Im looking at you, Mormons

Atheists strike back.

That is so awesome. I grew up in Brooklyn Heights and we were constantly bothered by Jehova's Witnesses at all times of the day. I would have loved to ring their bell at 8 in the morning to bug the shit out of them!

Do the Mormons go door-to-door? I know the JW's do, but I didn't think Mormons did this.

There's an 8-part documentary to go with this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Safran_vs_God
http://www.craigmelville.com/JSVG/Opening_Titles.html

As an interesting aside, I lived in a small rural town in Japan for two years, and imagine my surprise when I received a knock on my door, and sure enough, there were two Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses at my door trying to spread the faith. Luckily for me, they were even more shocked to see me, and pretty much left me alone. That was really surreal, though.

escap wrote: As an interesting aside, I lived in a small rural town in Japan for two years, and imagine my surprise when I received a knock on my door, and sure enough, there were two Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses at my door trying to spread the faith. Luckily for me, they were even more shocked to see me, and pretty much left me alone. That was really surreal, though.

:shock:
That is surreal!

You totally should have invited them in and tried to convert them to Shinto.

When it comes to door knockers, I've always been a big fan of the "Just a minute... Honey, there's a couple at the door. Did we find a pair of virgins for tonight's sacrifice yet? Yes?... No sorry, we're not interested today, we're Satanists. Please come back another time." defence.

Carnivore wrote: You totally should have invited them in and tried to convert them to Shinto.

Hahahaha, that is hilarious! Definitely should have done that.

Mormons do, indeed, go door to door, at least back in California. Generally they travel in pairs, generally in either a sensible compact car or on bicycles.

DeWalt_Russ wrote: Mormons do, indeed, go door to door, at least back in California. Generally they travel in pairs, generally in either a sensible compact car or on bicycles.

my california great-aunt makes a habit of offering them a nice cold gin and tonic on a hot afternoon.

apollonia666 wrote: Do the Mormons go door-to-door? I know the JW's do, but I didn't think Mormons did this.

Funny thing about the Mormons. I guess I started seeing them in Brooklyn about 2000. But I only ever saw them in black neighborhoods. It seemed like they targeted the worst neighborhoods and would send two of the freshest straight off the farm Utes out to spread the word.They used to have a pretty regular route through Bed-Stuy. I also would see them pretty regularly in Brownsville and East New York.

sweet tea wrote:
my california great-aunt makes a habit of offering them a nice cold gin and tonic on a hot afternoon.

Remind me to knock on you're aunt's door next time I'm in California.

All my Mormon relatives (ack ack) went on missions when they became young men, like 18 or 19. They go for two years. Many of them learn a foreign language and get shipped overseas. One of my cousins went to Guam. One went to Eastern Europe somewhere, of all places. Oh, and one went to Canada. Eh? That can be kinda foreign, can't it?

Growing up in AZ we had missionaries knocking our door weekly, despite the fact that my mom had been excommunicated from the church after her first divorce. They were always polite and friendly, and she was too much of a softy to tell them to fuck off. She would let them in and give them refreshments and chat for an hour, provided that they agreed to not discuss the church or god. 99% agreed to this, the other 1% got the boot. Eventually, after like ten years of this, they stopped coming. I don't understand why she kept it up that long, and as she is dead now, I can't ask her. I suspect that it had to do with reconnecting to her roots.

In any case, I haven't seen _any_ in Crown Heights. But I _have_ had some of those freaky Jewish dudes come up to me and ask if was Jewish and did I want to pray with them or some shit. WTF? I'm white so I must be Jewish??? I don't get that at all. At least they are friendly, I guess. Not at all insular like The Chosen. I must be running into the missionary types, though. Because I have certainly run into plenty of the insular types too.

DeWalt_Russ wrote: Mormons do, indeed, go door to door, at least back in California. Generally they travel in pairs, generally in either a sensible compact car or on bicycles.

Ah, yes. My first two college roommates were CA Mormons. One was ok, not overly zealous, but the other one, whew! She would stick her head out the window (literally) if you even mentioned science in the same room with her. And now she lives in Williamsburg... :shock: She's a hip mormon, I guess.

Oh, and my great great (great?) uncle was on the Carthage, IL police force, and was off playing softball with the rest of the force on a certain day in 1844 :twisted: Ooops!

daver wrote:

Growing up in AZ we had missionaries knocking our door weekly, despite the fact that my mom had been excommunicated from the church after her first divorce. They were always polite and friendly, and she was too much of a softy to tell them to fuck off. She would let them in and give them refreshments and chat for an hour, provided that they agreed to not discuss the church or god. 99% agreed to this, the other 1% got the boot. Eventually, after like ten years of this, they stopped coming. I don't understand why she kept it up that long, and as she is dead now, I can't ask her. I suspect that it had to do with reconnecting to her roots.

my mom got to be friends with our regular JW visitor in nc, too, even though we'd never been anything but episcopalians. she'd come by every month or so with the new watchtower and awake, and hang out in our living room for an hour or two, just chatting. she was really nice, and i even remember her bringing her son by to meet us. the only religious thing i remember them talking about was finding a surgeon to do some operation without doing a blood transfusion. (my mother is a doctor.) consequently, and much the shock of the gf, i have very good associations with JW doorknockers.

In any case, I haven't seen _any_ in Crown Heights. But I _have_ had some of those freaky Jewish dudes come up to me and ask if was Jewish and did I want to pray with them or some shit. WTF? I'm white so I must be Jewish??? I don't get that at all. At least they are friendly, I guess. Not at all insular like The Chosen. I must be running into the missionary types, though. Because I have certainly run into plenty of the insular types too.

those are the lubavitchers, who are different from either of the groups in the chosen, and have an unusually evangelical practice -- though limited to returning secular or too-modern jews to the fold. the gf's dad works at a tiny college in a tiny mid-michigan town, with one jew from brooklyn. one day, a lubavitcher showed up in gary's classroom, having come all that way after the one lost sheep (to mix religious metaphors). he brought jelly doughnuts.

A lost biblical feature from the archives of Cecil B. DeMille

From the same archive.

Back in Minnsota two Mormons cornered me when i was scraping my windshield. They were on both sides of the car. I screamed and ran into the house where I hid until they left.

My favorite JW encounter was after a long night of partying, they rang the doorbell at 8 am and I went down wearing a wifebeater and booty shorts, opened the door obviously hungover, smoking a cigarette and they just sort of nodded and walked away.

erikka wrote:

My favorite JW encounter was after a long night of partying, they rang the doorbell at 8 am and I went down wearing a wifebeater and booty shorts, opened the door obviously hungover, smoking a cigarette and they just sort of nodded and walked away.

Wow. That's bad when even they think you're a lost cause.