Have you ever been annoyed by religious folks knocking on your door? I live in the Bible belt so I get not only Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses but also Southern Baptists knocking on my door. I am ashamed to say that when I was a Christian, I did some of this door to door evangelism myself.
What would it be like if Atheists went door to door? See this video:
In this spoof, Hank sounds a lot like God.
These are hilarious! Also, when you went door-to-door, was it ever even effective? How many people came to your church from that? And did anybody ever invite you in and try to express their side (and you thot they made more sense?!)
ReplyDeleteEven when I was still a fundy, I remember two women visiting me. I remember thinking that it's these people that give Christianity a bad name, cause they just annoy everybody.
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteActually I did have some success. I had a number of people make a committment to the Lord and a few even came and got baptized. Some are still in the church today. I rarely had anyone try to argue with me in a cool, logical way. Most of the people knew far less about the subject than I did.
I wonder if IFB churches are still having "visitation." I guess it can be fruitful then, from your report.
ReplyDeleteBeing from the South myself, I'd think that there is the "nice" factor-we don't like to be rude, we're friendly people. Also many, many people have very little knowledge of the Bible. I wonder if those two factors played a big role in getting people to come to church.
Plus most people enjoy attention and want love and community, so those are factors also.
I wonder, again, if visitation still exists and also if the climate has changed-are people generally more informed, opinioned, etc. re the Bible-or are they just as generally ignorant as they used to be about the Bible?
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteYes visitation (usually visiting those who have come to your church) and door to door evangelism ("cold-calling") do exist, not only in the South, but all over the country especially among fundamentalists (like those in the mold of Jack Hyles). I did notice a difference in going door to door in Arizona vs. doing it in Georgia. Keep in mind in both cases it was 20 years or more ago. In Georgia people did tend to be nicer and most everyone claimed to be a church goer (most of them Baptists). In Arizona there were lots of Catholics, Mormons, and people who didn't mind telling you that they were not religious. I had many more rude encounters in Arizona.
I remember watching Kissing Hanks Ass when I was early in deconverting, and finding it so spot on. But also feeling guilty for watching something like that and enjoying it so much. It really is a great parody of that theology.
ReplyDelete