On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:33:56 GMT, toto wrote:
On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 11:33:12 -0500, "Marie"
wrote:

"toto" wrote in message
. ..
Most religious folks I know don't generally bring up religion
with others who are not of their own faith. Most children who are
religious don't tell other kids they are going to hell either.

I have had, over the years, several strangers come to me and my children in
the grocery store, or a restaurant, and just start talking about Jesus and
if I went to church. This happened just a few weeks ago, actually, in
Walmart. An elderly man came to say what cute kids I have and then started
telling me he hopes I have them in church and he just went on and on about
it. When I first meet people, one of the first questions is where I go to
church. When I answer nowhere, Oh how shocked the people look and just can't
get over that I don't BELIEVE. There have been several times strange
children at the park, on finding out my kids don't go to church, have told
them they are going to hell. You people who are saying it's not common- you
are so lucky. My family couldn't even join a homeschool group in my area b/c
they required a signed statement of faith. We drive an hour to get to our
group (which is worth the drive, it's a wonderful group, but I do wish it
were closer). Christian groups try to ban movies and tv series. (brokeback
mountain was banned here but we went to another city to see it, and book of
daniel was cancelled on NBC) It's something you just can not avoid here.
Marie

I only recently moved to the South and I hope that I never have that
experience. It was certainly not common in Chicago despite the fact
that there were plenty of Southern Baptists around. There were people
who preached on the street corners, but they were pretty easy to
avoid. I have actually seen less of those in New Orleans than I did
in Chicago.

I have never had anyone come up and start talking about Jesus to me in
the grocery store or mall stores here (but I have only been here about
a year).

I travel fairly frequently to the South ( Tennessee and NC, mostly ),
and I don't think there's been a single trip in which I haven't had
someone bring up religion. The last time I was in Nashville, I stopped
to get a haircut before meeting with a client, and the *first* thing
the woman asked was, "And have you found Jesus?"

Unfortunately, the standard rejoiner of "Yes, he's been hiding behind
the living room couch all this time! Can you believe that little devil?"
didn't seem appropriate when dealing with someone holding sharp scissors. ;-)

But even in areas with lots of Yankee immigrants, like the RTP area,
it seems like small talk with the merest aquaintance gets around to
religion very, very quickly.

- Rich