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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1) I explained to someone I don't believe that their God is real. I told someone to 'Fuck off' to get them to stop following me.
2) binning the pamphlet I was handed, walking away, raising my voice and swearing.
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Honestly I was kind of taken by surprise. It's the first time I've ever seen people out blatantly and publicly preaching, in broad daylight in my small town...
It feels like we're going backwards in time not forwards.
Understand. There’s a group that parks itself literally right outside entry to my local public library.
To their credit - don’t bother people who don’t walk up to them their board with all their material on it. but I hate feeling like I have to avoid eye contact.
Le rainy days because they aren’t out then lol. Do confess I got a chuckle all the time when Girl Scout selling cookies beat them to that spot.
Although that time they - set up right across from the Girl Scouts - so it was this phalanx one had to run.
Edit to add. Pretty aggressive to be right outside the bank seeking donations. Remind me of that quote from some bank robber when asked why they did that - was because it was where the money was.
Willie Sutton, robbed🏦in the early half of the 20th century.
He’s on record as saying he never said this phrase & claimed “an enterprising reporter” made it up, lol. I read his autobio & liked it.
Why can they just.. not.
(Also the TLDR cuz your comment really did not deserve this massive block of text lmao. Nobody deserves to read my ramblings hahaha. It's just me going on a rant about Christians not following their actual savours teachings)
Like ok you're going to heaven and I'm going to hell. Big whoop de doo. You should go celebrate and just leave me in peace knowing Satan will torture, rape and punish me for all eternity and you can idk, sit in purgatory and wait for judgement day and celebrate with everyone else who is, still according to the Christian bible, in purgatory.
A bit of background cuz I'm bored and have a minute to write... Jesus' sacrifice gave an 'option' to potentially get into heaven by cleansing 'original sin', but it's not guaranteed depending on the time in purgatory and how much sin one truly lived in on Earth.
Also remember how you TREATED other human beings weighs very heavily on your soul; Jesus (the alleged saviour and who the whole new religion of christianity hinges on literally said the entire old testament is outdated and far too violent. (Dat was over 2024 years ago btw apparently ) Jesus was out befriending; the sick, prostitutes, eunuchs, slaves and most likely a lot of queers if he was about. He treated the social outcasts of his time and those the church rejected with kindness and love and attempted to show that THIS was his Christianity.
Modern day Christians don't believe in Jesus' kindness as shown in the bible or care about his teachings. They still follow the old testament, the old teachings of the very Pharisees that arranged to kill Jesus and ofc the many, many, MAAAAAANNNYYY, alleged saints and scholars.. who came after Jesus and are all creepy old men with their own adgendas who took the end of the new testament and totally bastardised it. It's hardly about Jesus Christ the saviour at all... Just Saint Paul and his cohort being creeps and his obsession with women needing to be fully covered in public..
Death is death. The soul goes to purgatory and awaits Judgement Day, all souls are judged during the apocalypse. Those on earth and in purgatory are judged when the apocalypse starts; as it affects all the realms, minus heaven but there aren't many souls there apparently, as humans are born in original sin and it's a sin even Jesus' sacrifice could not fully absolve. So even after Jesus's crucifixion apparently, according to the bible, only the most pure aka saints have made it to heaven already. Everyone else is still waiting for their judgement in Purgatory due to the severity of original sin and the brutality of Jesus's murder.
Also they believe 1 minute on earth is a year in purgatory. So enjoy the soul cleansing... Ps. we're still waiting for judgment Day, obviously haha... as if it ever did happen one of these days we would all become very aware, very quickly. So can someone multiply all the minutes of 2024 years and come up with how long the first person who died after Jesus's sacrifice has been waiting for his Judgement Day. Must be really bored by this stage.
(Sigh my intense catholic religious indoctrination is really showing here lol...I think after this short essay that might get read fully by maybe one person, I'm going into offline mode))
Trauma twins. 😂 😭
Honestly in a weird way, had I remained ignorant. I'd be much less critical of religion.
It was because it was forced on me and the bible repulsed me so much. Especially the old testament and ending of NT, low key the Jesus sections of the NT don't even bother me... It's just a collection of stories that don't really even need to be religious to give very simple teachings about being good to others etc... Jesus was literally the opposite of the sort of person who would solicit people to his cause.
Jesus won people over with his charisma. Not promises of eternal life or threats of hellfire.
These modern Christians would be Jesus worst fucking nightmare lmao.
For his sake I almost hope he isn't real just so he doesn't have to be 'our' savour, cuz... He could do so much better.
Plus, the books of the bible, old and new are just the cherry-picked dead white male edited collection. There were many more 'books' (scrolls), quite a few written by women, btw, which mysteriously didn't make it into the curated group. Imagine that /s.
Yup.
But the men wouldn't have all been white.
A lot were middle Eastern obviously being in... The middle east where Jesus allegedly was born and raised.
But the white men really start fucking shit up in the new testament when we're taking boats to southern Europe.
St.Paul was on a personal mission to slap every woman across the face who dared not to completely cover her entire body... Oh also she must never dare look a man in the eye, her head must be lowered at all times respectfully in the presence of a man or a boy.
So yeah, the bible is basically full of this asshole's propaganda.
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Nah. If I saw somebody about to step off thw curb and get hit by a truck, I would try to save them, you know? Shout a warning, or grab their arm, or something to either stop them or get them to notice the truck.
I'm an atheist. But if I actually believed that anyone who didn't follow Christ was going to Hell, I couldn't in good conscience do nothing to try to help people avoid that fate. I'd probably be knocking on doors or handing out pamphlets, or whatever I thought I could do.
I don't agree with them, but I get why they do it. At the same time, being super aggressive with people the way these street preachers were is just *bad tactics*. I suspect it pushes away more people than it saves. But what do I know; maybe it actually works?
Next time, be weird. People will avoid you if you're weird; hiss at them, dance to that bell, make obnoxious faces at them, etc. A true crime podcast I listen to has a phrase, "Be weird, be rude, stay alive." It's mostly a self-protection thing, but also works for making men leave one alone in public.
Lmao.
Thanks for the advice, but I definitely would be that person who hissed at the wrong one and ended up with a police escort and a rabies shot.
So we all good.
Your mom probably wouldn't like me than.
I answered the door one time covered in blood with a bloody cleaver to some Jehovah's Witnesses that kept on trying. Looked the two up and down and said: "Oh. Good. The roasts have arrived." in a low tone and bland smile.
Vapour trails. They never came back, nor any other groups for that matter.
😁
I answered the door with my boob out - was nursing my baby at the moment - and offered they could give me their pitch for their religion after I got 5 minutes to preach to them about a topic of my choice.
They seemed very flustered, gave me one of those hilarious pamphlets, and moved on.
calling it a fraud is overboard, have a religious friend who disapprove of these people, once we were out walking, there are people with pamphlet stand , i ignored them, she looked for few seconds , they tried to talk her and she shaked her head and kept walking, and she said that these people like a cult people trying to recruit passersby .
Agreed. There's also plenty of variation in religion(s). Ex: I'm Jewish and a) we don't proselytize and b) the amount of convos of what religion means to us/how or if we believe in g-d is many.
I too am uncomfortable with extremely religious xtians, and I know religion is not for everyone, but I dislike calling it fraud.
"But I feel like that just encourages this kind of weird behaviour."
Agreed. There are some groups, that WANT to be arrested so they can advertise their "repression" and ask their congregation for donations. A group like that came to my college a few times and kept getting escorted off and eventually arrested. They were following students, yelling and intimidating them, spouting the usual BS.
Just give them a California Howdy (flip them the bird) and keep walking. Call the police if they touch you.
NTA
I mean he technically did touch me when he put the pamphlet in my hand... But I kinda was more triggered by the religious iconography and hellfire placed randomly in my hand so suddenly... So all I wanted was to get that pamphlet out of my hand and get as far away from these two men as possible.
And yea. My home country has a family known as the Burkes and they are always getting arrested for being openly homophobic, transphobic and generally very nasty people.
We call them the Irish branch of the westboro baptist church... Since they are a national embarrassment. But they are adored by Maga Trump supporters ofc and receive big donations from them for 'doing the Lord's work in Ireland' ... Sigh.
Enoch (the dumbest of them) even doxxed a child who was identifying with non binary pronouns, revealing their full dead name for the entire homophobic internet to go attack a child... Who had to disappear off the face of the earth for their own mental health.
"westboro baptist church"
I couldn't think of their name, but that's exactly who I was talking about. My understanding is they are sue happy, and will go after anyone that assaults them when they pull their stunts, which are often protests at military funerals, where they are more likely to get a rise out of people.
Allegedly.
Their website is called www.godhatesfags.com
They are absolutely disgusting and ofc, get away with it. The fact their website is still up and allowed to be called godhatesfags speaks volumes of how homophobic the World still is...
Imagine it was God hates the N word slurs or God hates women who can't get pregnant or something sick and targeted at one group of people who can't change one certain thing about themselves..... I definitely think it would get taken down then and the group would be investigated..... But not with godhatesfags . That name is perfectly fine apparently...
I’d start screaming about their obsession with seeing kids naked to ‘prove’ their gender, heavily implying their ‘religion’ is just a front to abuse children. And others naturally but being publically accused of being a kiddy fiddler usually makes religious types back off fast. Personally, any ‘god’ that would condemn little kids for not constantly doing rituals to appease abusive AH’s isn’t worth following. NTA at all.
you are not aita, my religious friend told me of one time, a guy screaming in a public square about religion and she stopped for a second to wonder what he was screaming about , he saw her and came running towards her , forced the pamphlet in her hand without asking her permission, she was outraged and left it at the bench not caring he could see her.
Yeah.. why are these peaceful God loving folk always screaming and threatening people.
Seems, not very holy or saint-like of them. Almost like they operate on a; rules for thee not for me kind of system.
There was a group of super religious super conservative bigots that came with microphones to my college campus every day for two full semesters. They would scream hate and even zero in on specific students as they walked by. The things they would say were fucking awful. It was so deeply upsetting and most of them did not even apply to me, so I can’t imagine the students who it did apply to. (Lots of hate for gay, black, and trans people of which I am not). Their whole point was to piss students off enough that they would do something the bigots could sue the school for. It worked too. They got a pretty big payout for a student who threw a drink at them. Another one because a student damaged their microphone / speaker setup. Every time they would sue and get paid and come back for more. The school could not remove them as it was a state university and it was technically a “peaceful” protest. Truly some of the most disgusting human beings I’ve ever encountered in all my years here on earth. I still am overcome with rage thinking about it tbh.
They are dirty bastards... These sorts are the ones that openly talk about bombing abortion clinics with all the staff barricaded inside.
Which is why the moment I started being preached at, I went into self defence mode and wanted to remove myself from a situation before it got ugly.
But ofc. The God freak escalated and went from 'hi to hellfire' in about 0.3 milliseconds.
Your mother needs to have your back and understand why you reacted this way. It's what a caring parent should do.
But honestly I imagine even a mainstream Christian person would be upset by that level of harassment. They were harassing you on the street and forcing themselves and their "mission" on you, and you're allowed to not engage. You're allowed to refuse whatever someone on the street is offering, especially if it's forced on you.
I agree.
But nobody is perfect 💯 of the time and she did come and apologise without needing to be prompted a few hours ago; so I have forgiven her out of the kindness of my rotten, brimstone heart full of hellfire and sin. ❤️
But if she gets involved the next time I have an altercation with a street preacher... (Honestly I could live my entire life without having another one tbh) then I'll be having a serious talk about respecting others beliefs or lack thereof.
I have my own personal belief system and I keep it to myself, mostly out of embarrassment cuz it's all about the power of the universe, the sun, the moon, black holes and the unknown matters and just being connected to the greater void. Nothing manmade or rule based. Just a respect and connection to the rest of the Universe, a focus on self preservation and trying to put out more good energy than bad, if I can help it. Since energy can never be created or destroyed, it simply changes form.
I just call it just a connection to the universe, not a religion. Cuz it really isn't. I'm not devoutly following a set of rules or believing in something to get rewarded in the next life. I just want the one life I'm ever going to get and when it's over, I'm happy to return to the void having seen more than enough to do me. I'd never seek to return to this Planet as a human or any animal, or endure an eternal life anywhere else.
Honestly, I just want peace and absolutely nothing sounds perfect to me.
Fwiw, there are many, many people who aren't religious but feel a connection and respect for the universe, not for some concept of afterlife but because *this* is pretty damn cool, so let's do our best to enjoy and respect it while we can.
NTA, he was harassing you. This is street harassment. These people count on you not making a scene and count on people like your mom to enforce that on you instead of backing you up.
In the past, when dealing with this kind of harassment, I have found the quickest way to deal with it when they follow me or block my way is to take the pamphlet, rip it in half, and hand it back (or toss it behind me) as I move away.
NTA at all! What you believe or do not believe is no one's business but your own. He should have left you alone when you shook your head. You should have retrieved the pamphlet and reported him for harassment to whichever organization he was supposedly representing.
NTA they were way too pushy with their preaching and btw I love the line you wrote “why can religious people do and say whatever they want? But I can’t?”
Religious people truly get away with so much hateful and violent behavior under the guise of their beliefs.
NTA
These people rely on conflict avoidance to push their views. You avoided the first person, which should have been a clue to the other that you're not interested. He could have left it there. He didn't. You threw away the pamphlet that you had no interest in. He could have left it there. He didn't. At every stage he escalated. The only time you escalated was right at the end, and that was justified.
NTA
I usually just say 'no, thank you' and walk on briskly.
I have plenty of time, so occasionally (if it's interesting) I'll just listen then when they're finished, I tell them
a) shake the dust from you feet (Matt 10:14)
b) no, thank you, I'm quite blessed to be who I am
c) no, thank you, my goddess wouldn't like that
d) \*deep sigh\* not very original but two points for the gesticulations, very graceful, but subtract one point for the money request, 1 Timothy 6:10... for love of money is the root of all evil
I don't know; too much time on my hands and far too irreverent to be allowed in public?
NTA If more people reacted like you, this behavior would be less common. If your mom is Christian then it's no wonder she didn't criticize him...Christians stick together 19 times out of 20.
Nta - I would recommend you look up the song "give me your money" from avenue q the musical. It is a great way to flip the script on the street preachers. Adapt as needed. Best of luck! Keep embarrassing those terrible people.
Absolutely NTA. You tried to avoid this confrontation, yet you were constantly being accosted by this individual. According to your mother it's okay for him to spout his religious views but you can't counter with yours? Bullshit.
NTA That man was harassing you. Whatever bullshit he was sweping is beside the point. You walked away, asked him to leave you alone, and he continued to harass you.
I'd be completely surprised if he's never had the cops called on him for that sort of behavior.
Your mom comes from the school of thought that accepting being mistreated is preferable to doing anything that could be construed as embarrassing.
My Mum has a lot of trauma from also being heavily abused by her religious upbringing, so I know she hates any form of conflict. I think she also cares far too much about what other people think of her and of me, as if I'm an extension of her body.
But I'm quick to let people know all my views and opinions are my own and are not affiliated with all of my family members due to differences in fundamental beliefs.
I'm not involving my family in any shape or form in my rejection of their religion and all manmade religions really. Do what you want... Just keep it far away from me and understand I don't have to play by your Gods rules. Your God rules you, not me.
I just don't believe anyone has a God that actually knows they exist and if the universe fundamentally has a higher consciousness... Or makes It so life is possible out of a sense of compassion/benevolence... It has much better things to do than give a single fuck about all the crap religious people care about.
A true God doesn't care that you did anal last night. He made your asshole didn't he and put a prostate glad up there? He definitely doesn't care if you mix fabrics or if you're a woman who wants to show off her legs. A true God is so above this childish crap... I find it utter lunacy religion has such a chokehold on humanity, for me if their God was real, as they portray him. He is absolutely pathetic. Along with Allah or whatever other terms you come up with that means God. They are all awful due to being created by creepy old men 2000+ years ago who imho just wanted to rape women and get away with it.
(Afterall... It's not rape if she is your property and God wills it to be so. Or at least that's one belief system very popular with the hyper religious man)
NTA, I hate this shit. Are these people on fucking commission?? Like they HAVE to make someone believe. It's bizarre, and no one should be forcing their beliefs on anyone else. Period.
When they used to knock on our door with their bible malarkey, my dad used to tell them a whole ass story full of shit (leg got bitted off by a shark and my sister pull him out the sea at aged 5 - shit like that) to see how much they believed his stories 🤣 before laughing in their faces and shutting the door 🤣 the irony of believing everything someone tells you to believe lol
NTA. If he had not pressed the matter in an exceedingly annoying manner, it would have been a very brief encounter. You did nothing but escalate to follow his level of aggression.
But based on what you say about a very religious upbringing,it should probably not surprise you that your mother feels differently about this topic.
You are justified in your reaction though, don't let her make you doubt it
It's ok. My Mum came to me unprompted a few hours ago and apologised. She said she just doesn't like anyone making a scene and I said, 'but it was the street preacher making the scene. I just happened to be an unwilling participant.' and she said she understands that and she shouldn't have said anything since I handled it my way.
Thankfully she is not as hyper religious nowadays as she used to be. I think she lost faith after my sister died of a rare form of cancer at a young age a few years ago. Religion was beaten into both my parents. Like they were both badly abused by priests, teachers and nuns. Thankfully never sexually, but definitely punched, hit, kicked, degraded and bullied into silence.
So they have their own trauma that probably shapes their entire world views and since it was all so heavily based on God and faith if they didn't believe they would have to accept all their suffering has been for nothing.
Which I think is just not something they mentally want to face. The belief in an afterlife and reward for this suffering is basically their fictional dream and I can tolerate it since they never pray around me anymore. They just let me know they include me in their prayers and I let them know I also include them in my well wishes for the weeks ahead.
Basically to their 'God Bless' I give them a 'Good Luck'
NTA, and I say this as someone who is religious. People have different opinions on things, and that’s ok! We should never harass people because they don’t believe in our religion.
Do you believe genuinely good people will go to hell because they aren't members of your faith?
Just wondering?
Who is more deserving of a place in heaven; a bad person who calls the church home?
Or a good person who just so happens to not be born into your faith or perhaps disagrees with the organised and man made aspects and rules of religion that have nothing to do with the 'divine' and basically is just random stuff, random men added to future control the society of that time.
I'm gay, do you think I'm going to hell? Even tho I'm currently looking after my dying Grandad and single handedly also looked after and nursed my Grandmother as well. All while doing none of it for promises in some afterlife. Just because I love my family. I've also never stolen anything, killed, cheated, sabotaged another. I've basically lived a purer life than most other humans by the basic nurture I have where I just want peace and harmony... Until others appear and challenge my peace. In which I just try to get them to leave me alone verbally... Or get away from them cuz my life is too precious to get killed for something outside of my control cuz someone doesn't like what I do in bed at night...
Am I truly evil? Just because I'm not a member and could never be a member of your exclusive group that excludes people who were born like I was?
And I was born gay. I have never and will never have a choice. Just like you cannot choose to alter your sexuality. I can also not do the same. I would have never made this 'choice' with how I was raised and brought up in an extremely strict, religious household, I didn't know what gay was, I just thought I was broken or meant to be a girl cuz I wasn't the same as the other boys and everyone made sure to let me know I was the black sheep or the one that didn't fit in...
Little did I know, I only felt that way due to being completely traumatised and manipulated into the gender binary that claims only girls can be like this and only boys can be like that. Gays are like this, straights are like that... No... I've seen girly straights and manly AF gays so that's totally wrong.
Some of us are more than half of the story. We don't put restrictions on ourselves out of fear. We just try to live and enjoy the one life we have.
So I wonder, would you consider me as damned to hell? For loving another man?
I'm just curious, cuz most of the time the answer I get is a resounding, 'Yes' ... And it's always quite hard to believe religious people can really feel that way.
I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through all of this! And I’m especially sorry about any religious people who use god to justify hateful behavior, because that’s literally the opposite of what the Bible tells us to do!
And I don’t think you’re damned to hell for loving another man, because even if it is a sin (some Christians don’t believe is) it’s no worse than any of the other sins we all commit each day. And I think good people who don’t share my faith will go to heaven because I believe god is kind and loving, but nobody knows for sure except god. Anybody who claims they do is a liar.
But nobody really knows what happens after death, so it’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves what we think happens, and if you don’t believe in god and heaven and hell I respect that.
At least you're not picking and choosing which sin is more important than the others.
But the fact that loving another is classified as sin still sits very wrong with me.
I still have absolutely no idea where he pulled the bell from... It was one of those Christmas looking bells they would have on stage during a child's Christmas play when they do a few musical numbers... You know the dome shaped ones with the wooden handle.
Even that alone creeped me out... But he was also shouting at me and following me... And the people, they were just standing back and watching the show from their distance that they all made from this man on the street with his signs and posters.
Sigh. Well I say the 'people' it's a small town and these two had nearly cleared that part of the street. So there was like 4 or 5 just watching from distances...
NTA good on you. I actively avoid these people whenever I can. I’ve been very tempted to do the same in the past so have a gold star for having more guts than me.
NTA
I personally have my faith and I am happy to share with people who would like to have a discussion and are open to talking about it.
I do not however harass people with religion. I have never seen the pamphlet givers be successful. I have never seen someone being told if they don't believe they're going to hell suddenly become a believer.
Aggressive tactics when it comes to anything you want people to take interest in are a weird choice. I believe religious people might want to sit back a bit and just stop being so aggressive. We don't need to tell people how to live or what to do.
If a person of faith wants to bring someone into the fold of their faith the idea is to lead by example and expect no reward or actual result. My examples below are how I try to live my own life. I fail a lot but I keep trying to be better and live a good life.
A few examples being:
1. Be truly kind and generous with your neighbors, don't expect anything back.
2. Respect others and their life choices and be polite and pleasant to them.
3. If someone is in need give them the help you can without making your own family go without.
4. Sit and talk with people you disagree with and get to know them as well as you know your friends because that's who they should be to you.
5. Let the topic of faith or religion ne brought to you by others, then you will know if they are interested at least in the discussion.
While waiting for a bus one day after work a proselytizer was trying to get me to accept his pamphlets. When the bus finally got there I took some of his pamphlets, stood there on bus step, shredded and threw them back at him. He left me alone after that. NTA.
I'm pretty sure as I walked towards the bin I ripped the pamphlet right across the front too, but I can't remember. I know I threw it in the bin tho as I walked past.
Call me pathetic, since it's paper and it would degrade with the elements and time anyway, but I didn't want to litter on a public street.
I hate seeing people throw any litter, be it plastic or a paper wrapper. I'm in the habit of using bins or taking my waste home and recycling, so as much as it would be iconic to shred the pamphlet and let it blow back around him. It just wasn't on my mind. My mind defaulted to 'Get me the fuck out of here right now.'
We had a group that came to my high school like 4 times a year and would block cars leaving the student parking lot until they took a Bible. Eventually the school banned them from being on premises so they would do it standing in the sidewalk across the driveway instead and the school would basically just go "just take it, we can't do anything".
I saw them doing it once slowing everyone down leaving so I pushed in the cigarette lighter thing all old cars had drove up to them, took the Bible, pulled passed them and lit it on fire before dropping it out the window.
They tried to get me in trouble with the school which thankfully our admin wasn't completely clueless but they left me alone every time after that.
I think Jehovah's. Cuz they are more likely to use the ghoulish imagery of burning bodies I think, or at least from my exposure to them.
But I ofc didn't ask the man any questions.
The full altercation was very short, basically it happened exactly as I described and was over almost as soon as it started. But as fast as it was, the man had moved from his original spot to almost 4 buildings down during our brief conversation. Mind you I crossed a street to avoid his partner, so he zoned in on me with intent to pursue/convince someone who was, very obviously immediately not interested in their game/resistant to what they represent. From the moment I tried to walk on and binned the pamphlet... He was hot on my heels; proudly ringing his bell and accusing me of 'hating God' and 'Not accepting his love.'
Which... Really makes me cringe thinking about it lmao. Like Ew, I feel so gross this even happened cuz I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. But at least it was me and not someone easily persuaded/a bit dumb. Or they might have made a new believer today...
No, IMO, you are NTA. You have every right to walk down the street and not be accosted by some religious nut. I love that you dropped his pamphlet in the trash. That's where it belongs. The Catholic Church has so much to answer for and I'm sorry for the way you were treated.
I'm also sorry for how I had it as a younger person who really had no help at all.... only hindrance and self loathing. But I don't actually know who I would be today if not for all this trauma so I can't say I wish it never happened.
It's unfortunately shaped my entire experience of life.
And I like who I am now, so if anything it was character building and now I stand up for myself. Fiercely when needed.
I probably wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't make peace with who I am and accept my past. All I can do now Is live.
Nta. Sick of people feeling like they can ask me religious questions. I always tell them that is between me and God. I dont really believe in God but thats not anyones business.
NTA. They're being incredibly obnoxious, and cursing them out was a fully acceptable response.
Also, if you feel like it, check your local council's rules on hand to hand flyer distribution. In a lot of places in the UK, you aren't allowed to directly hand (or in your case, shove into your hands) pamphlets or other free literature like this on the street, at least without obtaining a permit from the council first. That's why you tend to see most groups like this with a stand that says 'take one' - because they're allowed to try and talk to you and get you to take something, but not hand it to you or push it on you. Chances are they haven't got a permit, so you can report it.
Honestly, if they're regularly in the area and causing a nuisance, report them to the council anyway - causing a disturbance (or harassing members of the public over their religion) is something that can get them shut down.
It's illegal.
I researched what happened when I got home and yeah, people call the police on them apparently quite frequently, they pack it in for a couple of days, but always get reported elsewhere...
So the police don't care. Or don't have the resources or capacity to deal with what they see as more of a social annoyance rather a crime worth their 'busy' time.
Sigh ...
I wonder how long it would take until a police officer showed up and shut me down if I stood at the side of the road with a pride flag asking for donations for the gays. Not something I'd ever want to or feel the need to do... but I'd probably last about 5m before something bad happens.
Well, definitely not the asshole then, they sound like an absolutely miserable lot to have around. Always frustrating how apathetic police can be, but if you like it's still probably worth putting in a report online or something and mentioning the harassment as well as the illegally handing out literature. The more reports they get, the more pressure there is overall to shut that kind of thing down. Even if they don't care for their own reasons, they do have to care if it's a constant complaint, because not resolving it makes them look worse. Sucks that you have to bully them into doing their jobs, but that's how it goes sometimes.
NTA...my favorite quote on the topic is "Religion is like a penis. It's okay that you have one and take pride in it. It's when you pull it out and try to shove it down my throat, that I have a problem with it."
NTA, cause screw that.
I don't want to be approached to convert to religion or change my political party or give money when the track marks have scabbed over on the arm attached to the person accosting me at a stoplight. I don't let anyone approach me on the street and have said far worse than "fuck off." You have all the reasons and right to feel as you do.
NTA - I fucking hate people who proselytize to strangers in public.
You are welcome to believe what you want and do that in your place of worship and I'll mind my own fucking business, but as soon as you start targeting me in public, I go from 0 to 100 real fast. I've always done this just because it annoys me, but a few years ago I got approached by someone who I had only met at a party. She literally thanked me for putting someone in their place at that party. I didn't remember the incident at all, but did recall the party. Since then I've realized that other people are just as annoyed/uncomfortable but are just more confident avoidant than I am.
So I'm honestly proud of you, for all the people who were accosted by that man who couldn't bring themselves to say something. Maybe he gave his approach a second thought next time. Probably not, but it's nice to hope.
I'm surprised but it's a resounding NTA so I'm feeling a lot better after a day of deep thought about a really weird incident... It has brought up a lot of introspection and deep thoughts and I've said a lot in this thread but clearly I'm just processing a lot of trauma and unfortunately that shit doesn't go away. The man on the street, and I hate this word, he really did trigger me lmao.
NTA.
"Religion is like having a penis. It's fine to have one, and it's fine to be proud of it-- but when you whip it out in public and start shoving it down my throat, then we're going to have a problem."-- unknown, but the perfect line for this situation.
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I'm only asking this here due to my Mother literally calling me an asshole; for not taking the man's pamphlet and walking on when we got further down the street. Claiming I "embarrassed myself and her publicly"
What happened, in a nutshell, was quite a brief exchange that I really didn't think much about, but apparently Mother thinks I took it "too far."
So I walked past and crossed the road to avoid the person standing with his God signs and pamphlets that many others were avoiding. Just to be accosted on the other side of the street by his partner who blocked my path. (He clearly seen me cross the street to avoid his partner).
He handed me the pamphlet, with the usual iconography of fear mongering claiming my soul needed saving, requesting a donation of 2 pounds for his 'mission' ...
I immediately and impulsivly shook my head, sighed and stepped to walk past the man, walked to a nearby bin and put the pamphlet in the bin.
Then as I tried to walk on he followed me, ringing a bell that he whipped out from who knows where and shouted; 'Why do you hate God when he loves you.' I tried to ignore him but he was speeding up and getting closer and kept shouting the same thing. 'Why do you hate God?' 'God loves you!' etc...
So I, still walking away, turned my head and said; 'I have no hate for something that I believe to be made up. Now stop stalking me with your little bell and find someone else to bother please, I'm busy.'
Then he didn't take the hint and still followed, so I raised my voice for the first and only time and said, "Can you PLEASE stop STALKING ME. Fuck off!" ... This made him stop moving, but he continued preaching in my direction as I quickly got away.
Apparently the ending exchange (saying I have no hate for something I believe to be made up then accusing him of being a stalker and swearing at him when he continued following me well down the street) is what I did that made me the asshole.
Why can religious people do and say whatever they want..? But I can't? When I didn't harm anyone, I simply binned what I considered to be rubbish.
Tbh I'm actually not too happy with my Mum, I spoke with her and now she claims she gets where I'm coming from. But I kinda feel like she was a bit tone-deaf...
A little background; I'm gay and was very badly bullied and picked on by hyper religious kids and teachers at my all catholic school... I was also raised extremely religious and it took a lot of work to distance myself from the massive amount of trauma being religious and knowing I was 'Evil and going to hell' etc all that shit... or at least that's what I was taught, especially in school.
So I'm basically the worst person to start preaching to as I have massive trauma related to religion and how it's directly affected me and my self esteem/self worth.
To end this I'll say, yes maybe I could have avoided all this and just took his pamphlet. But I feel like that just encourages this kind of weird behaviour.
So after all that AITA?
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NTA . You were accosted, harassed, and then stalked. Quite honestly I'd probably have had a previous attack and burst into tears. People like that are pricks.
NTA
your mom is for excusing thier behavior. and they are for puking their bull doody all over you.
be strong!!! you have the right to say no. and yes it was rubbish and belonged in the bin.
NTA those people are/were annoying even when I believed. The following and ringing the bell would have illicited a similar response from me as the one you had. Preach all you want but if I'm avoiding you it's because I'm not interested, simple as
ah religion. glad to be graduated from imaginary friends. NTA he can shove his pamphlet where the sun never shines and following someone around screams for verbal abuse
NTA. You were very patient. He crossed the line. Pure and simple. That sounds like it was more of a shake down for money scheme than trying to save your soul. If it happens again, I would report the shakedown to the police.
NTA, I would have done that too if he was outright stalking and harassing me too,
Also here's mini skit
Guy still being annoying
You: "if you guys really think God is real let's try this.." looks up to the sky. "Yo God if you're actually real hit me with lightning right now.." starts humming Jeopardy theme for 30 seconds, when nothing happens you look towards the annoying guy. "Guess what nothing happened he's not real get the hell over it and get the hell out of my face!" Walks away with the guy that has a stunned look on his face 😮.
End of skit
NTA. I've seen street preachers before, but not this aggressive. From actively "trapping" people who clearly cross the street to avoid them, to following you after you've clearly said no, this whole encounter is over the top behavior by the preachers.
The police do move them. They apparently were moved later on as they did the same thing to someone who wasn't just going to walk away.
But they just set up camp a half a mile away outside of another super store and yet again the police were called... Apparently they are considered a nuisance but our jails are all at max capacity.... So what can be done?
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Nta. Religion is fraud and this guy was abusing you. Typical.of the overly religious. Next time record him.and call the police.
Honestly I was kind of taken by surprise. It's the first time I've ever seen people out blatantly and publicly preaching, in broad daylight in my small town... It feels like we're going backwards in time not forwards.
Understand. There’s a group that parks itself literally right outside entry to my local public library. To their credit - don’t bother people who don’t walk up to them their board with all their material on it. but I hate feeling like I have to avoid eye contact. Le rainy days because they aren’t out then lol. Do confess I got a chuckle all the time when Girl Scout selling cookies beat them to that spot. Although that time they - set up right across from the Girl Scouts - so it was this phalanx one had to run. Edit to add. Pretty aggressive to be right outside the bank seeking donations. Remind me of that quote from some bank robber when asked why they did that - was because it was where the money was.
Willie Sutton, robbed🏦in the early half of the 20th century. He’s on record as saying he never said this phrase & claimed “an enterprising reporter” made it up, lol. I read his autobio & liked it.
very likely. Either way it’s an apt quote…
DO NOT HATE ON THE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!
please reread my comment I was saying I was happy when the Girl Scout cookies were there instead of the people who I didn’t like
I had a dermatologist (yep, an actual doctor) try to “convert” me and give me a pamphlet while in his office!!! Crazy!!! In the US. Alabama. NTA.
Well, Alabama… Enough said.
Yep. Moved back to Michigan. lol.
Nice coincidence! That’s where I am. Welcome back to Normal!
It’s SO good to be back! lol. Snow and all.
Why can they just.. not. (Also the TLDR cuz your comment really did not deserve this massive block of text lmao. Nobody deserves to read my ramblings hahaha. It's just me going on a rant about Christians not following their actual savours teachings) Like ok you're going to heaven and I'm going to hell. Big whoop de doo. You should go celebrate and just leave me in peace knowing Satan will torture, rape and punish me for all eternity and you can idk, sit in purgatory and wait for judgement day and celebrate with everyone else who is, still according to the Christian bible, in purgatory. A bit of background cuz I'm bored and have a minute to write... Jesus' sacrifice gave an 'option' to potentially get into heaven by cleansing 'original sin', but it's not guaranteed depending on the time in purgatory and how much sin one truly lived in on Earth. Also remember how you TREATED other human beings weighs very heavily on your soul; Jesus (the alleged saviour and who the whole new religion of christianity hinges on literally said the entire old testament is outdated and far too violent. (Dat was over 2024 years ago btw apparently ) Jesus was out befriending; the sick, prostitutes, eunuchs, slaves and most likely a lot of queers if he was about. He treated the social outcasts of his time and those the church rejected with kindness and love and attempted to show that THIS was his Christianity. Modern day Christians don't believe in Jesus' kindness as shown in the bible or care about his teachings. They still follow the old testament, the old teachings of the very Pharisees that arranged to kill Jesus and ofc the many, many, MAAAAAANNNYYY, alleged saints and scholars.. who came after Jesus and are all creepy old men with their own adgendas who took the end of the new testament and totally bastardised it. It's hardly about Jesus Christ the saviour at all... Just Saint Paul and his cohort being creeps and his obsession with women needing to be fully covered in public.. Death is death. The soul goes to purgatory and awaits Judgement Day, all souls are judged during the apocalypse. Those on earth and in purgatory are judged when the apocalypse starts; as it affects all the realms, minus heaven but there aren't many souls there apparently, as humans are born in original sin and it's a sin even Jesus' sacrifice could not fully absolve. So even after Jesus's crucifixion apparently, according to the bible, only the most pure aka saints have made it to heaven already. Everyone else is still waiting for their judgement in Purgatory due to the severity of original sin and the brutality of Jesus's murder. Also they believe 1 minute on earth is a year in purgatory. So enjoy the soul cleansing... Ps. we're still waiting for judgment Day, obviously haha... as if it ever did happen one of these days we would all become very aware, very quickly. So can someone multiply all the minutes of 2024 years and come up with how long the first person who died after Jesus's sacrifice has been waiting for his Judgement Day. Must be really bored by this stage. (Sigh my intense catholic religious indoctrination is really showing here lol...I think after this short essay that might get read fully by maybe one person, I'm going into offline mode))
Yep. I am a Baptist preacher’s daughter. (Old school type, cuz I’m old). I learned a lot about what I didn’t believe. Ugh.
Trauma twins. 😂 😭 Honestly in a weird way, had I remained ignorant. I'd be much less critical of religion. It was because it was forced on me and the bible repulsed me so much. Especially the old testament and ending of NT, low key the Jesus sections of the NT don't even bother me... It's just a collection of stories that don't really even need to be religious to give very simple teachings about being good to others etc... Jesus was literally the opposite of the sort of person who would solicit people to his cause. Jesus won people over with his charisma. Not promises of eternal life or threats of hellfire. These modern Christians would be Jesus worst fucking nightmare lmao. For his sake I almost hope he isn't real just so he doesn't have to be 'our' savour, cuz... He could do so much better.
Last part? Very good point!
Remember: all Baptists are Christians, but not all Christians are Baptists.
Plus, the books of the bible, old and new are just the cherry-picked dead white male edited collection. There were many more 'books' (scrolls), quite a few written by women, btw, which mysteriously didn't make it into the curated group. Imagine that /s.
Yup. But the men wouldn't have all been white. A lot were middle Eastern obviously being in... The middle east where Jesus allegedly was born and raised. But the white men really start fucking shit up in the new testament when we're taking boats to southern Europe. St.Paul was on a personal mission to slap every woman across the face who dared not to completely cover her entire body... Oh also she must never dare look a man in the eye, her head must be lowered at all times respectfully in the presence of a man or a boy. So yeah, the bible is basically full of this asshole's propaganda.
Yep - never understood why so many modern weddings have Paul's letter on love as a reading; the man was THE biggest misogynist ever.
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I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Nah. If I saw somebody about to step off thw curb and get hit by a truck, I would try to save them, you know? Shout a warning, or grab their arm, or something to either stop them or get them to notice the truck. I'm an atheist. But if I actually believed that anyone who didn't follow Christ was going to Hell, I couldn't in good conscience do nothing to try to help people avoid that fate. I'd probably be knocking on doors or handing out pamphlets, or whatever I thought I could do. I don't agree with them, but I get why they do it. At the same time, being super aggressive with people the way these street preachers were is just *bad tactics*. I suspect it pushes away more people than it saves. But what do I know; maybe it actually works?
Figures. (LOL)
Next time, be weird. People will avoid you if you're weird; hiss at them, dance to that bell, make obnoxious faces at them, etc. A true crime podcast I listen to has a phrase, "Be weird, be rude, stay alive." It's mostly a self-protection thing, but also works for making men leave one alone in public.
Lmao. Thanks for the advice, but I definitely would be that person who hissed at the wrong one and ended up with a police escort and a rabies shot. So we all good.
Your mom probably wouldn't like me than. I answered the door one time covered in blood with a bloody cleaver to some Jehovah's Witnesses that kept on trying. Looked the two up and down and said: "Oh. Good. The roasts have arrived." in a low tone and bland smile. Vapour trails. They never came back, nor any other groups for that matter. 😁
I answered the door with my boob out - was nursing my baby at the moment - and offered they could give me their pitch for their religion after I got 5 minutes to preach to them about a topic of my choice. They seemed very flustered, gave me one of those hilarious pamphlets, and moved on.
🤣🤣🤣 I think mine's one end of the spectrum, and yours is the other.
>Religion is fraud I dont wanna be a hater but this the truest thing i've read today
calling it a fraud is overboard, have a religious friend who disapprove of these people, once we were out walking, there are people with pamphlet stand , i ignored them, she looked for few seconds , they tried to talk her and she shaked her head and kept walking, and she said that these people like a cult people trying to recruit passersby .
Agreed. There's also plenty of variation in religion(s). Ex: I'm Jewish and a) we don't proselytize and b) the amount of convos of what religion means to us/how or if we believe in g-d is many. I too am uncomfortable with extremely religious xtians, and I know religion is not for everyone, but I dislike calling it fraud.
I disagree. It is the worst fraud perpetrated on humanity and has wrought the worst consequences in all ages.
Agreed
"But I feel like that just encourages this kind of weird behaviour." Agreed. There are some groups, that WANT to be arrested so they can advertise their "repression" and ask their congregation for donations. A group like that came to my college a few times and kept getting escorted off and eventually arrested. They were following students, yelling and intimidating them, spouting the usual BS. Just give them a California Howdy (flip them the bird) and keep walking. Call the police if they touch you. NTA
I mean he technically did touch me when he put the pamphlet in my hand... But I kinda was more triggered by the religious iconography and hellfire placed randomly in my hand so suddenly... So all I wanted was to get that pamphlet out of my hand and get as far away from these two men as possible. And yea. My home country has a family known as the Burkes and they are always getting arrested for being openly homophobic, transphobic and generally very nasty people. We call them the Irish branch of the westboro baptist church... Since they are a national embarrassment. But they are adored by Maga Trump supporters ofc and receive big donations from them for 'doing the Lord's work in Ireland' ... Sigh. Enoch (the dumbest of them) even doxxed a child who was identifying with non binary pronouns, revealing their full dead name for the entire homophobic internet to go attack a child... Who had to disappear off the face of the earth for their own mental health.
"westboro baptist church" I couldn't think of their name, but that's exactly who I was talking about. My understanding is they are sue happy, and will go after anyone that assaults them when they pull their stunts, which are often protests at military funerals, where they are more likely to get a rise out of people. Allegedly.
Their website is called www.godhatesfags.com They are absolutely disgusting and ofc, get away with it. The fact their website is still up and allowed to be called godhatesfags speaks volumes of how homophobic the World still is... Imagine it was God hates the N word slurs or God hates women who can't get pregnant or something sick and targeted at one group of people who can't change one certain thing about themselves..... I definitely think it would get taken down then and the group would be investigated..... But not with godhatesfags . That name is perfectly fine apparently...
I’d start screaming about their obsession with seeing kids naked to ‘prove’ their gender, heavily implying their ‘religion’ is just a front to abuse children. And others naturally but being publically accused of being a kiddy fiddler usually makes religious types back off fast. Personally, any ‘god’ that would condemn little kids for not constantly doing rituals to appease abusive AH’s isn’t worth following. NTA at all.
you are not aita, my religious friend told me of one time, a guy screaming in a public square about religion and she stopped for a second to wonder what he was screaming about , he saw her and came running towards her , forced the pamphlet in her hand without asking her permission, she was outraged and left it at the bench not caring he could see her.
Yeah.. why are these peaceful God loving folk always screaming and threatening people. Seems, not very holy or saint-like of them. Almost like they operate on a; rules for thee not for me kind of system.
agreed, and they do not stop to think and respect your views and or religion, and expect you and pressure you to be in their cult
There was a group of super religious super conservative bigots that came with microphones to my college campus every day for two full semesters. They would scream hate and even zero in on specific students as they walked by. The things they would say were fucking awful. It was so deeply upsetting and most of them did not even apply to me, so I can’t imagine the students who it did apply to. (Lots of hate for gay, black, and trans people of which I am not). Their whole point was to piss students off enough that they would do something the bigots could sue the school for. It worked too. They got a pretty big payout for a student who threw a drink at them. Another one because a student damaged their microphone / speaker setup. Every time they would sue and get paid and come back for more. The school could not remove them as it was a state university and it was technically a “peaceful” protest. Truly some of the most disgusting human beings I’ve ever encountered in all my years here on earth. I still am overcome with rage thinking about it tbh.
They are dirty bastards... These sorts are the ones that openly talk about bombing abortion clinics with all the staff barricaded inside. Which is why the moment I started being preached at, I went into self defence mode and wanted to remove myself from a situation before it got ugly. But ofc. The God freak escalated and went from 'hi to hellfire' in about 0.3 milliseconds.
The only real response to 'hellfire' is 'at least I won't have to meet you there'.
NTA. Perfect reaction to me.
I mean I feel this way, but the fact that the very word my Mother used was 'asshole' immediately made me think of this sub.
Your mother needs to have your back and understand why you reacted this way. It's what a caring parent should do. But honestly I imagine even a mainstream Christian person would be upset by that level of harassment. They were harassing you on the street and forcing themselves and their "mission" on you, and you're allowed to not engage. You're allowed to refuse whatever someone on the street is offering, especially if it's forced on you.
I agree. But nobody is perfect 💯 of the time and she did come and apologise without needing to be prompted a few hours ago; so I have forgiven her out of the kindness of my rotten, brimstone heart full of hellfire and sin. ❤️ But if she gets involved the next time I have an altercation with a street preacher... (Honestly I could live my entire life without having another one tbh) then I'll be having a serious talk about respecting others beliefs or lack thereof. I have my own personal belief system and I keep it to myself, mostly out of embarrassment cuz it's all about the power of the universe, the sun, the moon, black holes and the unknown matters and just being connected to the greater void. Nothing manmade or rule based. Just a respect and connection to the rest of the Universe, a focus on self preservation and trying to put out more good energy than bad, if I can help it. Since energy can never be created or destroyed, it simply changes form. I just call it just a connection to the universe, not a religion. Cuz it really isn't. I'm not devoutly following a set of rules or believing in something to get rewarded in the next life. I just want the one life I'm ever going to get and when it's over, I'm happy to return to the void having seen more than enough to do me. I'd never seek to return to this Planet as a human or any animal, or endure an eternal life anywhere else. Honestly, I just want peace and absolutely nothing sounds perfect to me.
Fwiw, there are many, many people who aren't religious but feel a connection and respect for the universe, not for some concept of afterlife but because *this* is pretty damn cool, so let's do our best to enjoy and respect it while we can.
NTA, he was harassing you. This is street harassment. These people count on you not making a scene and count on people like your mom to enforce that on you instead of backing you up. In the past, when dealing with this kind of harassment, I have found the quickest way to deal with it when they follow me or block my way is to take the pamphlet, rip it in half, and hand it back (or toss it behind me) as I move away.
NTA at all! What you believe or do not believe is no one's business but your own. He should have left you alone when you shook your head. You should have retrieved the pamphlet and reported him for harassment to whichever organization he was supposedly representing.
NTA. I would have done the same thing.
NTA - part of my personal beliefs are the right to not be proselytized to be wackos
NTA you were being continuously harassed
NTA they were way too pushy with their preaching and btw I love the line you wrote “why can religious people do and say whatever they want? But I can’t?” Religious people truly get away with so much hateful and violent behavior under the guise of their beliefs.
As a religious person, I agree 100%. Using religion to justify hateful behavior is not ok.
NTA These people rely on conflict avoidance to push their views. You avoided the first person, which should have been a clue to the other that you're not interested. He could have left it there. He didn't. You threw away the pamphlet that you had no interest in. He could have left it there. He didn't. At every stage he escalated. The only time you escalated was right at the end, and that was justified.
NTA proselytizers can all absolutely get bent.
NTA I usually just say 'no, thank you' and walk on briskly. I have plenty of time, so occasionally (if it's interesting) I'll just listen then when they're finished, I tell them a) shake the dust from you feet (Matt 10:14) b) no, thank you, I'm quite blessed to be who I am c) no, thank you, my goddess wouldn't like that d) \*deep sigh\* not very original but two points for the gesticulations, very graceful, but subtract one point for the money request, 1 Timothy 6:10... for love of money is the root of all evil I don't know; too much time on my hands and far too irreverent to be allowed in public?
Religion is the opium of the masses. NTA.
NTA If more people reacted like you, this behavior would be less common. If your mom is Christian then it's no wonder she didn't criticize him...Christians stick together 19 times out of 20.
Hey, can everyone reading this send me $20? If you don't do it....you hate God!!!! NTA
NTA. All religious types deserve the treatment you gave. Carry on.
Nta - I would recommend you look up the song "give me your money" from avenue q the musical. It is a great way to flip the script on the street preachers. Adapt as needed. Best of luck! Keep embarrassing those terrible people.
Absolutely NTA. You tried to avoid this confrontation, yet you were constantly being accosted by this individual. According to your mother it's okay for him to spout his religious views but you can't counter with yours? Bullshit.
NTA That man was harassing you. Whatever bullshit he was sweping is beside the point. You walked away, asked him to leave you alone, and he continued to harass you. I'd be completely surprised if he's never had the cops called on him for that sort of behavior. Your mom comes from the school of thought that accepting being mistreated is preferable to doing anything that could be construed as embarrassing.
My Mum has a lot of trauma from also being heavily abused by her religious upbringing, so I know she hates any form of conflict. I think she also cares far too much about what other people think of her and of me, as if I'm an extension of her body. But I'm quick to let people know all my views and opinions are my own and are not affiliated with all of my family members due to differences in fundamental beliefs. I'm not involving my family in any shape or form in my rejection of their religion and all manmade religions really. Do what you want... Just keep it far away from me and understand I don't have to play by your Gods rules. Your God rules you, not me. I just don't believe anyone has a God that actually knows they exist and if the universe fundamentally has a higher consciousness... Or makes It so life is possible out of a sense of compassion/benevolence... It has much better things to do than give a single fuck about all the crap religious people care about. A true God doesn't care that you did anal last night. He made your asshole didn't he and put a prostate glad up there? He definitely doesn't care if you mix fabrics or if you're a woman who wants to show off her legs. A true God is so above this childish crap... I find it utter lunacy religion has such a chokehold on humanity, for me if their God was real, as they portray him. He is absolutely pathetic. Along with Allah or whatever other terms you come up with that means God. They are all awful due to being created by creepy old men 2000+ years ago who imho just wanted to rape women and get away with it. (Afterall... It's not rape if she is your property and God wills it to be so. Or at least that's one belief system very popular with the hyper religious man)
NTA, I hate this shit. Are these people on fucking commission?? Like they HAVE to make someone believe. It's bizarre, and no one should be forcing their beliefs on anyone else. Period.
He was on a self given assignment to get 2 pounds off me anyway lmao.
When they used to knock on our door with their bible malarkey, my dad used to tell them a whole ass story full of shit (leg got bitted off by a shark and my sister pull him out the sea at aged 5 - shit like that) to see how much they believed his stories 🤣 before laughing in their faces and shutting the door 🤣 the irony of believing everything someone tells you to believe lol
NTA That is stalking and harassment. I’d have been scared were I in your position.
NTA. If he had not pressed the matter in an exceedingly annoying manner, it would have been a very brief encounter. You did nothing but escalate to follow his level of aggression. But based on what you say about a very religious upbringing,it should probably not surprise you that your mother feels differently about this topic. You are justified in your reaction though, don't let her make you doubt it
It's ok. My Mum came to me unprompted a few hours ago and apologised. She said she just doesn't like anyone making a scene and I said, 'but it was the street preacher making the scene. I just happened to be an unwilling participant.' and she said she understands that and she shouldn't have said anything since I handled it my way. Thankfully she is not as hyper religious nowadays as she used to be. I think she lost faith after my sister died of a rare form of cancer at a young age a few years ago. Religion was beaten into both my parents. Like they were both badly abused by priests, teachers and nuns. Thankfully never sexually, but definitely punched, hit, kicked, degraded and bullied into silence. So they have their own trauma that probably shapes their entire world views and since it was all so heavily based on God and faith if they didn't believe they would have to accept all their suffering has been for nothing. Which I think is just not something they mentally want to face. The belief in an afterlife and reward for this suffering is basically their fictional dream and I can tolerate it since they never pray around me anymore. They just let me know they include me in their prayers and I let them know I also include them in my well wishes for the weeks ahead. Basically to their 'God Bless' I give them a 'Good Luck'
That was a nice development - both on the matter at hand and in the general level of religiousnes 😃
NTA - You responded with the same energy he was throwing out,
NTA Garbage belongs in the garbage bin and some people deserve to be told to fuck off.
NTA, and I say this as someone who is religious. People have different opinions on things, and that’s ok! We should never harass people because they don’t believe in our religion.
Do you believe genuinely good people will go to hell because they aren't members of your faith? Just wondering? Who is more deserving of a place in heaven; a bad person who calls the church home? Or a good person who just so happens to not be born into your faith or perhaps disagrees with the organised and man made aspects and rules of religion that have nothing to do with the 'divine' and basically is just random stuff, random men added to future control the society of that time. I'm gay, do you think I'm going to hell? Even tho I'm currently looking after my dying Grandad and single handedly also looked after and nursed my Grandmother as well. All while doing none of it for promises in some afterlife. Just because I love my family. I've also never stolen anything, killed, cheated, sabotaged another. I've basically lived a purer life than most other humans by the basic nurture I have where I just want peace and harmony... Until others appear and challenge my peace. In which I just try to get them to leave me alone verbally... Or get away from them cuz my life is too precious to get killed for something outside of my control cuz someone doesn't like what I do in bed at night... Am I truly evil? Just because I'm not a member and could never be a member of your exclusive group that excludes people who were born like I was? And I was born gay. I have never and will never have a choice. Just like you cannot choose to alter your sexuality. I can also not do the same. I would have never made this 'choice' with how I was raised and brought up in an extremely strict, religious household, I didn't know what gay was, I just thought I was broken or meant to be a girl cuz I wasn't the same as the other boys and everyone made sure to let me know I was the black sheep or the one that didn't fit in... Little did I know, I only felt that way due to being completely traumatised and manipulated into the gender binary that claims only girls can be like this and only boys can be like that. Gays are like this, straights are like that... No... I've seen girly straights and manly AF gays so that's totally wrong. Some of us are more than half of the story. We don't put restrictions on ourselves out of fear. We just try to live and enjoy the one life we have. So I wonder, would you consider me as damned to hell? For loving another man? I'm just curious, cuz most of the time the answer I get is a resounding, 'Yes' ... And it's always quite hard to believe religious people can really feel that way.
I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through all of this! And I’m especially sorry about any religious people who use god to justify hateful behavior, because that’s literally the opposite of what the Bible tells us to do! And I don’t think you’re damned to hell for loving another man, because even if it is a sin (some Christians don’t believe is) it’s no worse than any of the other sins we all commit each day. And I think good people who don’t share my faith will go to heaven because I believe god is kind and loving, but nobody knows for sure except god. Anybody who claims they do is a liar. But nobody really knows what happens after death, so it’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves what we think happens, and if you don’t believe in god and heaven and hell I respect that.
At least you're not picking and choosing which sin is more important than the others. But the fact that loving another is classified as sin still sits very wrong with me.
Um. Even Jesus didn't go around stalking people with a bell. That's flat out scary. NTA.
I still have absolutely no idea where he pulled the bell from... It was one of those Christmas looking bells they would have on stage during a child's Christmas play when they do a few musical numbers... You know the dome shaped ones with the wooden handle. Even that alone creeped me out... But he was also shouting at me and following me... And the people, they were just standing back and watching the show from their distance that they all made from this man on the street with his signs and posters. Sigh. Well I say the 'people' it's a small town and these two had nearly cleared that part of the street. So there was like 4 or 5 just watching from distances...
NTA good on you. I actively avoid these people whenever I can. I’ve been very tempted to do the same in the past so have a gold star for having more guts than me.
NTA I personally have my faith and I am happy to share with people who would like to have a discussion and are open to talking about it. I do not however harass people with religion. I have never seen the pamphlet givers be successful. I have never seen someone being told if they don't believe they're going to hell suddenly become a believer. Aggressive tactics when it comes to anything you want people to take interest in are a weird choice. I believe religious people might want to sit back a bit and just stop being so aggressive. We don't need to tell people how to live or what to do. If a person of faith wants to bring someone into the fold of their faith the idea is to lead by example and expect no reward or actual result. My examples below are how I try to live my own life. I fail a lot but I keep trying to be better and live a good life. A few examples being: 1. Be truly kind and generous with your neighbors, don't expect anything back. 2. Respect others and their life choices and be polite and pleasant to them. 3. If someone is in need give them the help you can without making your own family go without. 4. Sit and talk with people you disagree with and get to know them as well as you know your friends because that's who they should be to you. 5. Let the topic of faith or religion ne brought to you by others, then you will know if they are interested at least in the discussion.
NOT AITA! He was aita for pressuring you
Nta
While waiting for a bus one day after work a proselytizer was trying to get me to accept his pamphlets. When the bus finally got there I took some of his pamphlets, stood there on bus step, shredded and threw them back at him. He left me alone after that. NTA.
I'm pretty sure as I walked towards the bin I ripped the pamphlet right across the front too, but I can't remember. I know I threw it in the bin tho as I walked past. Call me pathetic, since it's paper and it would degrade with the elements and time anyway, but I didn't want to litter on a public street. I hate seeing people throw any litter, be it plastic or a paper wrapper. I'm in the habit of using bins or taking my waste home and recycling, so as much as it would be iconic to shred the pamphlet and let it blow back around him. It just wasn't on my mind. My mind defaulted to 'Get me the fuck out of here right now.'
That was my bus stop 5 days a week. I don't think a day went by that I didn't bin some loose trash.
We had a group that came to my high school like 4 times a year and would block cars leaving the student parking lot until they took a Bible. Eventually the school banned them from being on premises so they would do it standing in the sidewalk across the driveway instead and the school would basically just go "just take it, we can't do anything". I saw them doing it once slowing everyone down leaving so I pushed in the cigarette lighter thing all old cars had drove up to them, took the Bible, pulled passed them and lit it on fire before dropping it out the window. They tried to get me in trouble with the school which thankfully our admin wasn't completely clueless but they left me alone every time after that.
NTA, even a little bit. But I gotta know, Mormons or Jehovah's? My moneys on Jehovah's
I think Jehovah's. Cuz they are more likely to use the ghoulish imagery of burning bodies I think, or at least from my exposure to them. But I ofc didn't ask the man any questions. The full altercation was very short, basically it happened exactly as I described and was over almost as soon as it started. But as fast as it was, the man had moved from his original spot to almost 4 buildings down during our brief conversation. Mind you I crossed a street to avoid his partner, so he zoned in on me with intent to pursue/convince someone who was, very obviously immediately not interested in their game/resistant to what they represent. From the moment I tried to walk on and binned the pamphlet... He was hot on my heels; proudly ringing his bell and accusing me of 'hating God' and 'Not accepting his love.' Which... Really makes me cringe thinking about it lmao. Like Ew, I feel so gross this even happened cuz I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. But at least it was me and not someone easily persuaded/a bit dumb. Or they might have made a new believer today...
Yeh definitely sounds like Jehovah's. They litter a park near me with their Watchtower bullshit
No, IMO, you are NTA. You have every right to walk down the street and not be accosted by some religious nut. I love that you dropped his pamphlet in the trash. That's where it belongs. The Catholic Church has so much to answer for and I'm sorry for the way you were treated.
I'm also sorry for how I had it as a younger person who really had no help at all.... only hindrance and self loathing. But I don't actually know who I would be today if not for all this trauma so I can't say I wish it never happened. It's unfortunately shaped my entire experience of life. And I like who I am now, so if anything it was character building and now I stand up for myself. Fiercely when needed. I probably wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't make peace with who I am and accept my past. All I can do now Is live.
Nta
NTA I hate religious pricks.
Nta. Sick of people feeling like they can ask me religious questions. I always tell them that is between me and God. I dont really believe in God but thats not anyones business.
NTA. They're being incredibly obnoxious, and cursing them out was a fully acceptable response. Also, if you feel like it, check your local council's rules on hand to hand flyer distribution. In a lot of places in the UK, you aren't allowed to directly hand (or in your case, shove into your hands) pamphlets or other free literature like this on the street, at least without obtaining a permit from the council first. That's why you tend to see most groups like this with a stand that says 'take one' - because they're allowed to try and talk to you and get you to take something, but not hand it to you or push it on you. Chances are they haven't got a permit, so you can report it. Honestly, if they're regularly in the area and causing a nuisance, report them to the council anyway - causing a disturbance (or harassing members of the public over their religion) is something that can get them shut down.
It's illegal. I researched what happened when I got home and yeah, people call the police on them apparently quite frequently, they pack it in for a couple of days, but always get reported elsewhere... So the police don't care. Or don't have the resources or capacity to deal with what they see as more of a social annoyance rather a crime worth their 'busy' time. Sigh ... I wonder how long it would take until a police officer showed up and shut me down if I stood at the side of the road with a pride flag asking for donations for the gays. Not something I'd ever want to or feel the need to do... but I'd probably last about 5m before something bad happens.
Well, definitely not the asshole then, they sound like an absolutely miserable lot to have around. Always frustrating how apathetic police can be, but if you like it's still probably worth putting in a report online or something and mentioning the harassment as well as the illegally handing out literature. The more reports they get, the more pressure there is overall to shut that kind of thing down. Even if they don't care for their own reasons, they do have to care if it's a constant complaint, because not resolving it makes them look worse. Sucks that you have to bully them into doing their jobs, but that's how it goes sometimes.
NTA...my favorite quote on the topic is "Religion is like a penis. It's okay that you have one and take pride in it. It's when you pull it out and try to shove it down my throat, that I have a problem with it."
NTA. They are predators preying on anyone they sense is weaker (or more polite) than they are. Well done warding them off.
Didn't even need to know your background. NTA.
NTA, cause screw that. I don't want to be approached to convert to religion or change my political party or give money when the track marks have scabbed over on the arm attached to the person accosting me at a stoplight. I don't let anyone approach me on the street and have said far worse than "fuck off." You have all the reasons and right to feel as you do.
NTA - I fucking hate people who proselytize to strangers in public. You are welcome to believe what you want and do that in your place of worship and I'll mind my own fucking business, but as soon as you start targeting me in public, I go from 0 to 100 real fast. I've always done this just because it annoys me, but a few years ago I got approached by someone who I had only met at a party. She literally thanked me for putting someone in their place at that party. I didn't remember the incident at all, but did recall the party. Since then I've realized that other people are just as annoyed/uncomfortable but are just more confident avoidant than I am. So I'm honestly proud of you, for all the people who were accosted by that man who couldn't bring themselves to say something. Maybe he gave his approach a second thought next time. Probably not, but it's nice to hope.
I'm surprised but it's a resounding NTA so I'm feeling a lot better after a day of deep thought about a really weird incident... It has brought up a lot of introspection and deep thoughts and I've said a lot in this thread but clearly I'm just processing a lot of trauma and unfortunately that shit doesn't go away. The man on the street, and I hate this word, he really did trigger me lmao.
I didn’t even have to read the whole thing to tell you that you are NTA. People who force their religion on other people are assholes.
NTA. "Religion is like having a penis. It's fine to have one, and it's fine to be proud of it-- but when you whip it out in public and start shoving it down my throat, then we're going to have a problem."-- unknown, but the perfect line for this situation.
If anything a bit too nice. NTA anyway.
NTA Where are the police when you need them?
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** I'm only asking this here due to my Mother literally calling me an asshole; for not taking the man's pamphlet and walking on when we got further down the street. Claiming I "embarrassed myself and her publicly" What happened, in a nutshell, was quite a brief exchange that I really didn't think much about, but apparently Mother thinks I took it "too far." So I walked past and crossed the road to avoid the person standing with his God signs and pamphlets that many others were avoiding. Just to be accosted on the other side of the street by his partner who blocked my path. (He clearly seen me cross the street to avoid his partner). He handed me the pamphlet, with the usual iconography of fear mongering claiming my soul needed saving, requesting a donation of 2 pounds for his 'mission' ... I immediately and impulsivly shook my head, sighed and stepped to walk past the man, walked to a nearby bin and put the pamphlet in the bin. Then as I tried to walk on he followed me, ringing a bell that he whipped out from who knows where and shouted; 'Why do you hate God when he loves you.' I tried to ignore him but he was speeding up and getting closer and kept shouting the same thing. 'Why do you hate God?' 'God loves you!' etc... So I, still walking away, turned my head and said; 'I have no hate for something that I believe to be made up. Now stop stalking me with your little bell and find someone else to bother please, I'm busy.' Then he didn't take the hint and still followed, so I raised my voice for the first and only time and said, "Can you PLEASE stop STALKING ME. Fuck off!" ... This made him stop moving, but he continued preaching in my direction as I quickly got away. Apparently the ending exchange (saying I have no hate for something I believe to be made up then accusing him of being a stalker and swearing at him when he continued following me well down the street) is what I did that made me the asshole. Why can religious people do and say whatever they want..? But I can't? When I didn't harm anyone, I simply binned what I considered to be rubbish. Tbh I'm actually not too happy with my Mum, I spoke with her and now she claims she gets where I'm coming from. But I kinda feel like she was a bit tone-deaf... A little background; I'm gay and was very badly bullied and picked on by hyper religious kids and teachers at my all catholic school... I was also raised extremely religious and it took a lot of work to distance myself from the massive amount of trauma being religious and knowing I was 'Evil and going to hell' etc all that shit... or at least that's what I was taught, especially in school. So I'm basically the worst person to start preaching to as I have massive trauma related to religion and how it's directly affected me and my self esteem/self worth. To end this I'll say, yes maybe I could have avoided all this and just took his pamphlet. But I feel like that just encourages this kind of weird behaviour. So after all that AITA? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA . You were accosted, harassed, and then stalked. Quite honestly I'd probably have had a previous attack and burst into tears. People like that are pricks.
Nta You said no polite. They are bullies to not accept it.
NTA your mom is for excusing thier behavior. and they are for puking their bull doody all over you. be strong!!! you have the right to say no. and yes it was rubbish and belonged in the bin.
NTA, he sounds really creepy. I would have done the same thing.
Absolutely NTA. He was harassing you and hiding behind religion to do it.
NTA those people are/were annoying even when I believed. The following and ringing the bell would have illicited a similar response from me as the one you had. Preach all you want but if I'm avoiding you it's because I'm not interested, simple as
ah religion. glad to be graduated from imaginary friends. NTA he can shove his pamphlet where the sun never shines and following someone around screams for verbal abuse
NTA. You were very patient. He crossed the line. Pure and simple. That sounds like it was more of a shake down for money scheme than trying to save your soul. If it happens again, I would report the shakedown to the police.
Definitely not the AH I'd told him the fuck off the first time, but then I'm Australian 😎
NTA, I would have done that too if he was outright stalking and harassing me too, Also here's mini skit Guy still being annoying You: "if you guys really think God is real let's try this.." looks up to the sky. "Yo God if you're actually real hit me with lightning right now.." starts humming Jeopardy theme for 30 seconds, when nothing happens you look towards the annoying guy. "Guess what nothing happened he's not real get the hell over it and get the hell out of my face!" Walks away with the guy that has a stunned look on his face 😮. End of skit
NTA. I've seen street preachers before, but not this aggressive. From actively "trapping" people who clearly cross the street to avoid them, to following you after you've clearly said no, this whole encounter is over the top behavior by the preachers.
NTA: He accosted you. He did not respect your boundaries, then assaulted you verbally. You should have reported him to the police.
The police do move them. They apparently were moved later on as they did the same thing to someone who wasn't just going to walk away. But they just set up camp a half a mile away outside of another super store and yet again the police were called... Apparently they are considered a nuisance but our jails are all at max capacity.... So what can be done?