[JJangJae]

Okay, before I begin, I want to say that I have nothing personally against Christians in general and I have plenty of Christian friends who respect my personal beliefs.

I'm an existentialist-Buddhist and there were several times in my life where I was asked to convert to a form of Catholicism or Christianity. Now, I have gone to church on few occasions to support my friends with their church activities such as concerts and such and I have sit through sermons, but as for my spiritual connection with Jesus and the Christian/Catholic God, that's pretty much it.

One day as I was getting a haircut, an elderly woman came in. My barber told me in Vietnamese that she was a regular and that she came every week. Every time she came, however, she would pass out pamphlets about Christianity since she is affiliated with Jehovah's Witness. Now, my sister was with me at the time and she was accosted by the lady who wanted to give her the pamphlets. Being a young girl, she panicked and she stumbled with her words and the lady pressed on her even further. I was in the middle of the haircut so I wasn't exactly able to counter the lady and her mini-preaching, but when my sister and I got home, we discussed the situation over a meal with our parents.

Now, it seemed that my sister was new to this whole topic on religion. She practices Buddhism with the rest of my family but had never really experienced religious conflicts and her protests of her Buddhist roots with the old lady only encouraged more preaching. My family discussed several tactics on how to rebuff attempts of conversion, most of which would be fruitless.

In the back of my mind, there are several ways that I can shoo off Christians harassing me to convert, they are:
1. "I support the Anti-Christ" (i don't of course)
2. "I'm not interested" (a useless maneuver)
3. "Suck it, lady!" (not in my best manners)
4. "Fu*k off!" (no way am i saying that to a meager old lady)

What would be a politically correct way for a teenaged boy to ward off converters of any age? That is my main question.

[Mannosuke]

Question their faith. They will get pissed and want to hit you.

"So I heard god loves everyone...what about homosexuals? Cause you know...I'm gay"

My friend once did this to a jehovah witness preacher. The guy got so worked up that he was about to attack us lol
Kind of silly, but it's a valid question. Imagine inviting a gay person to church and everyone realized he was gay? He'll probably feel out of place.

[hungrycollegeboy]

^ LOL good one.

Or you can say something like "Hi. I'm a genetically engineered baby."

[Regina Rae]

Just simply say "I'm not interested" and walk away. There is no need to say anything else.

[kissez*]

Question their faith. They will get pissed and want to hit you.

"So I heard god loves everyone...what about homosexuals? Cause you know...I'm gay"

My friend once did this to a jehovah witness preacher. The guy got so worked up that he was about to attack us lol
Kind of silly, but it's a valid question. Imagine inviting a gay person to church and everyone realized he was gay? He'll probably feel out of place.

ALL THIS TIME, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??

Just simply say "I'm not interested" and walk away. There is no need to say anything else.

How about those numbnutts quit bombarding us with pamphlets in the first place?
Call it immature but what's so mature about running around trying to force your beliefs on everyone else?
It's really offensive to me. What if I already have a religion? Why do these people keep trying to sell me their beliefs when I'm obviously not interested?

And I can't stand when they bring a child along. That's simply the lowest of the low.
I remember my sister didn't have the heart to shut the door on some Jehovah's Witnesses because they had a little girl holding a lit candle with them, going door to door like salespeople or something.

My mom's co-worker is a minister. He comes by the house quite a bit (my mom is Buddhist).
And I always feel as though he's trying to "trick" me into converting. Like, he'll have language classes and ask me if I'd like to enroll but they turn out to be like, Bible study classes?

[Regina Rae]

How about those numbnutts quit bombarding us with pamphlets in the first place?

Call it immature but what's so mature about running around trying to force your beliefs on everyone else?

It's really offensive to me. What if I already have a religion? Why do these people keep trying to sell me their beliefs when I'm obviously not interested?

Uhh, that's their job? That's what they do..

I never take it as they're trying to "force" their beliefs on people. They're just trying to get people interested.
There really is no force involved when it comes to this. They don't make you sit there and listen to them. Stop being a baby.

Well, how should they know that you're not interested? That's why you need to tell them "I'm not interest" (as I said before) and walk away, lol.
Ya, it's annoying sometimes, but there's no need to sprout off and say something rude, or dumb/sarcastic.

[Mannosuke]

Uhh, that's their job? That's what they do..

What a waste of money.
If they want to spread the word, they can at least stop giving me handfuls of packages so I can respect them for being environmentally friendly lol

I remember going to church for a year, and this one preacher on the street came and asked "would you like to attend our sermons?" and I was like "I already go to church" and she was like "your church is not a real christian church" and I'm like o rly nao? I guess presbyterian is quite a mouth full to say. I found that comment more amusing than anything.

[kissez*]

Uhh, that's their job? That's what they do..

I never take it as they're trying to "force" their beliefs on people. They're just trying to get people interested.
There really is no force involved when it comes to this. They don't make you sit there and listen to them. Stop being a baby.

Well, how should they know that you're not interested? That's why you need to tell them "I'm not interest" (as I said before) and walk away, lol.
Ya, it's annoying sometimes, but there's no need to sprout off and say something rude, or dumb/sarcastic.

I tell them I'm not interested - they won't shut up, NONE OF THEM.
And I hate when they come INTO MY WORKPLACE with this garbage.
I work in retail - I can't very well kick them out of the store! Instead, I have to just stand there and endure this religious crap.
So yeah, they DO make me sit there and listen to them. Even when I was a kid these people would do the sneakiest things like roam around parks with their pamphlets. How awful is that? Handing some religious pamphlet to a 12 year old child playing at a PARK? And then trying to feed your religious beliefs to said child because you realize she's young and impressionable (I wasn't)?

No, I'd rather tell them to piss off.
I've had enough traumatic experiences with Christians as a child.
If anyone reading this right now is in that line of work, I am currently flipping you the bird.

[Regina Rae]

^ I think you just need to calm down..
Lol, say what you want to them. I was just saying that it would be best to just, walk away from them and not be rude.

I remember going to church for a year, and this one preacher on the street came and asked "would you like to attend our sermons?" and I was like "I already go to church" and she was like "your church is not a real christian church" and I'm like o rly nao? I guess presbyterian is quite a mouth full to say. I found that comment more amusing than anything.

Mmm, that's a fascinating story, lol.

[kissez*]

^ I think you just need to calm down..
Lol, say what you want to them. I was just saying that it would be best to just, walk away from them and not be rude.

Hell yeah I'm going to say what I want to them.
I'll make the sign of the anti-Christ and give them the evil eye as well.
I live in the deep South, do you know how aggravating these people are?
I think approaching someone and trying to convert them is rude in itself.
I fully plan on returning the favor.

[adiavoy]

I remember when I was like in 4th grade and my friend tried to 'convert' me haha. It was so sad. Her family was like, really Christian, and she asked me about my religion and I said Buddhist... then she invited me to go to her Korean church but my parents refused, then she got a little sad and said "Now you can't be Christian..." I was like Bad experience, and after that we kind of stopped hanging out together. I remember another time when this Church lady came to my doorstep and somehow she ended up doing a prayer with me? it happened when I was a kid... Dunno how that happened, but afterwards I told her I was Buddhist and she was like "oh.. wow." and left.

My suggestion is to tell the lady that you're not interested and you already have your own religion. If that fails, then tell her, ohh yeah, I've already gotten that pamphlet or whatever. She might proceed to argue... maybe hit you with her purse. (JK)

ALL THIS TIME, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??


How about those numbnutts quit bombarding us with pamphlets in the first place?
Call it immature but what's so mature about running around trying to force your beliefs on everyone else?
It's really offensive to me. What if I already have a religion? Why do these people keep trying to sell me their beliefs when I'm obviously not interested?

And I can't stand when they bring a child along. That's simply the lowest of the low.
I remember my sister didn't have the heart to shut the door on some Jehovah's Witnesses because they had a little girl holding a lit candle with them, going door to door like salespeople or something.

My mom's co-worker is a minister. He comes by the house quite a bit (my mom is Buddhist).
And I always feel as though he's trying to "trick" me into converting. Like, he'll have language classes and ask me if I'd like to enroll but they turn out to be like, Bible study classes?

...LOL, that seriously happened to me, so low.

[maharu.]

I have had couple of incidents where people tried to convert me into Christianity.
Of course, I have nothing against the religion because well, it's freedom of religion.

One time, my classmate tried to convert me. So we had a long discussion and I kept on questioning his beliefs.
But he came back to the same ideas that I questioned him about so I just was like, "Ok there's no use."

And this person I know started a long God talk at a dinner table.
I couldn't avoid it so I just went along, nodded, smiled, and just listened.

That's what I did for this person who tried to get me into Jenovah's Witness.
And well, they didn't do anything after that.

I'm pretty much non religious but I'm Buddhist. But, it doesn't seem to catch for these religious people that...there are other religions than Christianity.