How do Christians shove their beliefs down your throat?

[burnedfish]

I've heard it said that some are tired of Christians cramming their religion down others' necks. Frankly, I haven't witnessed this myself, so I am curious where and how this is being done.

[Scoundrel]

Nobody wants to take a crack at this?

brb, girl scouts shoving their cookies down my throat

[coffey06]

Nobody wants to take a crack at this?

brb girl scouts shoving their cookies down my throat

If only! I don't think I would object (unless I was on a cut).

[MrMisanthrope]

It really does happen.

Before I graduated, there was a guy who would come to my university with a giant sign that said "Jesus is Lord" and scream at random people walking by that they are going to spend eternity in Hell.

He brought a whole bunch of little wingmen with him who would run up to people in the main quad and try to talk to them about Jesus. Often I would be sitting somewhere IMMERSED IN STUDYING and somebody would walk up to me and want to enlighten me as to some spiritual topic or give me a "spiritual survey."

Keep in mind, this was UCSD where the assumption was that the average student was an atheist; the majority of the school is comprised of nihilistic hipsters. I myself am a different denomination of Christian, and I found that of the variety of denominations involved in this kind of campus evangelism (they had many cooperating churches and mine was not represented), it seemed that they treated unfamiliar denominations with a completely callous demeanor.

The first few times somebody asked to chat with me about my religion I just went along with it and answered things honestly, because I'm not ashamed of it, but when it came out that my denomination was different they started trying to argue scriptural sh*t with me and try to convince me that my denomination was wrong. They were really irritatingly persistent even though they had interrupted me in the middle of studying. After having my polite request to study in peace disregarded several times with no end in sight, I finally had to stand up and stand right in this guy's face and tell him to f*ck off and go bother somebody else, because I just had stuff to do.

I only had to go through that once or twice before I realized something: These people just want to shove their beliefs down peoples' throats, and if you already have a belief they will try to uproot that belief so they can shove theirs on you! They don't give a sh*t about who may or may not be right or even what the purpose of having a spiritual belief even is, they just want to have the satisfaction of running back to their little pastor and reporting that they did indeed successfully shove their belief down someone's throat, effectively face raping them with something that they don't believe in and didn't ask to be taught about in the first place!

In all, I know that the vast majority of Christians are not like this. Hell, I would know, all of my friends are Christian and only maybe 2 out of dozens of people that comprise our social circle will ever actually get preachy. Still, it's not unheard of and definitely happens.

I do worry for the fate of their "ministry" on campus though, because having witnessed other people receiving similar treatment I somehow doubt that they will make much of a positive impact on the campus or result in many genuine conversions. I'd like to know about their baptism rate.

[Scoundrel]

If only! I don't think I would object (unless I was on a cut).

ya bro, every store i walk in/out of, they are there, selling their propoganda

[burnedfish]

snip

bertstare...

wow, never seen that happen lol! That's crazy. Although I can see why someone would want to do that; if they truly believe they have a life saving and eternal answer, it makes sense to want to tell others about it.

This must not be too often though, as I have spent the last 10 years in universities (I'm not discounting what you said, just that I haven't really seen it). BTW, what did you study at UCSD? I was in the cogsci dept.

Thanks for the post!

[amtharin]

It really does happen.

Before I graduated, there was a guy who would come to my university with a giant sign that said "Jesus is Lord" and scream at random people walking by that they are going to spend eternity in Hell.

He brought a whole bunch of little wingmen with him who would run up to people in the main quad and try to talk to them about Jesus. Often I would be sitting somewhere IMMERSED IN STUDYING and somebody would walk up to me and want to enlighten me as to some spiritual topic or give me a "spiritual survey."

Keep in mind, this was UCSD where the assumption was that the average student was an atheist; the majority of the school is comprised of nihilistic hipsters. I myself am a different denomination of Christian, and I found that of the variety of denominations involved in this kind of campus evangelism (they had many cooperating churches and mine was not represented), it seemed that they treated unfamiliar denominations with a completely callous demeanor.

The first few times somebody asked to chat with me about my religion I just went along with it and answered things honestly, because I'm not ashamed of it, but when it came out that my denomination was different they started trying to argue scriptural sh*t with me and try to convince me that my denomination was wrong. They were really irritatingly persistent even though they had interrupted me in the middle of studying. After having my polite request to study in peace disregarded several times with no end in sight, I finally had to stand up and stand right in this guy's face and tell him to f*ck off and go bother somebody else, because I just had stuff to do.

I only had to go through that once or twice before I realized something: These people just want to shove their beliefs down peoples' throats, and if you already have a belief they will try to uproot that belief so they can shove theirs on you! They don't give a sh*t about who may or may not be right or even what the purpose of having a spiritual belief even is, they just want to have the satisfaction of running back to their little pastor and reporting that they did indeed successfully shove their belief down someone's throat, effectively face raping them with something that they don't believe in and didn't ask to be taught about in the first place!

In all, I know that the vast majority of Christians are not like this. Hell, I would know, all of my friends are Christian and only maybe 2 out of dozens of people that comprise our social circle will ever actually get preachy. Still, it's not unheard of and definitely happens.

I do worry for the fate of their "ministry" on campus though, because having witnessed other people receiving similar treatment I somehow doubt that they will make much of a positive impact on the campus or result in many genuine conversions. I'd like to know about their baptism rate.

Salesmen do the same thing to me all the time. The other day I was just minding my own business and this DirectTV guy just came up to me from out of no where, talkin about how he could get me all these channels for a good price and stuff. I was all like, "Stop trying to shove your DirectTV down my throat".

[7rmr]

How about all the schools in the south that have to teach creationism and evolution. Or they have to stress that evolution is JUST a theory. That is christians cramming their beliefs down others throats.

If you want to argue with the legitimacy of evolution, you may be dumb, but that is fine. The problem is if those schools really wanted to teach the whole picture they should teach the creation from the perspective of all religions not just christianity.

[amtharin]

How about all the schools in the south that have to teach creationism and evolution. Or they have to stress that evolution is JUST a theory. That is christians cramming their beliefs down others throats.

If you want to argue with the legitimacy of evolution, you may be dumb, but that is fine. The problem is if those schools really wanted to teach the whole picture they should teach the creation from the perspective of all religions not just christianity.

I went to school in the south and have no idea what you are talking about.

[VAPlowhorse]

Granted that choice of words is a bit strong, but it is hard to understand when you are on the inside of religion. Having people bertstare you like you just suggested raping toddlers when discussing belief in the supernatural gets annoying after a while. Walking past people screaming at you that you will suffer for all eternity at the hands of an ancient desert demon is a little unsettling and gets REALLY disturbing when you realize that the majority of Americans still side with such ideas. In areas like where I grew up, you cannot even discuss politics, psychology, or popular scientific issues without it becoming a religious problem, as most people's beliefs on issues are pre-programmed by their local church. These people do not show the least bit of respect for you because that is the attitude they were taught. It all gets pretty annoying after a while.

Like I said, it is easy to play it off with girl scout references when you don't see it happening. Image living in a parallel world where everything is the same expect 50-95% of people believe that Harry Potter exists and the books are literally stories saying that those who do not follow Harry will suffer eternal torment. That should give you an idea.

[MrMisanthrope]

bertstare...

wow, never seen that happen lol! That's crazy. Although I can see why someone would want to do that; if they truly believe they have a life saving and eternal answer, it makes sense to want to tell others about it.

This must not be too often though, as I have spent the last 10 years in universities (I'm not discounting what you said, just that I haven't really seen it). BTW, what did you study at UCSD? I was in the cogsci dept.

Thanks for the post!

I studied biochemistry. I do admit it seemed like it only happened while I was there; when I first enrolled I had a friend who was already nearing graduation and he said he hadn't seen it like this before, and just before I left it all came to a head with big protests and stopped.

I totally agree though - I admire their motive, but their methods could use some work. You have to wonder if they're not barking up the wrong tree. I mean, UCSD is a well known commuter school and degree mill, otherwise united only by shared vices and hedonism. Most of the students there are genuinely there only because they want to go off to make money. Almost every conversation in English you overhear at that school is either a discussion of progress on the road to graduation or something to do with future financial opportunity.

I'm not saying it's impossible to share good things with people on campus, but the majority of them are caught up in a mindset that would make it very difficult. It would take a needle and thread whereas those evangelists are swinging sledgehammers.

[7rmr]

I went to school in the south and have no idea what you are talking about.

Google: Creationism and American schools

Then read 1 of any of the thousands of articles that appear.

[b.spencer]

bertstare...

wow, never seen that happen lol! That's crazy. Although I can see why someone would want to do that; if they truly believe they have a life saving and eternal answer, it makes sense to want to tell others about it.

This must not be too often though, as I have spent the last 10 years in universities (I'm not discounting what you said, just that I haven't really seen it). BTW, what did you study at UCSD? I was in the cogsci dept.

Thanks for the post!

Setting aside how certain many conservative Christians try to force me to live their doctrines by force of civil law --

I have certainly watched what he is talking about. I saw many "street" preachers on the quads getting my undergrad. Many would just stand with a bible and shout back answers to questions.

But, I will never forget the dude standing in front of the university library. The library sat an a busy street corner with traffic lights and crossing signals. He had a huge wooden cross across his shoulders -- of course, the cross was on wheels so that it was not too heavy, lol. He was bellowing at the top of his lungs about how we were all going to hell. How we were "hellbound robots" because people were waiting on the lights to change to cross the street. Mind you, this was a southern university where nearly the entire population was Christian, as I was at the time.

What struck me the most though, was that the man had at least 3 of his young children with him, and he would scream at them to look at all the demons and hell-bound souls and to never be like them. That learning was the sure sign of demons.

[amtharin]

Google: Creationism and American schools

Then read 1 of any of the thousands of articles that appear.

I did one better and actually went to a school in the south.

[burnedfish]

Setting aside how certain many conservative Christians try to force me to live their doctrines by force of civil law --

I have certainly watched what he is talking about. I saw many "street" preachers on the quads getting my undergrad. Many would just stand with a bible and shout back answers to questions.

But, I will never forget the dude standing in front of the university library. The library sat an a busy street corner with traffic lights and crossing signals. He had a huge wooden cross across his shoulders -- of course, the cross was on wheels so that it was not too heavy, lol. He was bellowing at the top of his lungs about how we were all going to hell. How we were "hellbound robots" because people were waiting on the lights to change to cross the street. Mind you, this was a southern university where nearly the entire population was Christian, as I was at the time.

What struck me the most though, was that the man had at least 3 of his young children with him, and he would scream at them to look at all the demons and hell-bound souls and to never be like them. That learning was the sure sign of demons.

Sounds like a nut job, not a typical Christian! I've never understood these people...

[Beeewbs]

Nobody wants to take a crack at this?

brb, girl scouts shoving their cookies down my throat

Girls knocking on your door and asking if you want cookies /= Christians using the government to legislate the Bible, or Christian parents and sunday/private school teachers that shove it in kids faces day in and day out, or even the Christian teachers in regular schools and all of the Christians that want to teach creationism and undermined real science, or Christians screaming at Muslims as they peacefully go to their mosque that the Christians want to make illegal, or people that are fired or harassed for being atheistic, gay, Jewish, etc.

I went to school in the south and have no idea what you are talking about.

That's because you were born with your head up your own ass and never got it removed.

[Scoundrel]

Girls knocking on your door and asking if you want cookies /= Christians using the government to legislate the Bible, or Christian parents and sunday/private school teachers that shove it in kids faces day in and day out, or even the Christian teachers in regular schools and all of the Christians that want to teach creationism and undermined real science, or Christians screaming at Muslims as they peacefully go to their mosque that the Christians want to make illegal, or people that are fired or harassed for being atheistic, gay, Jewish, etc.

most of your post is a joke. brb, their teaching my kids about jesus in sunday school. did you just herp so hard you derped?

brb, the public doesnt vote the politicans into office. herp.

brb, public schools =/= private schools. Parents pay alot of money, for their kids to go to a private school...for a reason.

about the science, whatever, idiots exist. riots over a hockey game anyone? in the scope of things, what difference does it make if they learn useless information or not?

(to be clear, id rather not see creationism be taught in school. id rather them focus on math, etc...and not spend a month, every year, appreciating the same bullsh!t. education system is such a failure, brb disregard edison, acquire tesla)

[lucious]

walk up evangelism on university campuses.


When they do it to me, theyre promptly told to f*ck off.

[StylesOfBeyond]

Living in the UK I like to think that our religious lot aren't as extreme as yours. Generally speaking we keep our views to ourselves here, but there are always exceptions to the rule.

When I was visiting a university for an open day I got approached and attempted to be converted. I was happy to talk because they weren't rude, but they were eager to give me a pamphlet and attempted to give me a bible until I told them there was no need as I already had. They weren't too bad, we had a nice debate and I actually got them stumbling with their answers and such. Chances are they didn't think on what I said though, but they were pretty polite.

Another group of people, this lot much closer to home, condemn girls wearing make up, laugh at the idea of evolution and try to stop their members researching it and for a long time were trying to get me to come to their church group. This lot...not so nice.

I'm not a particularly outgoing person and I live in the UK, so I'm sure my experiences pale in comparison to outgoing Americans, particularly that guy who lives in an area so religious he gets preached to when he goes shopping for food.

[bigkarl]

Buy constantly proselytizing to people that do not want to hear the ****, being bigots against anyone who is not a Christian, using their religion as an excuse to take people's rights away(ie gay marriage) etc.

[Emperiorjack]

I'm religous I hate it when they walk up to you in public and try to talk to you about jesus. The first thing they always ask is "do you know about jesus christ?" Of course I know of Jesus and who doesn't? This is why they are wasting their time. They need to let people come to their own conclusion on their beliefs. They are helping anyone by stealing their time by talking about things they already know.

[Beeewbs]

most of your post is a joke. brb, their teaching my kids about jesus in sunday school. did you just herp so hard you derped?

Speak English. None of what you said was a counter argument and it wasn't even coherent.

brb, the public doesnt vote the politicans into office. herp.

Huh?

brb, public schools =/= private schools. Parents pay alot of money, for their kids to go to a private school...for a reason.

Yeah, for a reason. That reason being so Christians can shove religion down those children's throats. How is that not shoving religion down someone's throat?

about the science, whatever, idiots exist. riots over a hockey game anyone? in the scope of things, what difference does it make if they learn useless information or not?

I don't know what riots over hockey games have to do with anything or how they neutralize the Christians shoving religion down people's throats through false religious curriculum. You are really asking me what's wrong with teaching religion in a science class instead of science? Maybe I can put this in words you can understand. brb, herpin da derpin everyone's brain until they all herpy derpz.

(to be clear, id rather not see creationism be taught in school. id rather them focus on math, etc...and not spend a month, every year, appreciating the same bullsh!t. education system is such a failure, brb disregard edison, acquire tesla)

Uh, k. My post was a joke? lol. I think you meant you're about to make a complete joke of yourself.

[James086]

Gay marriage being illegal, abortion protests, teaching creationism in schools and some woman who keeps knocking on my door thinking I'm a misguided soul because I don't believe the sky man made the universe. She keeps coming back every month, I tell her each time that I have no interest in her silly imaginary friend (I started nice, but it's been going for more than 6 months and I've grown tired of it). Then there's one of those little Christian magazines in my letterbox after she's left.

[Scoundrel]

Speak English. None of what you said was a counter argument and it wasn't even coherent.

ill try to say it more bluntly to be more clear; no sh!t sunday school teachers talk about Jesus to the kids. no sh!t a religious based private school talks about Jesus. A parent can say whatever the fuk it wants to a kid...no sh!t.

Huh?

they get voted in because of what they stand for. The onus is on you to change that. a little thing called democracy. Majority rules. deal with it.

Yeah, for a reason. That reason being so Christians can shove religion down those children's throats. How is that not shoving religion down someone's throat?

no sh!t. i go to a movie so i can have entertainment shoved down my throat. I go to mcdonalds so i can have mcdonalds shoved down my throat. I go to church/many private schools so i can have Jesus shoved down my throat...no....sh!t.

I don't know what riots over hockey games have to do with anything or how they neutralize the Christians shoving religion down people's throats through false religious curriculum. You are really asking me what's wrong with teaching religion in a science class instead of science? Maybe I can put this in words you can understand. brb, herpin da derpin everyone's brain until they all herpy derpz.

No, i wasnt really asking you that. I believe in seperation of church and state. with that said, you are not worse off in live if you dont know about the BB, or creationism, etc. ts useless fukn information. Heres a concept, lets make education useful.

Uh, k.

herp they say the name Jesus in church derp.

[SoggyDoughnut]

Two slightly developementally disabled gay guys were kicked out of a hotel pool the other week for being gay. The employer that did it said he knew he was right because it was in the bible.
Gay marriage is still illegal because of a religion.
Marijuana is still illegal because of religion.
The death penalty is basically still around because of religion.
Just look at fukcing mesopeaks threads.
"5 Reasons Jesus is Lord!
1. Bible says so.
2. Bible is word of god.
3. God is infallible.
4. God's word is infallible.
5. Bible said it."

Another good one, watch jesus camp or whatever that movie is. I went to Taylor University (feel free to look it up) for a couple of years back when I was religious. I know what annoying ass religious pricks are all about. They had groups that would go to Ball State on the weekends to go through their dorms and try and convince people not to have sex and turn to god to save their souls.

[TH3SHR3DD3R]

Hnnnnnnnngh.

Allow me to say this in a format that you will grasp:

brb presenting one option to someone while informing them that all other options are lies is not indoctrination hngh

brb china hngh

brb soviet union hngh

brb 'servicing the target' instead of 'killing people' hngh

brb buying this beer instead of that beer will make females want your junk hngh

brb see above but substitute deodorant for beer hngh

brb brb brb brb

Jesus ****ing Christ.

[Beeewbs]

ill try to say it more bluntly to be more clear; no sh!t sunday school teachers talk about Jesus to the kids. no sh!t a religious based private school talks about Jesus. A parent can say whatever the fuk it wants to a kid...no sh!t.

Ok, so how is basically saying "that's obvious" a counter argument? I made a point and shared examples of how it's shoved in our faces, and your rebuttal is "well, duh, of course!" So, you agree with me.

they get voted in because of what they stand for. The onus is on you to change that. a little thing called democracy. Majority rules. deal with it.

This doesn't counter the point that Christians are shoving religion in our face by voting these religious politicians into office or voting for ballot measures based on their religion.

You are possibly one of the worst theist debaters in this section. I'm not even going to continue with your horrible post. We were asked how it's happening and I pointed out how it's happening. Nothing you have said has countered my claims of how it's being shoved down our throats. Saying "brb, herp derp, no sh*t!" is such a stupid, non-rebuttal.

[TH3SHR3DD3R]

brb presenting children with one option and telling them that all other options are lies is not indoctrination is the same as adults making choices when all choices have been presented to them hngh

You might be interested to know that children do not possess the same mental faculties as adults. People often use intimidation, logical fallacies, and outright lies to indoctrinate children because children have not developed the mental faculties necessary to dissect the information being given to them. This is just a fact of life.

Considering this, if I educated my child that atheistic scientism was the only proven true explanation for life, I would be indoctrinating them into my worldview. As an adult, I am free to make the choice to invest time and energy into researching the available choices, especially if I live in a democratic society with high-speed information technology. Presenting children with only one option and telling them all others are lies is indoctrination. Children are not adults.

[potatoe]

I tried to shove a Bible down someones throat once. Wasn't working too well, couldn't even get it passed the mouth. So I took one of those pocket size New Testament ones and everything went better than expected.

[Beeewbs]

Allow me to say this in a format that you will grasp:

brb presenting one option to someone while informing them that all other options are lies is not indoctrination hngh

brb china hngh

brb soviet union hngh

brb 'servicing the target' instead of 'killing people' hngh

brb buying this beer instead of that beer will make females want your junk hngh

brb see above but substitute deodorant for beer hngh

brb brb brb brb

Jesus ****ing Christ.

I think he just needs to be ignored. He offers absolutely no argument and can't even form coherent sentences. He's encouraging us to have a discussion like drunk monkeys texting each other with their penises.