I don’t have an issue with it if they want to do their evangelism like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons do around here. I disagree with nearly everything those religions believe, outside the obvious stuff like murder being bad, but at least they do their missionary activities in a civilized way. You want to post up with a table and pamphlets and have conversations with those who approach you in a calm manner, using your normal speaking voice? Good for you, I couldn’t care less that you choose to waste your afternoon in this way. I draw the line at the people who act like the only possible way to evangelize is rolling onto a packed train with a mic and amplifier and scream their message so loud, you can’t even retreat from it by listening to music with your headphones on. Lots of them leave evangelism far behind and settle firmly in the territory of being mere nuisances to those upon which they inflict their presence.
They stopped doing that where I grew up about 22 years ago, over safety concerns while not being particularly effective, as I recall. Now, I pretty much only ever see them in subway stations or parks, sat behind a little table with a black table cloth over it and a cardboard stand next to it with pamphlets for people to take. I don’t support them in any way, but if they’re content with evangelizing in that fashion, they pretty much drop out of the list of street preachers that drive me mad entirely. It’s far and away less intrusive than the clowns that jump on a rush hour train to scream at the top of their lungs about Jesus, or drag a bluetooth speaker with them to play their Jesus music at high volume while they preach. Lately, I’ve even seen a bunch having a go at doing that in buses here, where they’re constantly falling on people, trying to pace up and down the aisle preaching while the bus is in motion.
I don’t have an issue with it if they want to do their evangelism like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons do around here. I disagree with nearly everything those religions believe, outside the obvious stuff like murder being bad, but at least they do their missionary activities in a civilized way. You want to post up with a table and pamphlets and have conversations with those who approach you in a calm manner, using your normal speaking voice? Good for you, I couldn’t care less that you choose to waste your afternoon in this way. I draw the line at the people who act like the only possible way to evangelize is rolling onto a packed train with a mic and amplifier and scream their message so loud, you can’t even retreat from it by listening to music with your headphones on. Lots of them leave evangelism far behind and settle firmly in the territory of being mere nuisances to those upon which they inflict their presence.
JWs here in the UK tend to go to your door and bother you even if you ask them repeatedly not to.
I can’t imagine it’s much different in the US.
They stopped doing that where I grew up about 22 years ago, over safety concerns while not being particularly effective, as I recall. Now, I pretty much only ever see them in subway stations or parks, sat behind a little table with a black table cloth over it and a cardboard stand next to it with pamphlets for people to take. I don’t support them in any way, but if they’re content with evangelizing in that fashion, they pretty much drop out of the list of street preachers that drive me mad entirely. It’s far and away less intrusive than the clowns that jump on a rush hour train to scream at the top of their lungs about Jesus, or drag a bluetooth speaker with them to play their Jesus music at high volume while they preach. Lately, I’ve even seen a bunch having a go at doing that in buses here, where they’re constantly falling on people, trying to pace up and down the aisle preaching while the bus is in motion.