Got stopped in Walmart today again by a local church... Salesman? Enthusiast? Recruiter? Anyway, I never have the heart to shoot them down by saying "Boy, are YOU barking up the wrong tree!" They're always so nice so I just play along and act mildly interested. Simultaneously I wind up feeling like a fraud without feeling like an asshole.
Tell him you have met Jesus, and he should come have dinner with you. 5:30, when Jesus gets off from his landscaping job.
Yes, just stop them in their tracks....and tell them you are an atheist, it usually stops them midstream and renders them speechless ! I am an old hand at it, it works every time.
You're different from me. I just don't care.
I act bored, mumble, "Um-hum, that's nice," then immediately leave/shut the door/hang up, etc.
I am brusque but with a smile. "Sorry, I've got my own religion" I say. "I'm good." And turn/walk away/close the door.
I feel you. I often feel tongue-tied when it comes up, even when I have no reason to think the person would be hoste.
I'm kind of an asshole. I never fake interest. I'll either argue against their faith or, more frequently, tell them flat out I'm atheist. If they want to try and "save" me at that point, I'll usually give them a few mins to make their pitch so they can report back to their masters that they at least tried to convert a heathen.
Being polite is not necessarily being a fraud. I used to go to, and liked, the Unitarian Universalist Society or some use Church, etc. Very welcoming group from agnostics to atheists to liberal believers. So, I usually admit to such people that my family are Unitarians, and most haven't a clue. Jehovah's witnesses are the funniest because they will ask for some explanation, so I say they started as non Trinitarians, to which they suddenly get excited like we are long lost cousins. Too which I reply not quite and move on.
"I'm an atheist," I say firmly and walk away.
I'm with her.