re: Dealing with bible belters

Quoting Minion:" Does anyone else regularly see street corner preachers? In the town next to mine nearly every week when ... [snip!] ... I HATE driving by them. I always get caught at the red light and they make me damn uncomfortable next to my window like that."

I do! This crazy guy down the street throws his bible out to passing cars yelling at them. Scared the hell out of me when I first moved here. Now I just honk.  

<blockquote><b>Quoting SavageDarling🌙:</b>" <blockquote><b>Quoting lovinthem04:</b>" They have no idea I am a believer by knocking ... [snip!] ... just tryin to be difficult or they all just sit waiting for us to join hands, staring at us. It's uncomfortable and it's rude."</blockquote>


Agreed. Or being told I'm a bad mother and if I cared for my kids I would lead them to Christ. My own mother has threatened to take my children away.
Being told, "I love you, even though you're going to hell."

Quoting SavageDarling🌙:" <blockquote><b>Quoting lovinthem04:</b>" They have no idea I am a believer by knocking ... [snip!] ... just tryin to be difficult or they all just sit waiting for us to join hands, staring at us. It's uncomfortable and it's rude."

Wow that is not nice of them at all! I am sorry that you have experienced this!

<blockquote><b>Quoting JessieLeeAnne:</b>" I do! This crazy guy down the street throws his bible out to passing cars yelling at them. Scared the hell out of me when I first moved here. Now I just honk.   "</blockquote>



Lol I hate it. Haha.

We used to live next to an ex-preacher-turned-drunk. Every Saturday night he would get drunk and stand on his front porch screaming sermons.
My mom and I would raise the windows and listen to him until he passed out.

Quoting Minion:" <blockquote><b>Quoting JessieLeeAnne:</b>" I do! This crazy guy down the street throws ... [snip!] ... and stand on his front porch screaming sermons. My mom and I would raise the windows and listen to him until he passed out."

Yeah. This dude stand on the back of his pickup, too. The crazier thing is, people actually park their cars and surround him like he is the messiah or something. I want to scream, "Can't you see he is smurfing nuts?!" lol. Can't fix stupid.

Quoting Minion:" I live in the freaking Bible Belt. I hate it. I constantly get Christianity shoved down my throat, starting ... [snip!] ... won't stop. I try telling them that I respect their beliefs, so please respect mine. That doesn't work either. They're rabid."

Sometimes you have to be real blunt with them. No one has a right to get into anyone's personal space. There were some times I had to be blunt though in most cases I just ignored them

I don't live in the bible belt, but I used to have religious people come to my door all the time... usually I ask them how they would feel if I came to their door preaching about evolution, and usually they just reply with "Point taken, thank you for your time."

Quoting Minion:" <blockquote><b>Quoting SavageDarling🌙:</b>" <blockquote><b>Quoting ... [snip!] ... to Christ. My own mother has threatened to take my children away. Being told, "I love you, even though you're going to hell.""

Wow that is so mean. we try to stay away from God lovers or even talking about it all together. But no one has ever said anything to me like I should have my kids taken away

I just be as nice as possible, and try to walk away or tell them "Thank you, but Im really in a hurry today."

Where I live I always get stalked by Jehovah Witnesses. Every time I go to Walmart, there they are chasing me down from the cart corral to my car. I've even been walking in the POURING rain with my baby in my arms with a blanket, trying to rush to the car, and they still had the nerve to try and make conversation. I am like "My baby is cold and I would like to get inside my car!"

You ignore it lol. I've been a christian my whole life, and I'm completely comfortable with where I am spiritually and emotionally. BUT many "hardcore" types like to harass me and compare their lives to mine, to prove why THEY are THE right & proper christians, and I am not. I simply ignore them. Debating gets you nowhere but pissed off and frustrated lol.

Do you mean bible thumpers? lol. Bible belt is a location in the middle of the country. he he.

But we get a lot of hispanic people knocking on our door. Ones that dont really understand English. I usually tell them no thank you, but they leave literature in a language I can't understand all over my doorstep anyways.

I usually tell people that I"m perfectly happy with my lack of religion and go about my business.

I tell them I am agnostic and I'm not pushing my views on them & I expect the same respect.

It depends on how they approach me. It also depends on if I know them or not. I'm more inclined to argue with family   My grandpa was a preacher and pretty hardcore about a lot of things. I usually just smiled and listened respectfully, but I usually had some smartass retort. My grandma (his wife) asked me what possessed me to get a tattoo and I told her, "Probably the same thing that possessed me to pierce my tongue, eyebrow, and nose, and have premarital sex." My dad almost spit out his drink. My mom will try to push certain beliefs, like Catholicism is a cult, and I'll argue with her. My mom's side of the family is, for the most part, pretty hardcore and judgmental. My dad's side are the type that they're very much Christian, but they're just happy if you're happy.

I don't think it's just in the bible belt, though. You run into some type of fanatic anywhere you go. I've literally been to almost every state and I've lived in Texas and Alaska and I encountered a lot of the same attitudes. It is more common in the south, though.

While living with my in-laws, in an itty bitty town in the bible belt, I didn't voice that I don't believe. I'd just nod my head whenever religion, "The Good Lord", and Jesus Christ was brought up, which was often. Luckily the only person who knows that I am not a believer doesn't want anything to do with me, so I'm pretty much in the clear.  

Hmmmmm.... How do I deal with my family members? lol

It is generally best to just avoid the topic of religion or just let them say whatever they are going to say and not challenge it IF you don't want to have a confrontation... that being said I have been causing trouble among the ranks lately and have been speaking truthfully about how I feel. This has caused problems. I think the best thing to do is to acknowledge their feelings and validate their perception while holding firm that your opinions are just as valid as theirs and assert that you have control over your own choices and they have control over theirs. Sometimes, they cannot be reasoned with... actually it is hard to reason with them with a framework of knowledge that is not included within their own.