lizardgirl: I’m the same. Just yesterday my friend and I who are both Atheists got bailed up by a Hare Krishna. He was nice enough and we chatted to him. Most people seemed to ignore him and I’m fairly awkward in these kinds of situations so I had a little chat to him and we donated a few dollars between us to the fact that they are monks and don’t earn money per se. He gave us a little book on vegetarian cooking and wished us a good day.
I also had these Jehova’s Witness come visit my house more than a few times. They were an older couple (probably 60’s), and I always had a chat to them and was just friendly. I think showing these people a bit of courtesy is nice in the end because they didn’t force anything on me, and I guess they were just happy to have the chat. They are human beings after all, and so am I. We share that in common even if we don’t share the same beliefs.
I’m a Christian, and that’s all I’m going to say. If you’d like to know more about what I believe in, specifically, please refer to little_chef_eva09’s post on the matter.
With Jehovah’s Witnesses, I don’t want to be rude, but at the same time don’t want to get caught up in a discussion because it would be awkward to try to get out of it, plus there’s other things I’d rather be doing. We’d probably end up going around in circles anyway. I usually just wait till they’ve finished talking and say “Thanks, but I’m not interested, see ya later!” On one hand I understand that they want to spread their word to as many people as possible, but on the other hand they’re trying to convert people. But just as long as they don’t knock on a Sunday morning, they don’t bother me too much.
Born and raised Christian…<img src=“{SMILIES_PATH}/grinandwink.gif” alt=“;-D” title="Grin and
Wink" />
What can I say…Jesus is my homeboy…
(Cosigns with Mitch and little chef… )
As I got older I was always open to hearing about other peoples religions and such. I was fortunate to have classmates in high school ranging from Muslim to Agnostic, and we were all open and respectful to everyone’s beliefs. I never really like the idea of "forced persuasions’ either, but it just feels good to have some sort of closure instead of wasting life trying to figure something out that probably won’t be answered until it’s too late (death). I’m curious though, to see who gets to say ‘I told you so’ at the end…
It’s the internet. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting at least a dozen atheists.
And it’s not as if you see them attending non-religious services or Sunday school or anything so you can never really tell what level of the population is.
TSS: Naw, I wasn’t saying your advice sucked… I was just saying that based on past experiences, that particular tactic didn’t quite work out so well for me… Others have been able to pull it off, though, such as yourself.
I just don’t bother putting myself in those situations anymore.
(But be warned - one of these days, I’ll be back to have my say once and again. mwa haha…! )
The Star Swordsman - People always seem to bite my butt whenever I enter a political or religious thread, so I’ve just learned to steer clear of them, unless I wish to put in a short sentence or two regarding my opinion on the subject.
It’s funny. I seem to have no problem discussing subjects of any medium with the major exception of religion and politics. I’ve never been that “eloquent” in those areas of discussion, for some reason, and if I don’t say just the right thing in just the right way everybody jumps on me, no matter how nice they are. Henceforth, I just try to stay out of it. Heh.
Well, the thing with Christian morals is that Christians are human, too. Yeah, I know the church is pretty prejudicial and in history it has killed millions of people for believing different things, but that doesn’t mean we’re all evil. That was just THEM.
PS. Have you heard of the church that interrupted soldier’s funerals to protest against homosexuality, and then lightning hit the church and burned it down? I laughed when my sister told me that story.
The thread’s just asking for people to post their religion/spiritual beliefs so the face and this post are/will be as far as I go off topic.
So c’mon people! Just Christians and Atheists and a Jehovah’s Witness? No Buddhists, Muslims, Mormons, Baptists, Satanists, Scientolo… wait, that’s more of a cult then a religion.
)
I’m terribly sorry, but after reading your post, I was on the floor laughing…!!
mwa haha…!