its not brainwashing at all. its sharing your beliefs.

Someone knocks your door you say you dont wanna know and if they persist you close the door simple.

When i have children of my own i will take them to church with me but in the end it will be their choice wether they follow the faith or not. My mom raised us all in church we were there sometime 3 times a week doing different things. At one point i left and later chose to come back. I have sibling who have left and say they will never come back. Mom shared with us what she believes is right, that is what a good parent should do, but at the end of the day when we were old enough to make our own decisions we did.

To call it brainwashing is shortsighted and disrespectful. I have not been brainwashed i made a choice.

I've had the jehovah's call here this morning,

Why do they feel the need to knock on peoples doors to preach there religion to others.

It was quite obvious they were not going to go away after I politely told them I wasn't interested,then he had to ask me why
I gave the answer that we were C of E and then he still went on to say something else so I interupted and shut the door.

They can do what they please,but please don't come knocking my door,interupting what I'm doing and trying to push your religion on to me.

ha ha ha ha this made me chuckle

If you are not interested, just say no, what's wrong with that? If they persist then ignore them, shut the door, walk on by, but just say no thanks, end of. They are only people.

At the end of the day, whether it is real, or misguided or they are totally delusional and you think they would be better off in a padded room with their hands tied behind their backs, they have found and believe in a sense of overwhelming and unconditional love, strength and security within their lives and misguided or not, it will no doubt have helped them overcome life's various difficulties, illness, bereavement, depression, hopelessness, heartbreak, insecurity, loneliness and the reason they are knocking on your door, or stopping you in the street, is because they want to share that with you. They don't want you to feel alone in times of need, as merely a fellow human being, despite all you may/may not have done in your life, they don't want you to struggle or be sad.

Now you might think they are trying to brainwash you, you are entitled to think what you want, and believe what you want, as are they, but just remember, whatever they believe and however wrong, misguided or totally insane you may think they are, they are just people, like you and me. They have families and jobs and pets and hearts.

And no, I don't believe in this overly 'evangelical outreach', I roll my eyes when they knock at my door, or are shouting verses from the Bible in the street but I don't judge. I just say no thank you, and carry on.

*steps off soapbox and awaits the obligatory stoning*

I don`t see that they are forcing people to become members of their faith. No more than double glazing salesmen or Avon ladies. We have the benefit of choice. Be grateful for it. In some countries you don`t get choice.

Two very good posts.

What annoys me is that you say your not interested,give a reason and they still won't go away.I have never shut the door on anyone,that was till this morning,as it was clear he wasn't going to shut up and go.

To start off with I think the trouble with most of you Dogsey members that get hassled by the god botherers is that you are too nice and well brought up! If they knock on your door or try to engage you in the street just say you're not interested and close the door or turn away! That is my policy and it works equally well for salespeople, chuggers and the like. I really must get one of those signs that says "no callers without an appointment."


Now to get to the religious question...For every atheist bus you'll see 100's of god/Jesus posters so I really don't think we want to get into the who's ramming which message home argument.

I was brought up in the Roman Catholic Church went to a RC Primary and a RC Convent Secondary, the good education I received enabled me to use my critical brain to reject the dogma I was being pumped with and I am now a born-again atheist!

So to the question of the Pope being 'just a man', well of course to most RC's he's much more than that, he is a hugely influential, powerful figure who by virtue of his office is believed to be infallible. And this is the man who as a Cardinal colluded in the hushing up of so many cases of child abuse to protect the Church allowing many of the abusers to go on and commit more crimes! What about protecting the victims? But there you are, one of my many, many reasons for leaving the church.

Have to say I am a bit ambivalent about this issue, as you can see despite my parents and my churches best efforts I saw the light and don't believe in their imaginary friend anymore. AshMan you and I were given a choice, unfortunately many children aren't as the price for choosing not to believe would be the loss of their families and communities.

I very strongly believe that religion has no place in schools except as a matter for study. Children should learn about all the different religions they should not have any single one spouted at them as the "truth". I was horrified to see Muslim girls being told creationism was an acceptable alternative theory to evolution!!!

And don't get many started on the fact that schools that my taxes fund are allowed to discriminate against my children on the grounds of my atheism. Please how is that a fair system???

J.

Its not a choice when children are indoctrinated from birth in my humble opinion - you have your opinion and i have mine

I am not being short sighted and disrespectful as i said if that what floats your boat so be it, but please also repect the fact that it doesn't float mine

All children are indoctrinated from birth. Some with religion, some with non-religion. Teenage rebellion does have a purpose - it`s when children question things and then make their own decisions.
If you think being a religious person today is the easy option, think again.