Ok, here it is, I want to know what you guys think. I don't want this thread to be a bashing of religion, just what you think about people preaching on the street.

I live in a fairly large city (1 million people, with about an extra 2 million or so in surrounding areas), so the city center is always fairly busy. On the main street you often can't walk down without seeing a preacher or two trying to convert people to some religion because of this. Usually I just ignore them and walk past, or if one approaches me I say no thankyou and continue walking.

But today I was walking down the street with my friend, when I get a phone call. So we both stop at the side of the street and I answer the phone, it was a pretty important call. All of a sudden a preacher approaches us. He asks my friend if he believes in god. My friend (rather politely btw) says no. The preacher reacted very badly, he started yelling how "the king is coming" and how "Sinners like us will have nothing to show for our lives and we will go to hell". I had to end the call abruptly because this guy is hassling my friend. Then me and my friend walked away quite quickly. I was shocked at how badly this man reacted.

This is the second time I've felt fairly harassed walking down the same street. The first time was about 4 years ago when I was a little younger and hadn't learned to deal with it. A Krishna (I think) came up to me and shoved incense sticks in my hand (as a gift!) and asked for a donation. I gave him a few pence, and he told me that it didn't even cover the cost of the sticks and asked for more. I told him I wasn't buying them, he gave them to me. In the end I gave him a pound to make him happy.

I know this happens rarely (I mean it's only happened to me twice in four years), but it is really quite worrying. Don't get me wrong, I think most are harmless, they stand in one place, read verses and you can just ignore them as you walk past if you want. But sometimes it can get a little odd like this. What do you think?

I haven't ever even heard of this practise, just doesn't happen around here, I almost wished it did, as I love getting aggy with these types of people.

Maybe it's just something that happens in the north

You know, this is a sterling example of what Jesus would NOT do. He wasn't pushy, brash and kept things in check.

I did missionary work back in the day and can tell you this - I did not shove the Gospel down people's throats. I don't think harassing people is the way to win folks over. Look at ambassadors to countries. They are on their best behavior, as they are the representatives of their said country while they are abroad. Christians are no different.

It's unbelievable how far off-base people are who claim to be followers of Christ.

Preaching on the street is one thing. I have seen people doing that and you have the choice of walking past them, stopping to enjoy their preaching or just ignoring them altogether. But when a person harasses you or screams, not cool.

The majority of religions state that
A: they claim exclusivity towards the truth
B: non believers will rot in hell for all eternity
C: it is their moral imperative to save nonbelievers from that fate.

So from a religious point of view it is unrealistic to expect those preachers to act any differently. But from a humanistic moral point of view, it does indeed raise questions about the founding documents to which those people follow.

I'd say the best response to forceful street preachers would be to decline and state your own thoughts on religion(whatever they might be)

Exactly.

Shouting at someone isn't going to convince them. It will just push them away. I would rather give my time to someone who approached me and asked "would you like to hear about this religion?", instead of someone telling me about sinners and hell.

I would imagine that Christ would rather have you gain more followers by setting a good example and influencing people in a positive way, as opposed to shouting at them in the street. It seems logical to do it that way too, it wouldn't drive people away.

Fire and brimstone preachers are a dying breed.

Why am I not surprised?

I'm not gonna get back into this, but Birmingham is not in the North, it is in the middle, if anything it is more Southern lol.

It's not Essex/Kent/London, so it's north.