Why is it okay for people to knock on my door and try to read me bits of the Bible?

[EllebellyBeeblebrox]

To each his own and all that, and I respect other people's right to follow whichever religious faith, but why is it seem as acceptable to disturb people in their homes and try and preach this stuff? I'm an atheist anyway and feel that organised religion has caused untold misery throughout history, stop banging on my fucking door to tell me I need to be a better person. It also happened to interrupt me when I was having a much needed and important SIT DOWN. (Disclaimer-34weeks pregnant and finding summer holidays rather testing) aargh!

my friend turns on Death Metal music and wears a t shirt with an inverted crucifix on it to scare them off.

Infuriating, isn't it?

I was on the Tube the other day and a lady got on who proceeded to rant about Christ. I got off at the next stop and changed carriages, but she did too. I couldn't escape her! I actually said to her "Could you please stop? Nobody wants to hear", but she ignored me.

I'm religious myself, but my religion does NOT evangelise. Quite the opposite. If it were an evangelising tradition, I couldn't be a part of it.

Just say no thanks I don’t believe in god.

It works for me after I used to dither. They can sense the dither.
Be firm, look them in the eye and say no. Smile. They’ll know you’re serious.

I have a friend who is a pagan and will engage them in discussions about her beliefs. It aggravates me as much when it's politicians around election time, the most enraged I've ever been with it was when I had a UKIP tosser on my doorstep

Is the evangelising part of the expectations of their particular religion do you think? I wonder how many people they actually manage to convert...

It’ll bagsy their place in heaven. If they don’t do it they will end up in hell ( Tesco on a Saturday morning in a touristy location).

If I open the door to them - its not a given that I will if I know 'they' are in the area- If I open the door I simply look at them and then close the door again. I dont argue with them nor am I directly rude. I just close the door and walk away .
No point in getting worked up and sometimes they like a challenge of a pagan or two to get their teeth into. I just dont engage.

I live in an apartment block so I have the advantage of saying No Thank You very firmly down the intercom.

I've not been directly rude, as much as I might like to be. Upsets me when I see kids traipsing round with them though, more so when they should be at school!

My friend was raised in a JW family, she hated going around doors as a teenager and is no longer following that faith.

I was 3 days post op when two JW knocked on my door, took me forever to answer and when I asked them to leave as I was recovering, they told me they'd pray for me on the doorstep. I just closed the door on them.

I have a sign on the window next to my door saying not to knock, the council issued them, they do not one bit of good.

We have a sign that says no religious callers. I have no problem with people having a religion but I take a massive exception to them knocking on my doorstep and asking if I'm happy for my children to be damned - in front of the dc.

Lemony that would have tipped me over the edge I think!!

Yep when they involve the children it pisses me off more so. I did have to explain to mine today why I didn't want to listen to the ladies I want them to make their own decisions in their own time, not be preached at in the hallway!

Unfortunately they feel they must do this or be damned. My dd will engage with them and tell them they are wrong, she is pretty religious but a normal sane religion that understands people know how to use google or the yellow pages to find a church. I send them packing though, cannot stand it - I do outreach for our church and never ever would we knock unsolicited on a door. The closest we come is handing out carol service leaflets in town as the choir sings collecting money for the local children's hospice.

I strongly suspect that certain religious groups deliberately and cynically send their young adults out as missionaries to expose them to the hostility of the wider world so that their faith group will feel like a safe place and they won’t question or rock the boat when they return. It promotes an us/them mistrust and strengthens the cult like grip they have on their members. I try to be kind on principal, particularly to the younger ones, as my small blow for rationalism.

• on principle

Unfortunately you have to be rude to them, we have not had any here since we moved but we used to get them in our previous location. I fail to understand what they think they will achieve as they must piss off at least 99% of the people they inflict themselves on. If I am in a bad mood I have been known to mention child fiddling priests and tell them are no children here.

They once told a friend of mine with a home educated autistic child that autism was a punishment from god. Maybe I should be much ruder to them

Just say you're already a Christian then say god bless u etc and they won t have anything more to say.

I just tell them they are barking up the wrong tree at my house, thanks but no thanks, bye bye now

The tattoo of a pentacle on my inner wrist usually scares them off anyway

So you know Michael Jackson and family were JWs and isn’t Serena Williams? If you’re famous are you exempt from having to knock on doors?

There was a post on here the other day by someone who was genuinely confused about why people don't open their door when they aren't expecting someone.

I don't answer the door if I'm not expecting anyone and therefore I don't open myself up to this nonsense.

My husband's ex was a Jehovah's Witness. she explained it like this - say you saw a tsunami rushing towards your town, you knew for sure that everyone was going to be killed if they didn't know about it . You'd rush up to every person and knock on every door to tell everyone to find safety. Well that is how the religious people feel - they "know " that you are in mortal danger , so they want to tell you about it. So I do understand why they do it.

I hate the intrusion and am very firm with cold callers. I am also pretty unimpressed with the "end of the world is nigh" types. I tend to look at them in the eye in and say "God is love". They invariably shut up and look shocked. I am an atheist by the way but a regular reader of the Bible, Quran etc.

I always invite them in. My satanic alter is right next to the sofa. They usually make their excuses and leave pretty quickly.