I don't believe in trying to persuade people but I do believe in debate about religion; it keeps us all awake and thinking for ourselves. HOWEVER bull like "why don't you let Jesus into your life" and "SHOW ME THE FLAWS IN THE BIBLE!!!" pisses me of endlessly. Get over it, stop feeling so addressed to and let people be.

I think that it is perfectly fine to advertise which ever religion you wish to advertise. It's simply evangelism. If one wishes to show others what they believe then one shows others what they believe in. It is not right, however, to force beliefs onto others. Those Christians who tell atheists (I use this example because it is common on this site) to believe in God because otherwise they are going to Hell and that they are stupid for *not* believing in God are totally out of line. Doing that is not the way to change someone's mind. My mind was never changed that way, but it was changed rather when I actually *learned* about religions. Go ahead and advertise, just don't force anything on anyone.

I think that people try to persuade eachother because it's a normal human thing to want to be taken seriously! Of course, like you already mentioned Morgaine - people who are sure of their own religion shouldn't be out there debating about it. Why should you even care what others believe? It's on the inside of a person and no one can know for sure what they feel and think! Plus; religion doesn't guarentee them being a good person (Hitler was religious, too).

I'm a pagan and one of the basic beliefs that witches all have in common, is the belief that there is no need to persuade others into believing the same as you do. I personally think that trying to persuade someone else into joining your religion CAN be (but isn't always!) a sign of weakness because of a need of confirmation and justification.

Religion can only be debated if we hold it to the same standards as other debates. Logic must prevail, one cannot accept propositions on faith, in open discourse. Because religion can't maintain it's worth outside of the protective shell of its own belief system, it cannot be proven in debate.

I don't believe in trying to change a person's mind on their religion because if what they chose is what ehy want, you shouldn't try to change their mind or make it up for them. I know because my mom doesn't agrre with me being wiccan, but I;m not going to change my religion for her or anyone because I've spent my entire life satisfing others and I never took the chance to get what I wanted or take even a second ook at my own personal desries.

Hypothetically Speaking: If a friend tells me about the aspects of his faith and I am intrigued by its preceps. And if am drawn to the way it affects him as he lives out his life. Why should it be of anyone else's concern that I leave behind whatever else I was practicing before and join him the path he's chosen? In this way I've participated in religious persuasion and the fact that anyone would be annoyed with the actions of my friend or my participation in them after the fact is completely irrelevent and rather anal on their part.

The way I see it, each faith system either is or isn't persuasive based on its own merit. But it is also dependant on the actions of the people who claim to follow it. If I the understand contraversey correctly, our real problem is not that some religions are meant to be persuasive (gain converts basically) but that some of those claiming to be followers of a faith are communicating a message to a disinterested audience. How these people (lets face it we're talking about certain Christians here) think that this kind of behavior is persuasive is beyond my comprehension. It's one thing to be convinced of the beauty and significance of your faith but it's a whole other ball game when you forget the tenents of that faith like compassion, consideration for the feelings of others. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I am a Christian and am passionate about my faith and I like many of you I get sick and tired of other Christians running around like a bunch of telemarketers using the world as their call center. They need to learn to just be nice!!

to successfully force your belief on others is by sword point and body counts. Just look what Catholics did. Thats how you grow your religion really big. Sure, at first, people will resist, and secretly believe other things, but just occupy for a couple of generations, and they'll your way soon enough.

As said above by geekusmaximus, only zealots 'tell' people what to believe. However, i don't think theres anything wrong with attempting to persuade others to see your point of view.

I hate it when people 'bless me out' as it were just so I can follow their religion. Forcing people won't help. Calmly explain about the aspects of it, and why it would be a good idea for the person to follow it. Saying things like, "You will burn in Hell if you don't follow my religion," or, "God will strike you down if you don't repent," and finally (my personal fav) "You are going to Hell anyways, even if you do decide to repent. But, if it will make you feel better, I'll try to talk to God about letting you in Heaven for a few moments just so you can see what you missed out on."

All of those statements have been said to me (the last one by my dear old aunt no less!) and all I wanted to do was tell them to shove it up their arse and out of their noses and then punch them. So, yeah, try different approaches, like inviting the person to a service, or a bible reading or whatever it is you people do.