How to handle unsolicited religious callers?

[allthingsinmoderation]

I am working from home today ,well working from my bed due to a broken ankle.
I had a sleepless night due to discomfort and not in the best mood.
Just had 2 women knock (very persistently) at my door, so i struggled down stairs and was greeted by 2 smiling gurning stepford wives dine up to the nines asking me "How due you view the future"?
i was discombobulated from lack of sleep i think and almost entered into a discussion about world events but something about them was weird and i managed to blurt out that i was busy working, they were undeterred and went into a full religious speech. i stood my ground and and maintained that i didnt a have time to discuss,they wanted to make an appt to return and i felt pressured .
When i tried to evade,they pressed further.They werent rude or impolite just doggedly persistent and unnervingly odd looking.
After a while (felt like forever) they thrust some pamphlets into my hand and left.
AIBU to be annoyed by the intrusion?
Or should i be more tolerant?
How is it best to handle these people?

Why the scepticism ? This is exactly what all the religious types who come to my door are like (and I get a lot of them) all massively over dressed. all with eerie plastic smiles fixed on their faces. really really weird like they've been brainwashed. They go into an immediate spiel which doesn't mention which particular sect they belong to.

OP I usually say 'not interested' and shut the door on them. I don't bother with politeness because they've been rude in forcing their unsolicited prescence on me.

I tell them I’m a devout Catholic and shut the door.

Have you really never had Jehovahs knocking on your door before?! It’s a yearly thing round here. Just smile and say no thanks and shut the door, the same you would with any unwanted callers 🤷🏻‍♀️

“Thank you, not something I wish to discuss, have a good day, bye!”

Stern notice plus ring type door bell with app you can view on mobile or tablet. You can use it to filter callers and simply not answer to anyone you dont like the look of.

I had 4 JW walk by my house a few days ago. One pointed to the house and said "Not there" and they all walked past. I imagine they were put off by the stern notice, cctv and ring doorbell. Dont expect they had much luck in this predominently Moslim and Hindu neighbourhood.

With a broken ankle (did mine in 2024) and not expecting anyone, I wouldn't be hobbling over to answer a knock in the first place, but otherwise I'd ask who they were through the closed door first of all, and then just tell them I wasn't interested.

"Not interested." Shut door.

"I don't do religion " Shut door.

If I'm particularly tired, ill, cranky or hungover. "I'm sorry, we're all Satanists here." Grin like a loon. Wait for them to back off. Or shut door.

Edited for spelling and punctuation.

Why would you say this? I know exactly the type of people the OP means.

I just say no thanks as I’m shutting the door, not rude but keep closing it no matter what they’re saying.

Seriously, you're asking for advice on this, you're discombobulated........

Yeah whatever you do don't take their pamphlets or brochures etc. if a polite 'no I'm not interested, bye' doesn't deter them you could try saying you are a devout follower of a different religion. Then say bye and shut the door.

I called JW head office to try and get them to stop, it worked for about 6 months. They kept coming and then sent a letter through the door in Portuguese addressed to my long deceased father?! Who didnt speak Portuguese...It was a bit much and I told the head office guy so politely.

Though TBF I've not seen them for a while. It doesn't help that my door faces directly onto quite a busy thoroughfare. So more appealing to door knockers than a block.

I used to be friends with a lady vicar and her husband who was a minor canon. They used to invite cold calling religious people in then start talking theology, origins of the Bible, versions of the Bible, tricky questions of attribution and meaning, asking if they had read and studied theological discussion texts etc etc etc. Their visitors didn’t usually stay long, but the ones who did left with more knowledge than when they knocked.

But unless you have the knowledge to back up this approach the best response is a smile, and a closed door.

I once had one give a despairing cry as the door closed “ But aren’t you interested in World Peace?” I am sorry to say I said “No.”

Not interested thank you, door closes, fin

I really wonder how some people get through the day

If they were JWs you can contact them to be put on the no knocking list.

If I’ve been daft enough to open the door (rare), I just close it again.

A firm no is enough.

We get very few of these due to being so rural but I seem to have been struck off from the few we do from having fun “educating” them on some of my “beliefs”. They don’t seem keen to return, I can’t imagine why. This delivered by crutch wielding, green haired, wild eyed hippie who resembles a swamp hag if I don’t have makeup on (which is 95% of the time) and with at least one cat/hare on her shoulder seems effective.

You say "no thank you" and close the door.

Obviously.

We have three small churches of this type near us (JWs and 2 different "gospel hall" type independents). I go to a CofE church a bit further away so if they knock I say "My salvation is sorted, thank you, God Bless you" and shut the door. It's not up to me to try to change their minds about what to believe about people who don't share their beliefs.

I now want photos. You sounds magnificent!

I look out the window and if I see Mormons or Jovos I just don’t open the door.

Just say you’re not interested, thanks, and shut the door, OP. It’s not that complicated. They can’t ’persist’ from the wrong side of a shut front door.

Recent exchange:
“Can I ask, do you have a bible in your house?”
”Yes thanks, we have 3” (actually true)
**smile and shut front door

Ask for them to make a note to not visit your address again in future. I find it such an invasion, especially when people are so persistent.

Me too.

There was one occasion when I was asleep, having had a migraine that kept me up me up most of the night vomitting, when I was seriously tempted to kick them down the front steps though...

No thanks, close the door. Easy