Yuyutsu

Ok. So it’s not illegal to arrive at a front door of a residence,and probably not illegal to leave a gift of a Bible either…But…judging by the response of the author of this thread, and yourself of course, it is seen as an intrusion and an affront to your personal religious views.

Also I would imagine, an Islamist would not be happy with the gift of a Bible either. But would a Buddhist or a Hindu be insulted by the act of a Bible as a gift, left at the front door?

Diver Dan,
An Islamist would not be insulted as Christians are considered as “people of the book”
The Bible, whilst having nowhere the significance of the Qur’an, is still considered to be a Holy Book so no insult would be perceived, rather the opposite.

Dear Dan,

A saint of any religion would not be insulted by anything. Period.

Being less than a saint, people can be insulted by this and that.
A Buddhist or a Hindu who is less than a saint may not be insulted by the religious content of that gift, but instead be annoyed by the fact that someone took the liberty to invade their property, made assumptions about themselves, doubted their faith and forced them to somehow dispense of an object they did not choose to have. Not only do they have to, say, put on shoes to get to the bin (which might also perhaps be already full), but also they need to face the dilemma of how to ethically dispense of a book that is considered holy by others.

An orthodox Jew could be even more disturbed by the need to touch such a book: on the one hand it contains the sacred (for them) Old-Testament (which they already have at home in the original Hebrew, likely many copies) while on the other hand it also contains the filthy and forbidden (for them) New-Testament which they are commanded to destroy. How could they dispense of the Old-Testament respectfully without touching the New-Testament? They might use a long pole or two to try and pick the book and dump it in their garbage bin, but what about the good, Old-Testament part? (FYI: the best solution to this dilemma, complying with Jewish law, would be to employ/pay a non-Jewish person to take the book away, but until they come the Jewish family must somehow find a way to get around their doorstep without touching the object, but while still kissing the Mezuzah on the side of their door - not so easy and nice, especially when you also have children, who could also misunderstand and get scared by that forbidden object. In extreme cases they could even find themselves locked inside or need to enter/exit through the windows)... You see how such insensitivity could unknowingly cause someone much pain!

We used to see pairs of Mormons doing their missionary work and Adventists walking the streets distributing Watchtower magazines but not so much lately.

However there are a few places I know that are constantly staked out by a few women armed with brochures in the hope of gaining converts.
Somebody should tell them that women are forbidden from doing such things in the Bible.

I remember years ago when pairs of women would go door-to-door offering to "bless your money" and Krishna people also handed out books (or flowers if you declined making a donation in return for the book) but they too have gone.

Nowadays proseltizing seems to come mostly via electronic media.

It's interesting that England and Wales are no longer majority Christian countries. King Charles had better lift his game in that department.

Hi rache,

The JW's and the Mormons are still about, there is a JW church/temple/meeting house in our area, so they do door knocks, send letters and stand in the street. My sister-in -law aged 59 in NZ when she was approaching death with cancer, she was considering joining as a baptised member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, she believed they gave her "comfort" She was concerned with the reaction of her family with such a move, JW's don't allow Maori members to be buried in the traditional way, they kick up a fuss about it with the family. I just advised her to do what her heart told her to do. Unfortunately she died before she made that move, and was buried in the Maori way with her body taken to the wharenui at the marae, no JW's in sight.

As with any useless documents such as the telephone directory, Labor and gangrene pamphlets, they all go straight to recycling.