Does The Dislike For Christian Evangelism Surprise You?

[Guest Anonymous]

There is a distinct overlap between politics and religion,and I was interested in anniec's and margiebargie's points. It is honestly the case that when you think you've got hold of a Great Truth, you become obnoxious. I have been there and done that.

But at the same time the obnoxious "Listen to this!" evangelistic types, who tend to be young and naive, are far less annoying to me than the older person who fakes being your pal, gets you in the group, then drops you for the next convert. The first is youthful zeal, if misplaced. The second is manipulation.

This. What made me super obnoxious was that I discovered religion and politics at the same time. And not is a good way for anyone. :D

I was "the only socialist in the village", to steal a line from Little Britain. It made no sense to me whatsoever that Christians could be right-wing, when we were commanded to "release the oppressed and bring Good News to the poor" and I called bollocks on nearly every visiting preacher who showed his Conservative colours during the after-church coffee session........... :lol:

[Guest Anonymous]

The evangelee complained to the wannabe evangelist's supervisor and never saw the wannabe evangelist again, that's all I know. Wow, nurses can be fired for offering to pray with clients? It's okay over here as long as they don't push the issue. Ask on]ce, and if the answer is no, drop the subject. The rationale is that some people find prayer comforting. If we had a true national health service, there would be an issue of separation of church and state.

It was a bit more complicated than that. Technically, no, nurses are not allowed to evangelise or ask to pray with patients on NHS time and I completely support that. If a patient asked a nurse to pray with them and both parties were willing then it would be a non-issue because no-one would be policing the situation or reporting it. IIRC, it only became an issue in this case because the nurse continued to ask one elderly woman if she could pray with her, after the woman had said no thank you, and so the patient eventually complained. When the complaint was investigated, it turned out that the same nurse had previously received complaints against her for handing out home-made prayer cards to staff and patients, and had been sent on a 'diversity' training course as a consequence. So, as the 'prayer complaint' was a second offence, she was suspended pending a formal investigation. The nurse came across as a real twat when it was televised - she explained, in a simpering voice, that she cared about the 'whole person' and not just their health, and said that she found it really difficult not to hand out prayer cards because of her faith. She was allowed back to work, but said to the press that she would continue offering prayer when she felt led to do so. :roll:

[dcmhejbl62]

The dislike just confirmed my suspicions. I've never been comfortable with evangelism, even though in church it was always presented as the most loving thing in the world to do... in other words, if you truly loved your neighbor / co-worker / postal carrier, why wouldn't you help them avoid eternal damnation?

But it seemed pushy to me, even when I was successful. I gave it up pretty quickly.

On the other hand, it never bothers me to be evangelized to (except by family)... I guess because I feel like their motives are good, and I know it's not an easy thing to do no matter how strong your "faith." I invite the Mormon missionary teenagers into my house all the time and try to feed them, because I know they've been out of contact with their families for a year or more and I think the system is cruel. The JWs here are friendly, not aggressive, so I let them give me their tracts and spiel and send them on their way. I've never had a problem with anyone being rude, or staying past their welcome, but again, hearing the stories on here, maybe I've been lucky.

[lilwriter85]

The dislike just confirmed my suspicions. I've never been comfortable with evangelism, even though in church it was always presented as the most loving thing in the world to do... in other words, if you truly loved your neighbor / co-worker / postal carrier, why wouldn't you help them avoid eternal damnation?

But it seemed pushy to me, even when I was successful. I gave it up pretty quickly.

On the other hand, it never bothers me to be evangelized to (except by family)... I guess because I feel like their motives are good, and I know it's not an easy thing to do no matter how strong your "faith." I invite the Mormon missionary teenagers into my house all the time and try to feed them, because I know they've been out of contact with their families for a year or more and I think the system is cruel. The JWs here are friendly, not aggressive, so I let them give me their tracts and spiel and send them on their way. I've never had a problem with anyone being rude, or staying past their welcome, but again, hearing the stories on here, maybe I've been lucky.

I have never encountered aggresive JW's. Sometimes if I'm in a good mood, I don't mind talking to them. The last timed I encountered JW's was about a year ago. I had pulled into my driveway and noticed them at my neighbor's. They walked over right away to me and they were friendly and the tracts they were handing out were about "the sins of technology".

[Sola]

I have never encountered aggresive JW's. Sometimes if I'm in a good mood, I don't mind talking to them. The last timed I encountered JW's was about a year ago. I had pulled into my driveway and noticed them at my neighbor's. They walked over right away to me and they were friendly and the tracts they were handing out were about "the sins of technology".

Neither have I. The ones that come around here are usually very nice and polite. They take no for an answer and are quite willing to engage in benign chat. We don't have obnoxious fundies so much in the UK. Occasionally there is a bloke in town who has a sandwich board who stands preaching, but we all ignore him. Once on holiday in Wales (which is a far more religious place than England) I saw an evangelical preaching in a town there. He had drawn a small crowd, mainly of people taking the piss, but he was one of the more vocal aggressive fundies that you see in the USA.

[finleeport]

I don't have much experience with Evangelists or Evangelicals, I grew up watching their shit but I was too self-involved in my own world. But the funny thing is I use to caricaturize them as these bubble-headed, sadistic, sentimental Jesus freaks who have this ecstatic moment when talking about God or Jesus, that it sounded like they were having an orgasm with God; all that moaning and crying, its like sex without intercourse.

At my school we use to call Jehovah Witnesses "Jehobos"

[Guest Anonymous]

Neither have I. The ones that come around here are usually very nice and polite. They take no for an answer and are quite willing to engage in benign chat. We don't have obnoxious fundies so much in the UK. Occasionally there is a bloke in town who has a sandwich board who stands preaching, but we all ignore him. Once on holiday in Wales (which is a far more religious place than England) I saw an evangelical preaching in a town there. He had drawn a small crowd, mainly of people taking the piss, but he was one of the more vocal aggressive fundies that you see in the USA.

:D I find it really interesting that you perceive Wales to be more religious than England. I live in an area that is filled with chapel buildings that were built at the time of the Great Revival but they are mostly converted to shops or flats these days. When we had a fundie street preacher come to town last summer, he was quite a talking piece because people just don't do that anymore. I found him fascinating - he seemed like a proper fundie, but he must have an allergy to the cold because he stopped pretty much when the weather turned.

[JesusFightClub]

Anniec, I wish I had known you then! You sound brilliant. And we could have spent many happy hours arguing ;)

I was a horrible, Citizen Smith, doctrinaire Marxist at first. It pains me to admit it, but everyone hated me, and they had a point. I still am a doctrinaire Marxist, but now I try not to be a t**t about it. And to try and realise other people have their stances for complex reasons...

[Vex]

I do not understand the whole 'offer to pray with patients' thing. In Australia, there are public hospitals that have religious affiliations that you can go to instead of 'secular' hospitals. Even in 'secular' hospitals, they have a wide range of spiritual practitoners available on request for no charge.

In fact, I spent two weeks in a Catholic hospital last year. It wasn't my choice - the surgeon I was seeing worked at a 'secular' hospital that had been bought out by the Catholic one. Literally every single room except the ORs had a crucifix on the wall. On intake, they gave me a wristband with the usual name/address/age on it... it also had 'religion: atheist' on it. I think this is so that if you're dying on an operating table, they know to call a priest for last rites, but I never would have put down my true religious affiliation on the form if I had known it would be printed on the band for everyone to see. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't help but think 'well, if I crash in surgery, why would they bother trying too hard to save a hellbound soul anyway'? It made me very uncomfortable.

My dad took the crucifix in my room down and put it in a drawer every time he visited. Every day, some nurse would come and hang it back up. Several nurses said they would pray for me, which was the only religious overture I didn't mind - they were very sweet and they were praying for me to get better, not convert. I really appreciated that.

Overall, after that experience, I really don't think religion belongs in hospitals. I can understand people bringing in their own symbols of faith, bibles, statues and whatever, and I support hospitals facilitating visits from nuns and priests and the like, but it honestly made an already horrible experience more uncomfortable for me. There is no way I will return to that hospital again, even if it means paying for a private one next time.

Wow, I totally derailed there.

[Guest Anonymous]

Anniec, I wish I had known you then! You sound brilliant. And we could have spent many happy hours arguing ;)

I was a horrible, Citizen Smith, doctrinaire Marxist at first. It pains me to admit it, but everyone hated me, and they had a point. I still am a doctrinaire Marxist, but now I try not to be a t**t about it. And to try and realise other people have their stances for complex reasons...

Yeah, me too! Power to the People! I think I would love to know you in real life now, and we would probably have loads of stuff that would be up for debate - but back then it was so brilliant to know I was right about everything and to know that Jesus thought so too.... we would have had a fab old discussion. :lol: :lol:

[dawbs]

Not trying to derail, but I know that the pastor in the church I'm leaving showed this clip during a sermon, not that long ago (Penn Jillette gets a bible) and I know thi was the POV I came from in my fundie-er days:

u4a4AU9FYyc

I know that when I started rejecting more of the kool-aid, I was somewhat surprised that attitude wasn't more prevalent.

it was a slap in the face (a good one) for me to realize 2 things--1-that what one believes isn't a choice (or at least merely a choice) that one can be talked/logic-ed into and 2-that on the scale (blanking on the name, I should look it up) that measures 'stresses' in life, loosing (or changing) one's faith is the same number of "life sucks points" as loosing one's spouse--it takes a lot of gall to pray/wish/work for someone to experience that pain/stress, even for the greater good. (I will say, since that realization has been more apparent, i don't think I've prayed for anyone's salvation. I may have prayed for God's will and/or for them to find truth/peace/etc. But not salvation)

[valsa]

I do not understand the whole 'offer to pray with patients' thing.

Neither do I. Because it's crap and should not happen. In nursing school, my teachers (even the very religious ones) would have slapped me silly if I ever offered to pray with the patients. Praying with the patient if they ask? Absolutely okay. Initiate prayer? Unacceptable.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Neither do I. Because it's crap and should not happen. In nursing school, my teachers (even the very religious ones) would have slapped me silly if I ever offered to pray with the patients. Praying with the patient if they ask? Absolutely okay. Initiate prayer? Unacceptable.

Thiiiis. I think there's leeway for leading questions just meant to let the patient know that they can ask for prayer or whatever religious/cultural support they need now, but beyond that? Creepy.

[Sola]

:D I find it really interesting that you perceive Wales to be more religious than England. I live in an area that is filled with chapel buildings that were built at the time of the Great Revival but they are mostly converted to shops or flats these days. When we had a fundie street preacher come to town last summer, he was quite a talking piece because people just don't do that anymore. I found him fascinating - he seemed like a proper fundie, but he must have an allergy to the cold because he stopped pretty much when the weather turned.

I suppose it isn't as religious as it was a hundred years ago, but then where is. We go on holiday there every year, to North Wales - not been to South Wales so dunno what that is like. But in the Snowdonia area which we go to, you cannot throw a stone anywhere without hitting a chapel!

[AudreyE]

I was accosted a few years ago while outside cleaning my car. A southern baptist approached me while his wife and children hung back at the end of my driveway. I explained several times that I am happy with my own beliefs, but he must have just returned from a conference on "Beating Liberal Intellectuals at Their Own Game," because he kept patting me on the shoulder and asking condescending questions, like, "Yes, but what does it really mean for one to be happy with her own beliefs?"

Finally, I got pissed enough to tell him what I really think: anyone who believes that his spiritual imperative is to spread the gospel should be dodging poison darts in the Amazon and not bugging me in my driveway. Believe it or not, I have heard of Jesus a few times already. If I want to visit a church, then I have the phone book and the internet to help me. There are, maybe, a handful of places on this earth where people haven't heard the gospel, and that's where the Bible is instructing proselytizers to go. Otherwise, they're just being lazy punks, and God will notice this and be disappointed (assuming He isn't busy sending magic hams to the seven sisters).

Spiritual leader lost his cool in front of his family. He told me he hoped I didn't die and go to hell that day. I thanked him and said I did not wish for his imminent death or damnation either. (That's what I call some good, old-fashioned Christian charity.)

Thanks for sharing the Good News, buddy.