I think, most sincerely, that the Professional Pedlars of Religion ( Priests, etc,) instill into and continuously re-enforce the ideology that " Everyone MUST be exactly the same as their followers", i.e. the members of the congregation/tribe and such an ideology becomes so deeply embedded that it IS the only thing that is always upon their minds.
Hence it is akin to the 'Judas Goat' used often by Sheep Farmers to get every sheep to follow along meekly to either be shorn or slaughtered.

Keen insight that I never heard expressed this well. I may print it out and have a few copies around to swap for the next Watchtower, accepting the brochure in exchange for a promise they will read it.

Never thought of it that way, but it seems to be spot on. The process works in areas outside of religion, too.

Interesting. And at least partially accurate. I have always questioned things more than most people are comfortable with... including questioning why my questioning makes them so uncomfortable if their true purpose is to help me "see". Yeah, those questions, be they about religion, science, math, or biology all get met with similar resistance when I push for more. I have much more respect for a person who, when questioned to the end of their understanding, can just honestly say "I don't know". But, that is a rare phrase. My problem with "witnessing", even back when I was steeped in their soup, is that no one can "witness" to what they can not verify. If the Christian Bible and all its writings vanished today, there would be almost nothing tangible or verifiable to support the existence and authenticity of Chrst, God, Christianity or Jewish. Everything would be based almost solely on one's "belief" or faith. But, they still press, and talk sweetly about how I can't understand without faith. So I get looked down on. Because I insist on something more verifiable and duplicatable than faith. I've got some really awesome friends who are Christians. In fact, some of the most awesome people I have ever known are. Then again, some of the most vile, awful and repulsive people I have ever known are also Christians. And both sides allegedly read the same Bible. So they have much dysfunction to resolve before most true thinkers can take them seriously. That's why people "witnessing" to me is so irritating.

Seems reasonable to me.

Yup, building solidarity within the group and group loyalty.

Great insight. It never occurred to my during my own days of indoctrination that was what it was really about.

I do not resent them. I just do not want to waste what little time i am on this planet listening to stupidity.

Whoever gets to the weak minded first usually holds onto the weak minded.

This is a great response to someone asking why folks don’t like them knocking on doors. But that doesn’t provide a response to the ones on your doorstep. I’d like to see this response reworked to come back at the proselytizer. Not sure how that sounds.

Insightful point, I think. So, we must develop a strategy based on Raid’s roach poison, that doesn’t just get rid of the pests you see, but gets them to take something back with them to wipe out the nest ...

The article opens with a statement about some countries having ‘absolute freedom of speech’. What kind of lazy, garbage writing is this? I stopped reading after that.

Sounds about right, it does make sense.

Finally! I never thought I'd ever meet anyone else who saw proselytizing the way I do, let alone read an article about it!!! Holy shit... I'm not alone after all... now there's a sobering thought.

This was brilliant. Now I almost wished I lived in a building that would allow them to bother me.

(few moments of thought)

Naw. Not really. But good article.

Damn, I was just about to post this. You beat me to it. Excellent article!