Bible pushers

[DJKillaQueen]

And don't forget a Whicker Man and candles marking out the pentacle.

[ClareC]

Dogs work.... I have two and strangely they all seem scared of them!! Very rarely get the unwanted callers now :-)

[shadow]

pentagram on the front door works everytime

[louisiana]

Alternatively, I could create a mini-minaret to stand by the front gate. Or do you think that might just egg them on?

[blackmamba]

Think this chap would make a better gate keeper:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://realorange.org/Satan%27s%2520Throne.jpg&imgrefurl=http://realorange.org/ann_elizabeth_peterson_manuscript.html&usg=__1aza7xQM_y9YUkwgmlA71zQ1SKE=&h=600&w=768&sz=163&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5kkh42j4mpQ0xM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=155&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsatan%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D575%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=787&vpy=69&dur=16195&hovh=198&hovw=254&tx=197&ty=175&ei=9ZGLTPLrGIqkOPvOheYI&oei=9ZGLTPLrGIqkOPvOheYI&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0

[Andystar]

maybe take a few lessons from

guy. They won't bother you anymore. (btw the bit about the porcupine is priceless)

[Narnia]

Or try this!

[Keef]

Why don't you put a sign up saying "I respect your right to believe in God*, please respect the fact that I don't". That way, if they still knock, you have every right to say you have been polite, now please go away.

I had a couple of ladies knock on my door the other day, and I just told them I was comfortable with my own beliefs, and they accepted that. I chatted to them in a friendly way for about 2 minutes of my life, and then we said goodbye, and I doubt they'll come back, but I wasn't nasty to them.

But hey, religious intolerance seems to be the in thing (unless you're a feckin loon from America), so why be polite.

*Which I suspect you don't.

[louisiana]

Keef, they can believe in fish fingers for all I care. Nothing to do with me.

What I do care about about is people hammering on my door and *bothering me* without any kind of invitation while I am working hard earning a crust. Repeatedly. The god botherers far outnumber any other type of cold callers (more than 10 to 1). There is a TPS to stop such people phoning me, and similar services to stop such people writing to me and faxing me, by law. But far more bothersome are the people on my property, without invitation. No joke when they jam their finger in the bell hard - very loud - for a full 60 seconds, insisting that you answer it. I need to concentrate hard to do my work, and always have very tight deadlines that are difficult to meet, involving long and tiring hours. Dealing with these kinds of people basically throws my concentration and workflow for a considerable period of time.

[Keef]

Call the police then.

Where the fuck do you live to get that many?

[matthew123]

I think the correct term is Bible bashers Keef - rather than pushers.

I was once promised, whilst walking through Camberwell, a McDonald's meal to talk through my apparent problems about God. The religious headhunter then admitted his real motivation was to see the faces of the other recruiters if he was able to bring a white man to the next Sunday sing-along.

[woofmarkthedog]

Open the door ( very quickly ) & say....

"I'm just about to F*CK my Wife/Lover/Husband, what do you have to say that's more important than that...? "

Then slam the door closed...

I can't tell you how empowering that is...

( there are fantastic variations on the theme, like: I'm just jamming a dwarf up the chimney as I don't believe in santa any more )

Then back to your desk

( as there's work to be done )

W**F

[DJKillaQueen]

I just tell show them that painting by Courbet (l'Origin du Monde) and tell them I'd like to **** that and that usually sends them running for the hills.............

*looks like my account got hacked by Ladymuck again late at night*

[Chener Books]

You guys need a little historical perspective for this thread.

John K

[Huguenot]

I know what you're saying John, but I think perspective is needed from both sides.

You are ubdoubtedly aware of the persecution of the Huguenots in the 16th century, of which the greatest infamy was the murder of 70,000 over a couple of weeks from the 23rd August 1572. It culminated in the wholesale disenfranchisement of a religious order, who weren't offered an arbitrary homeland as a make-good.

It was a holocaust inspired by the Catholic church, and was state sanctioned by Charles IX of France.

That gives me no more rights that the Jehovah's Witnesses to visit my opinions unrequested upon the innocent agnostics of East Dulwich on a peaceful Saturday morning.

[louisiana]

How is that of any relevance?

[Twirly]

I now remember one of the advantages of living in a first floor flat :))If anyone rings the doorbell, I open the window to see who it is and if I want to talk to them. Generally speaking they are rather surprised to find the answer their summons coming from above them, and I can assess the reason for their calling (it's usually pretty obvious) and can politely announce that I'm busy, before rapidly shutting the window on their stunned silence. It's also about the only way to catch the parcelforce delivery people as they leave nanoseconds between ringing the doorbell and shoving the "sorry you were out" note through the letterbox (though often they don't actually bother even ringing the doorbell these days (6)). But I digress...

John, can you please explain why the persecution of JW's by the nazi's now gives people from the same group the right to ring my doorbell and interrupt what I'm doing? I am quite happy for them to follow their religion, I just don't want to hear about it. If you are trying to make a point about religious intolerance, you've missed the point, as most people don't have a problem with private religious practice. But they do have a problem with proselytising. They are quite different things.

[Huguenot]

Sorry Louisiana, I may have misconstrued John K's comment and reference.

So far as I interpreted it, John K seemed to be suggesting that before we lambasted Jehovah's Witnesses for knocking at our doors, we should remember they've been subject to repression and mass murder for their beliefs.

I was merely pointing out that the Huguenots have also been subject to repressiona and mass murder, and I didn't feel that entitled me to go door knocking.

If I had a crack at JWs directly, I'd have been told I had no right to comment as I hadn't suffered. Hence I used Huguenots as a parallel in order to avoid that particular piece of muck-slinging.

[louisiana]

Sorry Huguenot, my comment was aimed at John, not you. I hadn't seen yours! :-S

But yours is a good one.

[louisiana]

Huguenot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry Louisiana, I may have misconstrued John K's

> comment and reference.

>

> So far as I interpreted it, John K seemed to be

> suggesting that before we lambasted Jehovah's

> Witnesses for knocking at our doors, we should

> remember they've been subject to repression and

> mass murder for their beliefs.

>

> I was merely pointing out that the Huguenots have

> also been subject to repressiona and mass murder,

> and I didn't feel that entitled me to go door

> knocking.

>

You were spot on H.

Too right - the Nazis persecuted many groups... but the only ones invading my mental space in my own home without my permission are the religious ones.

I do feel I have a right not to be sold religion in my own home, to not to have my working day interrupted by sales pitches for things of no interest to me.

John: most of those 'selling religion' door-to-door these days are not JWs. They are members of the thousands of new churches built on the pentacostal business model (prosperity promised for large donors, sale of prayers for hundreds or thousands of pounds, exorcism/deliverance for cash and all that other stuff). As has been mentioned, some of the thousands of these churches now have sales teams just like the guys who used to try and sell you life insurance or plastic windows. You'll find their leaflets all over Catford, the bus station at Lewisham etc. They are growing at a rate of knots in SE London...

[HAL9000]

I think it is worth bearing in mind that most, if not all, foot soldiers engaged in door-to-door proselytising (presumably) genuinely believe that they are attempting to save the souls of those they approach, an activity which - within the context of their belief system - is a worthy and altruistic service to their fellow man.

For many people their entire raison d'?tre is predicated upon their religious beliefs - (I think) non-believers often fail to appreciate how much comfort and need is fulfilled and how much pain and sorrow is ameliorated by those beliefs.

[Huguenot]

An argument that applies equally to heroin, the animal rights movement and knitting. None of which justifies doorstopping.

The difference is that these social hooligans don't accept any perspective other than their own, and in the absence of persuasive arguments they'll harangue and harass the weak and the vulnerable until they capitulate.

The fact that they 'believe' is a call for therapy and an ASBO, not a carte blanche.

[DJKillaQueen]

Are they not unlike some door to door salesmen in that respect...cold calling and pouncing on any kind of inability to tell them to get lost? And yes H is right.....it's the complete unnacceptance of any perspective other than their own that some find most offensive....at least door to door con men know they are preying on people.

[*Bob*]

They knock on the door once every few months, you open the door, say no thanks - and they leave.

Why anyone should get their knickers in a twist over having to do something - once in a blue moon - which is marginally less taxing than washing-up a mug.. is beyond me.