really have any support to back it up, telling someone that they are wrong by itself isn't completely unreasonable either. I do think Christians need to back it up to why would you be wrong, as a belief and as a worldview.

"you're going to hell"
If they were to just say this, then it is completely unreasonable. It is reasonable, however, to explain why do people go to hell. It really comes down to how they say it, because at one hand, Christians believe in a place called hell and they shouldn't hide it. On the other hand, it would just be unreasonable if someone were to talk about going to hell without explaining why, not to mention overly describe hell as a way to solely scare someone into believing, and not through the right motive.

"Jesus will change you"
This obviously doesn't make sense if someone were to say that...cuz they don't know the future and what Jesus does.

"I'll pray that you're saved"
This I don't really find anything wrong with. They are praying for your salvation. Whether you believe in it or not, you do understand that Christians do and the fact that they actually pray for your salvation mean that they do care. (Of course, then comes the question of how they pray, but I'll give that the benefit of doubt). I would question a Christian's motive of evangelizing if they were to share the Gospel and then not really caring how you respond to it or praying for you about it.

So I would say, from the example that you gave, it really really depends on the tone and the way that they say it to determine whether it is shoving or not.

thing1 : Are you saying you antagonize, or maybe you mean agnostic?

Just wondering lol.

Showing up at peoples doorstep with a religion is considered shoving it down peoples throats.

I usually invite Mormons in for a chat when they come around. With out even touching any topics from the Book of Mormon, lets face it that stuff is borderline bat $@&# crazy , I can have a decent debate with them. By "decent" I mean I can usually ask them about a few things that seemingly discredit the reliability and authenticity of the Bible. This is when they usually open their book and quote some random selection about having faith and trust. Any one trying to question my beliefs deserves nothing less than a questioning of their own beliefs, or as they like to call it "do unto others".

 I am lucky ( I use that word loosely) to live in a part of the world where there isn't very many different religious groups trying to gain my support. Although there are many different ethnic, cultural, and religious groups in Canada, I only see Mormon members actively trying to convert people. There isn't much threat of a civil war based on drastically different religions compared to other countries. No one is going to start a war between Mormonism and Christianity anytime soon but other parts of the world aren't as lucky. In general I despise missionaries because converting people eventually leads to a cultural divide between populations, and in many cases this has lead further to war and death. The worst part of it is that the converters usually don't have any bad intentions and honestly feel like they are doing something to please the Gods.

I understand this thread is geared towards Christians commenting about other religious missionaries, but that is my atheist view on the subject. If Atheists used some of the same tactics religions have used I am sure there would be an uproar from the religious communities. Here is an example.

Last year in Edmonton, where I live, there was a Christian organization handing out candy to children at a public park. Along with the candy the children were also given a piece of paper with a quote from the Gospel of John. The children were then told if they memorized the quote for next week they would receive more candy.

If I were to go out side of a church and start handing out candy telling children to memorize quotes from "The Origin of Species" , that Christian community would be having a fit. This double standard is justified because their silly book tells them to spread the good news. Circular logic in a Christian argument... who would have thought?

I have no problems with missionaries coming and talking to me , as I am very comfortable with my beliefs and can see through and handle their attempts at persuasion. It is when mentally weak or unstable people are courted into a different belief system that I have a problem. Religions rely on the conversion of uneducated, young, and troubled people to fill their ranks and in most cases I find this to be despicable.

I don't mind them coming around. I just let them know as nicely as possible that I'm not interested. When any religious people come to the door of ANY faith. They are free to believe how they do, but they should not expect to waste their breath on me.