Things That Shit Me the Eighteenth

[gaskin]

The occasional Jehovah's Witness that comes to my door is usually polite and non-pushy, so it doesn't kill me to be polite back.

You must have different ones in Melbourne. The ones I have encountered in Perth are extremely pushy and wont take no for an answer.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

You must have different ones in Melbourne. The ones I have encountered in Perth are extremely pushy and wont take no for an answer.

That goes entirely against their mission. What won't they take "no" for? (I'm on the Gold Coast and there are quite a few around here.)

You can always put a sticker on the front door that says No Religious Callers Please. I have seen that somewhere. But let's not get too militant about it.

 

[MP_]

You must have different ones in Melbourne. The ones I have encountered in Perth are extremely pushy and wont take no for an answer.

I work with a JW , we’ve had great chats and it has allowed me as an agnostic person to delve into their side of things and it’s been really interesting. I had JW’s knock on my door just the other day, I simply said I’m not interested in but found their religion interesting to learn about. They were quite taken aback by my response and left happy and I felt good by getting rid of them in a nice way.

 

[Forward Press]

Just a general observation but I think some forget that kindness costs nothing.

I mean, yeah, you could be an arseh*le to a JW and tear shreds into their beliefs about a fictional being and make yourself feel good by doing it if you're that type of person, it's not illegal. I admit I used to be that sanctimonious atheist before, 'haha why are you believing in something that doesn't exist, there's no science behind that, you're a stupid idiot'

But why would you do that? I suspect some on BigFooty would anyway...

 

[phantom13]

Just a general observation but I think some forget that kindness costs nothing.

I mean, yeah, you could be an arseh*le to a JW and tear shreds into their beliefs about a fictional being and make yourself feel good by doing it if you're that type of person, it's not illegal. I admit I used to be that sanctimonious atheist before, 'haha why are you believing in something that doesn't exist, there's no science behind that, you're a stupid idiot'

But why would you do that? I suspect some on BigFooty would anyway...

My issue isnt their religion, i am an atheist but everyone is entitled to do as they please in that regard its them door knocking me to try and sell me on it.

If your lord and savior is so mighty im sure ill find my way there myself, meanwhile respect my sabbath and holy place and **** off to yours.

 

[MarcMaverick]

Ask a JW one question: What is your view on blood donations?

 

[Forward Press]

My issue isnt their religion, i am an atheist but everyone is entitled to do as they please in that regard its them door knocking me to try and sell me on it.

If your lord and savior is so mighty im sure ill find my way there myself, meanwhile respect my sabbath and holy place and **** off to yours.

Kindness costs nothing. It's not illegal, immoral or unethical to knock on someone's door last time I checked. Same goes for whether you're Buddhist, a real estate agent or selling vacuum cleaners.

Obviously if they get pushy I would get annoyed, but I haven't encountered any that kept going after the first two 'thank you but not interested'. And for the record, very much an atheist here too.

 

[Quivorir]

Live and let live. As long as they aren't harming anyone, I couldn't give a shit what they do or believe in.

 

[Pistol Night]

Live and let live. As long as they aren't harming anyone, I couldn't give a shit what the do or believe in.

It’s funny these days. Little old 84yo Mavis who goes to church every Sunday is worse than Hitler according to some folks

 

[phantom13]

Kindness costs nothing. It's not illegal, immoral or unethical to knock on someone's door last time I checked. Same goes for whether you're Buddhist, a real estate agent or selling vacuum cleaners.

Obviously if they get pushy I would get annoyed, but I haven't encountered any that kept going after the first two 'thank you but not interested'.

Pushing my doorbell is pushy enough.

For the record im not rude to them i generally just dont answer but if you wanna tell a mum or dad that just got their kid down for a nap and then gets woken by that, or a shift worker etc etc. "kindness costs nothing" go right ahead, id love to watch the result.

 

[phantom13]

It’s funny these days. Little old 84yo Mavis who goes to church every Sunday is worse than Hitler according to some folks

Which folks.

There are militant atheists who detest the church (if you dont know why id be suprised) but if little old Mavis goes and sits in the pews on a Sunday and doesnt spout off at others about not living by the word of her God youd be hard pressed to find many if any who take any issue with her.

 

[MarcMaverick]

It’s funny these days. Little old 84yo Mavis who goes to church every Sunday is worse than Hitler according to some folks

And her 87 year old friend Phyllis has done something that even Satan has taken out a restraining order on her.

 

[MP_]

Just a general observation but I think some forget that kindness costs nothing.

I mean, yeah, you could be an arseh*le to a JW and tear shreds into their beliefs about a fictional being and make yourself feel good by doing it if you're that type of person, it's not illegal. I admit I used to be that sanctimonious atheist before, 'haha why are you believing in something that doesn't exist, there's no science behind that, you're a stupid idiot'

But why would you do that? I suspect some on BigFooty would anyway...

I used to be that arseh*le type but I’ve learnt that people believe in things to give them hope and who am I to judge them on that.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Pushing my doorbell is pushy enough.

For the record im not rude to them i generally just dont answer but if you wanna tell a mum or dad that just got their kid down for a nap and then gets woken by that, or a shift worker etc etc. "kindness costs nothing" go right ahead, id love to watch the result.

All the more reason to put that sticker on your front door.



You could even make one yourself.

 

[Scotland]

When Christians say they don't agree with same-sex marriage and think it should be outlawed because God doesn't approve. So don't get same-sex married then. What right do you have to enforce your antiquidated beliefs on others?

What brought this on? I agree, but it's odd timing given it stopped being topical almost a decade ago.

I generally agree with the premise, I've cut off my ultra-religious extremist types from my friend and family circles, but from my experience the kindest people I've ever met are dedicated Christians, and their belief in God did not affect their belief in science or basic human decency.

I have tried to cut off everyone that is extreme anything. Except Lego fan, that's OK. Nerd it up all you want it's not my inheritance you are spending. The old 'no politics or religion' thing had a lot going for it. There are always topical political things going on but the last person you want to talk about politics with is the guy that's into politics.

I'm a card carrying atheist and I will die on that hill, but it has pretty much nothing to do with my day to day life. Zero decisions have been made or justified today on the basis of 'well as an atheist...'. You can ask me if I believe in god and why not etc. but I am not going to seek out Christians and start arguments with them about how stupid they are. As Dr House said if rational arguments worked on religious people there wouldn't be religious people.

The most painful people are the ones you can't talk to without religion, politics or being a vegan etc. coming up. I've unfollowed a few people on social media because they only ever spin one record. Even if I agree with some/all of the things that you say I don't want to hear them every day. Talk about the weather or the footy or whatever, not everything is a right/left wing conspiracy or whatnot.

 

[raskolnikov]

What brought this on? I agree, but it's odd timing given it stopped being topical almost a decade ago.

Some posts on Facebook. A lot of christians aren't prepared to accept it and move on.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

My 10 year old nephew goes to a very Christian school and he's fully indoctrinated. It's painful to hear him telling me that my soul is in jeopardy...I try to be very respectful of his beliefs (he's only 10 after all) but wish his parents would rein him in a bit

 

[raskolnikov]

My 10 year old nephew goes to a very Christian school and he's fully indoctrinated. It's painful to hear him telling me that my soul is in jeopardy...I try to be very respectful of his beliefs (he's only 10 after all) but wish his parents would rein him in a bit

My sister and family used to do the same to me before I cut them off.

Indoctrinating kids should be illegal.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

My sister and family used to do the same to me before I cut them off.

Indoctrinating kids should be illegal.

The strange thing is, my sister in law is agnostic at best, but my nephew getting into it has influenced my brother to 'find god' again.

I get very annoyed when my nephew starts talking to my kids about it. I've purposely not given them any kind of religious education...if they choose to believe when they're older, that's different. When they come home from play dates talking about Creation, Hell etc, I get big mad.

 

[GreyCrow]

Ask a JW one question: What is your view on blood donations?

It should be labelled child abuse in some circumstances

 

[Gough]

I'd be more comfortable with faith if every right wing politician in the world hadn't used it as an excuse to further their draconian aims. Modi, the Taliban, Trump, Netanyahu, the IRGC, if you believe them they aren't doing it because they're f***ing psychos, they're doing it for their god.

 

[cats_09]

My 10 year old nephew goes to a very Christian school and he's fully indoctrinated. It's painful to hear him telling me that my soul is in jeopardy...I try to be very respectful of his beliefs (he's only 10 after all) but wish his parents would rein him in a bit

I went to a Christian high school and I'm pretty sure that the religious studies turned more of us away from that lifestyle than going fully indoctrinated and down that path

We may have had a few that pushed back against things also - on our free dress days, I had one mate who wore a 666 shirt, while there was also a couple of guys in our group who were gay - one even left school to start a hairdressing apprenticeship before deciding it wasn't for him and he returned to school

Credit to the school for being somewhat tolerant of teenage ways of life, at least during my time there


The funny thing for my upbringing is that I know mum went to church & Sunday school growing up, but I've never seen anything really religious from her (more agnostic now days), nor do I recall anything religious from my dad when I was a kid - I believe he was closer to atheist than agnostic, as I know for his funeral mum organised a civil celebrant to conduct proceedings rather than a religious thing

They did opt to get me baptised as a baby (Church of England like my dad was) because I was to have open heart surgery as a 3 week old and a lot of uncertainty about things; they also had my oldest brother baptised as he was seriously ill at birth and died just a couple of days old. But my brother who was born without any health concerns wasn't baptised and left up to him - last I knew he was somewhere between agnostic & atheist

But there was never been any pressure on me to go down that path and instead find my own way in life

 

[MarcMaverick]

It should be labelled child abuse in some circumstances

I should also say regarding blood transfusions.

 

[Gough]

Best thing about the church is church music.

 

[gaskin]

Indoctrinating children into a religion should be child abuse. To quote Tim Minchin from White Wine in the Sun:

"yes I have all of the usual objections,
to the mis-education of children,
who in tax exempt institutions,
are taught to externalise blame,
and to feel ashamed,
and to judge things as plain right or wrong."

If they wish to gravitate towards a religion as an adult then fair enough. That is their choice. But the world would be a much better place if religion was less prevalent.