Ignore them until they go away, or shout that I'm not allowed to answer the door.

When I had gerbils as pets, I used to take their literature, say thank you but I'm in a hurry, then go give the gerbils the literature to chew up.

I will be polite in telling them "No Thank You" but I do have a patience limit when they keep insisting. I ran into that recently with two females who would not stop. That is until I open the door fully, I was standing behind the door with a tshirt and boxers on, and stressed I had better things to do than keep trying to be polite and while I needed to finish getting dressed. They were embarrassed then and left.

I don't answer the door if I'm not expecting someone. My people know to call or text me if they're coming over, so unless I've ordered a pizza, random doorbell rings go unacknowledged.

It depends - with JW is essentially impossible to talk. They are indoctrinated to the level of psychosis.
Yet the Mormons are generally nice - actually I see them, talk them and discuss with them pretty often.
And generally I am pretty opened for a religious discussion.

I'll talk till they drop

When a team of proselyters comes to my door I am friendly but firm and I tell them I am not interested in discussing religion with them. I live in a small town, work closely with members of the christian community and I am friends with some of them. Most people around here know how I feel. They show up maybe once a year and I am not overly bothered by the visit. What does bother me is a group from the Pentecostal church who stands down at the corner with a bull horn, preaching. They bring the children holding signs and put them on display. I literally have to roll my passenger side window up so I do not get blasted in the ear.

Congrats you don a fine job proofing to people that we are just humans but don' take there bullshit

I break out my Bible and welcome them in. It largely goes as you describe. They NEVER return.

Most of them say that errors from the old testament don`t count. So I ask them "did the last supper happen before or after the Passover"? Mathew says one thing Luke says another.

I tell them that I am offended they think I haven't thought about these things just as hard as they have. I am a scientific skeptic, I tell them, and I can't find a shred of evidence for their beliefs. When they start to talk about the bible (inevitably they do), I just laugh and tell them to go read the ancient Babylonian mythology, from which the bible was rather poorly plagerized. ....sometimes I'm nicer than that. But it gets OLD, to have someone knock on my door and tell me they know something I don't.

I open the door.

I find out what they want.

I close the door.

Done.

I used to be a Jehova's witness and this was the part I hated the most about it all the whole door to door thing.. Now a days even though I don't care for door knockers I try to be polite.. Now typically I work a night shift so if they come in the morning I tell em to bring coffee and if they can't do that well they've gota deal with me talking with them naked.In general I enjoy the challenge to my belief structure.

I have done something similar back in the days I wanted to defame them, I would invite them in and explain about my position, I prayed they would reach my door this day and since god sent them, they came in. I told them about satan and then ran out of time. Now I smile and say no thank you but I do appreciate them thinking of me, What the hell, they will never understand reality until it hits them square in the face

I am cordial, telling them I will listen to what they have to say as long as they will listen to what I have to say.

I have never had it happen in California. When I was in the Navy stationed in Bremerton Washington we had a couple stop by. This was a party house where several young squids lived. We had a keggarator and metal was always on the stereo. We would just invite them in for a beer. I think one of my roommates almost convinced a Mormon kid to enlist!

Answer the door, inappropriately clad, speaking as if mentally compromised, and launch into my best fervent evangelical diatribe, pontificating on the meta-physical certainty of the random Bovine Scatology that is present in my mind.

I tell them that I am appalled by their beliefs,-especially Jehovahs witnesses- I tell them their reluctance to give a sick or injured child a blood transfusion is despicable.Then I say goodbye and close the door.

I've run the gamut from debating them, pretending to sacrifice one of my pet chickens to Satan in front of them, to waving through the window and refusing to open the door. To be determined which is the best technique.

I lived in a small town in Iowa that was very Catholic. One day we had Mormons show up. I was in my kitchen cooking when I saw them walking up the street. My ex was in the living room with our two year old. All the windows were open, the front door was open but the screen was locked. I yelled, "The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!" They had to have heard me yell, but when they knocked, we didn't answer. We had four wiener dogs at the time and they were at the door losing their minds. They knocked again because we were obviously home, but we didn't answer. My daughter like like, door? I was like shhhh.

Now one time I had someone knock at my door in the town I live in now, I opened the door and saw an older gentleman with a bible, I looked at the bible, looked at him and said, "Hell no." and shut the door in their face.

Well we won't answer the door. We also printed signs out and placed them on the door,no solicitations of any kind including religion.

I usually just say no thank you, or that I'm not interested and shut/lock the door. Sometimes I'll say that I'm atheist. There used to be an elderly couple (when I was 18/19) that must have had me on their list, but I haven't had door-knockers in a couple of years. If I feel like, I'd engage in conversation, but not be rude or get heated. I volunteered as a campaign canvasser from local, governor, and presidential races, so I know how door knocking can be. I actually don't do it anymore (but that's a different topic). Anyways, my advice is either not engage or keep it short and simply, but be friendly (or atleast decent!)

Here's a couple signs that also work:

"If you can read this, you are in range" Or this one..............
"The residents of this house charge $50/minute to listen to Salesmen, Religious people, or politicians. By ringing this bell you agree to those terms"

Answer the door naked... works every time.

So my doorbell rings and I answer it and there's these two well-groomed too-young-for-me women there. Obviously missionaries.

Missionary 1: "Hi! We'd like to invite you and your family to come to our church's Easter celebration. There's a big musical stage production, it's very impressive to see."

Me: "Oh, that sounds cool. Do I have to believe in God to go?"

[Pause.]

Missionary 2: "No! No, you don't. You could come and just enjoy the show. Like she said, it's a very good production, our stage manager used to work on Broadway."

Me: [Smiling.] "You girls are all right. I'll take your flyer, and maybe you'll see me there. Have a nice day now."

The flyer went straight in the trash after they left, of course, but I appreciated that Missionary #2 was playing heads-up ball and engaged with my question.