To just shut the door on religious door-knockers, with no comment?

[BeanQuisine]

I used to smile and say "I'm not religious", but a friend pointed out that this still confers some degree of social legitimacy on their absurd intrusion into my life.

I decided that a better tactic, when it becomes clear that a doorknocker is peddling religion, is to just silently close the door in their face.

Wondering how many people here agree that this is a reasonable response to unreasonable intrusion, and how you choose to respond to these people.

Signs on the door do not deter everyone, unfortunately. And even if they dont knock they can stand outside your door for 5-10 minutes debating whether they should still knock. That's also annoying.

Someone in our v. small town had the most wonderful printed sign on their front door listing who was not welcome to knock - it's now annoying me that I can't remember the wording. It was very comprehensive. We're on the JWs' "give them a miss" list (at my request), though they still occasionally lurk at the gate, perhaps in the hope that we've moved out. 😅If I spot them, I open the door and give them a cheery "Hi! We're still here - I'll be sure to let you know when we move out!"

MrG is more militant than me and goes for the charming route. When we lived in London there was a plague of Mormons and he would always invite them in and engage in lively discussion. If they didn't know the answer to some of his more awkward questions, he encouraged them to use the phone and call "head office" for advice. Head Office's advice was always to get the hell out of there! But still they returned!

He was also friendly towards a pair of Mormons in our very small Italian city (they spoke no Italian and he was actually just being kind). But I think they must have sensed the Satan in him (or perhaps me), as after a couple of months they would cross the road to avoid us.

The main thing I don't understand is why they feel they have the right to knock preaching. I feel it is condescending, and implying that people aren't able to make an informed choice without them. I don't knock on their door preaching my beliefs, so why should they knock on mine. No other religion does this, which makes them even more cult like trying to recruit members.
Is there a way you can get in touch with the local group to ask them politely not to knock again? They loiter around my house trespassing on private property, scaring my dcs.

What are they do to scare your kids? All the ones I see are the most inoffensive people on the planet.

We had a couple recently trespass on our property 2 days a week everyweek. They stared through my neighbours windows and ours, sometime my young dc were playing and my 5 year old was scared that a man was peering through our window. I had to tell them to clear off. So yes, some are very intimidating and overstep boundaries. I'm sure there are lots of lovely people, but I don't need them on my doorstep.

I think there’s a requirement if you are a JW to ‘proselytise’. I even think they have to track and report their hours.

There are a couple of JW women outside our local Coop with a stand full of leaflets. It seems that for them this qualifies as proselytising for JW purposes, as they don't accost anyone, beyond replying to a cheery "Good morning!" They also look after dogs while people are in the shop, which is helpful. I think you'd have to stop and ask them (which I never do) before they'd attempt to sign you up.

Maybe they have taken on board the belief that there's only room for 144,000 people in heaven, and decided to stop recruiting in their own interests?

I would definitely just close the door in their face. You don't owe them anything.

If it feels too rude to shut the door in their face definitely get a 'no cold callers signs and point at that before shutting the door

“Hi [wait to hear the beginning of the spiel]. No, I’m not interested thanks.” Very firm voice and immediately close the door.

I didn’t ask for strangers to disturb me to preach and I’m certainly not going to engage or apologise for my lack of enthusiasm.

When I was at uni I had some JW knock on the door. I was in the middle of some "intimacy" with a partner and when I answered the door I told them I'm gay. This usually gets rid of them, but it didn't! In the end I told them I was busy, and to come back the next afternoon.

The next afternoon I drove my removal van to my new flat, and drove past them coming down my street on their bikes, about to knock on my now-empty door! 😅

If you tell them you're catholic it completely stumps them.

Already been raised with intense religion so I'm immune to a different branch of it knocking at my door, and they know it.

We ask them for their address so that we can pop round and knock on to talk about our interests / current obsessions when it's convenient for us. None have given their addresses over yet.

Why bother lying? Why not just say you aren't interested and close the door?

Yes, I don't get why people lie, try to be clever, be rude etc, when simply smiling and saying "sorry I'm not interested" and closing the door, does the job.

I don't see how being unpleasant is something to be proud of. I'm the same with every type of cold caller. No point in winding myself up as well as them, when a smile and no thanks works.

What’s with all the religious visitor posts lately ?

Quite ,whats the point .

Maybe because they are rude by knocking on our doors in the first place! If people are polite then they are hardly getting the message are they? If they are rude enough to come and disturb my weekend then they can expect to be told where to go.

Well I was raised catholic so it's not strictly a lie, although I'm not practicing now. It is also amusing to watch them process that information and realise they have no hope of converting me and not know what to say/do next.

You seem to think that they give your response a lot more thought and emotion then they do. They'll have knocked on hundreds if not thousands of doors in the past. They won't be remotely fazed by your response. They'll just move on to the next one and forget you. You're not that special.

I have said in the past if they can come back with ten leaders of different faiths so we can all have a big open discussion and work out once and for all who's right (because they're all convinced they are, and they can't all be), I'll get the kettle on.

They don't come back.

It's just a tip I pass on to help people get rid of them. "No thanks I'm catholic" works. I am not rude to them and don't think I'm special. They are the ones who think they're special.

I think the same! It's bloody rude to knock on random people's doors to try and peddle your shite religion so I have no issue being a bit rude back.

😂 that's great. May keep some alternative faith/none faith leaflets for just this reason. Hand them one at the door!
I told a couple to stop trespassing, it was twice a week, and getting beyond a joke; we’ve never had an issue since thankfully.

The JWs that sometimes knock at mine are very polite and not pushy at all. They had me a copy of the watchtower, I say thank you have a nice day and they leave. No need to be rude. They rarely come round.

I have far more issues with people selling things like YouFibre who won't shut up even when I've told them I'm not interested.