switch to that and pretend you dont understand. I speak english and french fluently. Whenever this happens to me I reply in french and they retreat.. Its hilarious.

with "none of your fucking business" used on any of them who look like they want to testify at you.

Can be very effective. Many years ago, I was visiting the Church of Santa Chiara (St Francis' S.O.) and in the crypt is her sarcophogus. It was dark and kind of creepy. A voice came out of the shadows asking for donations. It was a nun who tried asking me in about fifteen languages. I resorted to the few phrases I knew in Welsh before she finally gave up.

Religion is very public, by definition. Spirituality is personal but religion is a building and meetings and chanting and all. Still a forward question to ask a stranger, indeed but these things take only as much energy as you give them.

Why not say "yes" (which is always true according to anyone's personal definition of "the Lord&quot and wish them a good day and go on with yours?

Water off a duck.

You don't have an answer for either of my questions?

Energy attracts like energy. You go out angry and you will find other angry people.

2. Why do some religious people evangelize ? It doesn't matter because you can't control them; you only control your own reaction.

It is not a "semantic game" to detail the difference between religion and spirituality which is key to this issue -- one is public and one is personal.

It doesn't "matter" to me to know why the sky is dark at night but I'm driven to know despite that it doesn't matter. (Olber's paradox)

You knew that I meant a complete stranger was asking me what I consider a very personal question, I made that reasonably clear in my OP, so yeah semantics.

attracts the opposite. From magnetic poles to the nucleus of an Atom.

Here in NY people screaming at you about religion are quite common.

There are others who stand next to a display of books or pamphlets that just smile and wait to be engaged by a passerby.
I wish they all acted like that.

and that the next time we get together for tea I will put in a good word for them. At that point they leave

Next time I run into those shitbags outside Centurylink or Safeco field, its going to be epic.

Screaming about eternal torture in fire at little kids. I've had enough of that shit.

I tell them pray as Jesus instructs in his word. Pray, only as instructed, that Gods will be done on earth as in heaven and as you have no idea what his will is, please never pray for me. Of course they are taking back as they have no idea what the scriptures say.

the old testament than the Sermon on the Mt.

I was raised Unitarian and was taught we should practice tolerance toward all religions. But I just can't anymore. I stopped going to church because no longer consider myself a good Unitarian. I'm sick of all of it these days. Not angry, but sick of it. All the killing, the judgment, the pain. I feel like you give an inch and they take a mile. I now believe they should tax the hell out of all religious institutions.

I'm really not sure if it's just I'm getting more sensitized or if it's actually happening but it certainly feels that publicly flaunting religion is more common than it was say thirty years ago.

Have a good day or have a nice day has turned into have a blessed day over about the last five to seven years around here.

But my thank yous are becoming fainter and fainter and the eye rolls harder to suppress.

...and intensity, I would postulate that it is a sign of desperation.

Many see "the writing on the wall" so the speak, the "gaps" to which the "god(s) of the gaps" are relegated, are getting smaller and smaller every day and some of them realize this, some of them are confused by this and some are scared frak-less by it and consequently cling to their failed scriptures all the more fervently.

An ever increasing percentage of not only the US population but the world as a whole is beginning to seriously question deus, dogma and divinity and the presumed value of the "morals" and law taught by their particular church.

They have been exposed to the idea that there is no god, and yet you can be good without god, and this simple idea terrifies them and they cling to what comforts them, for good or ill, all the more.

infraction of the 1st amendment. It would have consequences that I think you would be very opposed to.

Be careful (and thoughtful) about what you wish for.

should be required to open their books, just as other nonprofit organizations are required to do. It's an unfair double standard that, I suggest, actually does violate the 1st amendment.

They should be treated exactly like other non-profits.

What I object to is the blanket statement that they should be taxed because they are religious.

However, whenever one religion seeks to impose its rules on others, then those others need to stop the imposition. It's one thing to respect a religion (without necessarily agreeing with it); it's quite another to condone the activities of that religion when those activities infringe upon the "space" of others.

I'm a Unitarian too, but I don't know anybody who thinks "tolerance" involves putting up with destructive "faith-based" crap from those who would impose their tribal dogmas and taboos upon the rest of us.

I particularly don't like it when they start up what appears to be a friendly and innocuous conversation, then pounce on you.

Generally, I am very straight forward and tell them firmly that I am not interested in what they are selling.

but when it happens on a subway car it is unbearable.

They managed to get an apostrophe before every other ending "s".



Emos, really?

So being emotional means you are going to Hell?

I did not know that.

/Johnny Carson

I think they see themselves as some kind of martyrs because they are mocked mercilessly.

This is one situation in which you could definitely cut loose in response to them.

They also come down for Decadence, which is a big gay street party over Labor Day weekend. Some of the interactions are hilarious.

I don't really enjoy confrontation and will go often too far out of my way to avoid it.

I share your dislike with being approached by proselytizers.

I like to remember that for 19 years Dan Barker was just the sort of Christian you wouldn't want to sit next to on the bus. There is always hope that rational thought will win out over fanatical delusion. Let that thought be of some comfort to you.

sometimes I tell them that my clinic is running a special on deprogramming this month. My prize moment was when one young (18 y/o?) Witness walked away from my door saying he didn't WANT to be deprogrammed.

...and they bring their children along, too.