It seems like a lot of people are really angry about religion being shoved down their throat. And maybe I'm wrong about this, but maybe there is a possible bad outcome to sharing one's beliefs: turning someone off from faith, from religion. It's something that has been bugging me this whole week. I know it is important to witness. And I want more people to come to know God, but I don't want to make it any harder for people to come to know Him.

I don't want to offend anyone, but I want to represent the truth. I am a Christian, just so everyone knows where I am coming from.

So is there a way to share your faith without offending people? Some way where people can see that, I'm trying to say this without sounding preachy, I want to share my faith, to share the truth, to show God's love, that hell is real, and that people don't have to go there. Yeah, that probably sounded preachy and I'm sorry about that, I'm just having trouble finding another way to say it. Any advice on how to not be preachy? To make it clear that I just care?

Edit: The third post might clarify what I'm asking more.

Not all people share your views.
I come from a christian background. My mother was brought up Catholic, my Dad was some sort of Christian, I forget which (Now he's a bit New age/crazy but that's another story) I've lived in various places, including Utah where I was introduced to the mormon religion. I moved to a different state and met my best friend (we've been friends for more than 8 years). She was Mormon, not a "regular" christian sect, but christian non-the-less.
I went to church with her, church activities on wednesdays, became friends with all the mormon kids our age, talked to missionaries and asked emilee questions. I love philosopy and religion, so I'm naturally inclined to be interested.
Our friendship was stressed, because she wanted me to become mormon. She was suffering from stress because she thought that not being able to bring me to the "truth" was her failure. All of our fights have been solely about religion, because I say something that questions her faith, or I do not understand.
And she wasn't happy until she accepted that I wasn't going to become a mormon, and that it wasn't what I believed.
From what I have seen, preaching your religion to close friends or acquaintances makes both people stressed and angry. It's frustrating, because they can't understand how great religion is. And for the other person, they feel like the most personal thing about themselves, their spirituality has been stomped on.
Let your church do the preaching, and talking about religion. If you have a close friend, maybe invite them to spend the weekend and go to church with you. Let the indivudual make the decision when they come with you. Do not tell them about how great your religion is, do not tell them how jesus will save them, do not say that there is a way out of hell through salvation. NO NO NO. BAD.

You have most likely grown up in your religion, but for people who are questioning, and seeking truth, they will not like being preached at, especially if they are young.

I'm a 19 year old living with my boyfriend in college. I drink alcohol sometimes, and I question at times if there is a God. I read atheist literature as well as scripture, and I find that group of people who call themselves Christians are off their rocker. WHy? They Preach. They promise. The try to spread their faith. They argue when opposed. With no evidence.

My advice is to not to bring up religion unless it is the subject at hand. I suggest you let your church do the talking and try to bring people you want to recruit for events. I suggest you talk about your faith with people of your church. ANd I suggest you realize that not all people will think that your religion is so great, of that it is the truth. Heck, I think lots of it is BS.
Be cautious, and be smart. Sprituality is one of the most personal thing about an individual. It's who they are.

Good Luck

Thanks for posting. I agree that people have a right to believe what they believe. I don't want to force my faith on others. I have many friends who don't believe what I do. I was just hoping to find a way to bring it up in general conversation that wouldn't irritate people. And I agree that people should not start yelling that if they don't believe then they will go to hell. I think people who do that give a bad name to religion. I was just hoping there was a way to talk about what people believe, including what I believe without having people put up their guard and think I'm trying to shove what I believe down their throats. A way to just discuss. I was just listing what I believe in the first post so that people knew where I was coming from.

When you say you want to share "The truth", you have to realize that this is Your Truth. I am offended when people preach to me, if you want to say, "This is what I believe" I would respect that a lot more, And in turn you need to respect the beliefs of others. I have no problems about discussing theology, I do have a problem with Proselytism. If someone comes to you and asks about your religion because they are interested in finding a new religion, then by all means.

I do respect that other people have their own beliefs. I don't mind hearing what they believe too. I just wish their was a way that people could all share their different believes, whatever they believe, without people getting on their toes ready to yell at the other person for what is different or a slight difference in what they believe. Then if they want to argue, they can. But I think people should at least hear each other out first.

Please don't get defensive. I'm just curious. What makes you believe there is more than one truth?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defensive. I don't believe that there is more than one truth, but I understand that some believe that the bible is truth, I don't. I have read it, and I don't believe it to be truth. I believe it to be stories written over time by different men who had their own reasons. I believe in science, I believe in nature, I believe I don't need a manual to tell me the difference between right and wrong. I don't believe that women are worth less than men like it says in the bible time and again (especially the old testament). I believe life has meaning because we give it meaning.

I actually agree a lot with what you are saying. I believe that the Bible is the truth. I understand that you have different views that you believe to be the truth. But even though we view things differently, there is still one real truth in the world, like you said. We just happen to disagree on what that one truth is.

Nature is one of the reasons that for me really showed that God does exist. Little things, like a ladybug, are so complicated and beautiful that I just don't understand how something like that could come about by some random chance.

I believe that the Bible is like a manual, as you put it, on how Christians should lead their lives, and it is a guide on what is right and wrong. But all humans have a conscience that shows them what is right or wrong. It is just a matter of if we follow it.

I don't agree that the Bible says that women are worthless. Jesus especially treated everyone as equal. I know he is in the New Testament. The Bible was written in another time, obviously, and in the culture that it was written in, women were not as respected as they should have been. Since the Bible was written in that time, I can see how it could be perceived that that is how the Bible views women, but I don't believe that to be the case.

Galations 3:28 says,

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

But that is in the New Testament. Still it is saying that everyone, no matter how they could be described as different, is the equal to God.

In the Old Testament, Genesis 1:26-28 says,

God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God's nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."

This is when God created humans. He made them (men and women) both equal and both from His image.

I can probably find better quotes tomorrow. I'm sorry. I have to get up early tomorrow so I should really get to bed. I hope to continue this discussion with you later. It is really interesting for me to hear your point of view.

Trying to get it into a conversation without transforming it into a hate/separatist speech? Unless you were with a bunch of teologists, you can't have a civil debate about religion. Why? Everyone has one [yes, atheism counts e_e], and whenever you bring the topic for another reason than curiousity you're challenging everyone's set of beliefs.

And it isn't "The truth" as you put it. No religion is "The truth". They're mere hypothesys until proven otherwise. And even if there were facts and/or evidence, it would be conflictive since there are a lot of religions and any miracle could be attributed to any god.

"If the biblical narrations were scientifically proven true, it would transform Mesopotamia's tales into historical events :o Even the creation of Adam was taken from them." By this point someone would have already tried to interrupt me. I know you know ;D [By the way I got this statement from the History channel :P]

So, to include religion in a casual conversation, it could start from a "What is your religion?" [which I presonally find kind of offensive but it's just me] and end with the answer. Leave debates for Theologists and preaching to pastors, and we'll make one step towards a non-resentful world ;)

I agree that there's basically never going to be a way for people to discuss religion without it getting over-heated sooner or later (and probably sooner) as it's something that most people have very strong opinions about, from any standpoint.

You can certainly try, but as you've already seen, people are already disagreeing with how you put your argument across. You need to think about what you say so carefully to try and avoid conflict for a long as possible, but it will end up with raised voices in the end. These kind of discussions inevitably do =_=

From my personal outlook, I'm pretty firmly in the atheist catagory, plus I'm British and I class my country as pretty agnostic to be honest, compared to a lot of the US at least. From a Brit's point-of-view, how very religious some parts of America are is positively scary. We just don't have those levels of fundamental belief in the UK so it seems almost like brain-washing to us.

I'm with aoi in saying that the bible is fiction, fiction based on facts for some of the time, but fiction none-the-less. Cataclysmic events happening during the time of Moses were very likely to be the cause of everything in Exodus that was attributed to acts of God. The people who wrote the bible were the best spin-doctors ever, basically, they should get a posthumous Pulitzer prize...

The parting of the Red Sea (it wasn't the Red Sea but "reed" sea, probably just a marshy area on the shore of the Mediterratean; possibly in the Nile delta, the original Hebrew version of the bible was mistranslated) was the result of a mega-tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption, probably of Santorini (there is geological evidence to back this up) The same eruption would have caused the 10 plagues.

Santorini went with one hell of a bang, one of the greastest eruptions ever know, thousands of times more powerful than a nuclear weapon. The island is around 500 miles away from where Moses was said to be but the effects of that monster eruption would have been felt and seen by all.
That pillar of cloud and fire that was meant to be God leading them was just the cloud column from the volcano which would have reached up for many miles and glowed with fire.

Poisonous fall out combined with everyday pollution would have turned the Nile red. Hence driving the frogs from the water to infest people's homes. The frogs would then have died from the pollution and thousands of insects would have bred in their dead bodies.
The pollution of the river accounts for many of the plagues; the boils, the pestilence among the animals, the deaths of children.
The eruption accounts for the rest. The wild beasts and locusts fleeing before the disaster (you ever seen footage of animals running from a forest fire?). The hail and thunder and the darkness; both caused by the spreading ash cloud. That would have blotted out daylight completely, and as it towered way up into the atmosphere would have created some massive updrafts, which in turn produce hail and lightning storms.

Now don't take this as me dissing your beliefs, you can believe what you like. But I stand firm in my belief that the Old Testament is just a damn good, fire and brimstone epic. Adapting and elaborating wildly on events that happened, and using them to its own ends, but in no way true. I'm not even going to start on Genesis because what's the point? Darwin is my man.

Same goes for the New Testament to a certain extent. The people in it probably existed, but the rest is all hype. I look at the bible as something like the soap opera of its day. Full of way more drama, day in day out, than would ever happen in a normal life.
Again no disrespect intended to those who believe, this is just what I think.

If people want to structure their lives around what the bible preaches that's up to them, but it was written to try and tell people how to live their lives over 2,000 years ago...while morals and ethics remain pretty constant, it could do with an update for those who actually do use it as a life manual.

personally I'd rather make my own decisions :sweat:

But I still enjoy reading the opinions of those who do believe, if they can share them without getting the stabby, pointy finger out at me because I don't.

To Vmars, One of my main problems with the bible is that it constantly contradicts itself. I can list many quotes too.

"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them; Then shall his father and mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of the city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear." (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

and

"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26) The word "hate" here is miseo, the Greek word for "hate," from which we get the prefix in "misanthropy" and "misogyny." The same writer uses miseo in such verses as: "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you." (Luke 6:22)

So children should hate their parents and if they should disobey thay should be stoned to death?

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." (Luke 12:47-48)

This is a parable related by Jesus to Luke on how a slave should be treated, in other words a slave should only be beaten so much as he deserves, in no place does he say that slavery is wrong but he does give tips on how you should keep them inline.

"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)

"I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." (I Corinthians 11:3)

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord." (Colossians 3:18)

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." (I Timothy 2:11-15)

and my personal favorite

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation. And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female,then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels." (Leviticus 27:1-7)

Where the Lord lays it out in dollars and cents that women are literally worth half as much as men.


I live in the U.S., I am constantly surrounded by religion and those who try to convert the "Non-believer" What I have found is many people who can quote a few "good' passages but have never read the whole book. If you are going to live your life by a manual, and try to make others do the same, you should at least read the whole thing, not just some excerpts. But I understand, most of these people also believe Ignorance is bliss.

@Jelly, you make me want to be British.

If you want to have religion, have religion. Keep it a private thing between you and your god. If some one asks you, then share what you will, but respect those that don't ask. When you sit down and say that your religion is the end all be all truth you ARE offending those who believe something different. You are calling their religion or beliefs a sham.

I myself don't believe in organized religion, it has started wars, caused misogyny to the point of human mutilation, has been used to build up the corrupt and put them into higher office while cutting down the poor and uneducated and been used for centuries to control the masses, because if you keep them fighting amongst themselves, they wont fight you as you take away their rights and their freedoms. I believe in True "Truth". Truth that is backed by facts. Facts that have been proven and what has been Proven, the universe is far far older than the bible.

A lot of Aoi's quotes back up what I say about how the doctrine of the bible is woefully outdated, if you're going to look at it on a purely "how to" principal :yes:

I could go off on so many more tangents here, because I'm horribly opinionated about religion as a whole and what it's done to humanity, but I'm not going to.

I'm just going to say that you're never going to be able to "share" your beliefs with anyone unless they already feel the same way. When I read your first post earlier it honestly made me uncomfortable. If I'd been in the same room as you I'd have wanted to back away and find an excuse to go elsewhere. But like I said before, my country is nowhere near as religious as the US so we find such intense belief difficult to deal with.

Can you tell me this. WHY are you religious? Did you see the light one day? Have you always had faith? Or is it a tradition family thing? (because that right there is something that I have enormous issues with).

Originally Posted by vmars

[COLOR="Indigo"]It seems like a lot of people are really angry about religion being shoved down their throat. And maybe I'm wrong about this, but maybe there is a possible bad outcome to sharing one's beliefs: turning someone off from faith, from religion. It's something that has been bugging me this whole week. I know it is important to witness. And I want more people to come to know God, but I don't want to make it any harder for people to come to know Him.

Ever occur to you maybe someone doesn't want to believe in a higher 'power.' I was raised LDS (mormon) and I know the ways of the church, the views, the studies, all of that. I do not however choose to live that lifestyle because it isnt a lifestyle I choose to live. Doesn't mean I don't believe in a god but because of how I live and do things. Doesn't give any motherfucker the right to come up to me and try to preach to me. If someone doesn't want to listen you should shut your trap before you piss them off and then they hate all 'bible thumpers.' In Atlanta airport today I was sitting by a bunch of religious nuts. They started preachin to be about my tattoos, about how I was still drunk from the night before. Saying "oh that isnt gods way or plan for you." Going on and on about their religion. Making it sound like I was the devil's fucking advocate. So yeah. I can see why people do not like any bible preachin pricks who are forceful in it.

I don't want to offend anyone, but I want to represent the truth. I am a Christian, just so everyone knows where I am coming from.

Then dont offend anyone. Oh goddamn what a concept.

So is there a way to share your faith without offending people?

Yes. Do not make it sound like you are condemning the person. *gasps*

Some way where people can see that, I'm trying to say this without sounding preachy, I want to share my faith, to share the truth, to show God's love.

Then do it. But don't be the preachy person everyone hates.

that hell is real and that people don't have to go there.

Hell is real everyday on earth. Turn on the TV. Look at the state the world is in.

Yeah, that probably sounded preachy and I'm sorry about that, I'm just having trouble finding another way to say it. Any advice on how to not be preachy? To make it clear that I just care?

Aoi
To stand at vmars defense on this one. The bible has been translated so many times through and through by man over the years. It seems to get lost in its own translation so many times. However, I do see your point but I am in no mood to really go into it more than that.


Note on topic
Please however, if this is going to steer away from the topic at hand. This for me already was about to be moved til I talked to Jelly for a moment. As long as this topic stays on hand to help out vmars with what she is asking it can stay here. If it turns into a bible discussion/debate. I will move it to the proper forum according to how it turns.

@ Bartuc, I agree, that's my point actually, It was written and translated by men.

@ vmars; If you just want to talk about religion there is no way to keep it from being offensive to someone. That's just how it is. However, if you simply want to bring it up in a conversation with friends, then do so, just keep in mind that everyone has their own ideas and thoughts and hear them out so they may hear you out as well.

You asked about how we know that there is more than one 'truth'. How do you know that YOUR 'truth' is the 'correct' 'truth'.

Thing is, you DON'T preach and just let them to discover religion for themselves. If they discover a religion other than yours, leave them be. If they discover that they do not want to believe in any religion or 'higher power' (Like me; Elsa believes in a higher power but subscribes to no religion.) then leave them be.

Well, in my opinion, if they don't want to believe, then don't force them. It'll look like subliminal brainwash. Like Alex said, I only believe that there is a higher power, but I don't let myself be dictated by religion, because I believe that the things people do to "test their faith" is a waste of time.

Truth. It's unknown. No one can really know if someone "speaks the truth". In this generation, it's hard to determine what's verbally real and what's not anymore.

There isn't really any way of bringing religion into a conversation without potentially offending someone especially if you're bringing it up going for a conversion.

I'm with Jelly, I'm a Brit too and I find a lot of Americans scary religious.

I think if someone wanted to know about it they'd ask, I did sort of. I went to a church of England primary school and went to church every Thursday with the school then did an R.E lesson after we got back from church. I didn't consider questioning it until I went to a non-religious high school. Now after doing my own research on it and looking at various different religions I'm more happy now not believing than I was believing. I had a very religious Christian friend in high school who tried to share her beliefs with me, it came up when we were talking about her and her boyfriend and she started about not having sex before marriage. She never offended me and I don't think I ever offended her, I think it's the way you talk to people rather than just because it's religion. I find the man that stands in town shouting out of the Bible and telling everyone who looks at him they're going to hell if they don't repent without even asking whether they are Christians or not (and I know a Christian he has shouted it to) extremely rude and offensive and stay as far away from him as possible. Generally the ones who take the time to actually listen to me at least a little bit are less likely to annoy me than the ones like that guy who pay no attention to anything and assume everyone shopping on a Saturday are non-believers and need to be shouted at and a Bible waved so close to their head they almost get smacked with it.

If you aren't rude about it and listen to the other persons views as well I don't think there would be much of a problem. One of the main things which does irritate me which a few people have said to me when trying to convert me is if God came and stood in front of you would you believe I don't discount that he may exist I just choose to live as though he doesn't, now if they asked if God came and stood in front of you now would you worship him then the answer would be no because if he did that then he has always existed and I've gotten on quite well without worshipping him so far. But that is a little off topic sorry. Oh yeah and if you don't believe God will kill your family is not a good opening line, someone has said that to my fiancé.

Yeah, just don't be rude about it or dismissive of others beliefs and I don't think most people would have issues with it, I would refrain from referring to it as truth though that is a little offensive.

@Jeanie: If you think Americans scary in terms of religion, you should see the Filipinos. XD
I mean, the Catholics here are totally brainwashed (no offense), but if you see the people here... they're over-religious. Every public transportation here has a rosary. o.O
And also, what kind of people in their right minds would be willing to be compressed like sardines just to transport a statue (of Jesus Christ) from one place to another "for the sake of their faith"?

I suppose it's somewhat ironic that the British in general find other countries religious zealotry scary. As a lot of those countries religions were forced apon them by British missionaries =_=

If you're going to take a close look at the practices in the Bible - assessing monetary values for people was not exclusively Jewish or Christian - there are several examples of fines and penalties assessed if a man/woman/child were ever harmed. It had nothing to do with assessing value for the sake of anything but fines/penalties/taxes. Slavery was widely practiced everywhere in the world. Including Europe. We are taking the religion as it was practiced during biblical times out of historic and cultural context when we try to apply modern cultural practices and theories. Thomas Jefferson and other Deists of his time realized this - and tried to pull the more philosophical aspects of Christianity out of the Bible minus the cultural/historic aspects. Additionally, I cannot think of a single example in Europe where religion was not a hot topic 100+ years ago. Thinking about the Protestant Reformation... just saying. The US is just going through it's own growing pains.

For the record, and I know I've mentioned this elsewhere, I was LDS for 25 years and had my name officially and legally removed - I self excommunicated. Today, I am a Heathen, meaning that I follow a polytheistic path based on Northern European, pre-Christian beliefs/philosophies. Additionally, I have a master's degree (graduate degree) in modern US history with emphases in religion and politics. What I'm going to say is from an academic and experiential perspective. I'm also totally ancient and have had a few decades to ponder this stuff along with the lint in my navel.

The Christian religion as it was practiced at and prior to the turn of the 20th century is much different than it is today. The news of Darwin's theory began to cause a split in theological studies, resulting in a more secularized/social justice oriented religion and one that wanted to turn completely to very literal interpretations of the Bible. Most Americans were pretty religious, but the debate about religion in schools began to force Americans to really view where they stood on the whole separation of church and state clause in the Constitution.

The Cold War caused an increase in religion in politics and everyday life because the government began to make noise about how different the US was as opposed to the godless USSR. For example, Eisenhower was baptized after he took his oath as President. It was a huge deal. The countercultural revolution of the 60s began to curtail that a bit. Right now, a lot of academics, myself included, believe that we're seeing a similar push for religion - particularly the fundamentalist sects - in response to 9/11 and Iraq. Which, is part of the reason why we are seeing a huge link between conservative politics, religion and notions of patriotism.

Off my soapbox... religion is a very touchy subject, particularly for people who feel that it is the only way to believe. For some, anything that contradicts becomes a matter of suspicion. In response to the question about why people feel coerced into religion, we have it broadcast to us daily via the media and TV shows. For some of us who really don't enjoy seeing 20' tall neon crosses on street corners that don't have a church, billboards, etc. - have been called all kinds of things and have even NOT been employed when people found out about their beliefs - it gets a bit stressful. The question is not why people get bunged up about religion but why is it anyone else's business? Keeping in mind that many religions rely on congregations to survive...

Elsa: That is a little erm yeah they win on religion scary points.

We're just nice like that, push it on them till they get scary religious then abandon the whole thing. :XD

Thinking on what Elsa says though, when I see region everywhere in South American countries I don't feel uncomfortable about it. Look at Big 'ol Jesus in Rio, couldn't be much more in your face than that if you tried, but I think it's amazing not offensive... Maybe it's because those places are so much more vibrant that it doesn't seem intimidating or dictatorial, religion seem to be more of a celebration the further south you go. Where as it's often some kind of penance elsewhere, it's a weight around people's consciences.

Or maybe it's just that white people don't know how to have fun...church is so solemn and dignified for most.

I'd be far more inclined to listen to a Brazilian talking to me about God than some *excuse me* bible-thumping, shotgun-toting redneck from Georgia or somewhere similar.

@ Jelly, Lol, you couldn't have said it better.

On the comments about the bible being a reflection of the time, this is what I find ridiculous, Jesus was supposed to be all compassionate and all loving so if that were true he wouldn't have condoned slavery just because it was widely practiced, he would have condemned it out right. At least you'd think being that all people were supposed to be "gods children," slaves and the rich alike.

Wow what a topic! :shock:

If someone were to ask what religion I was, I'd say Buddhist, even though I'm probably the worst one there is. That being I don't attend services, study texts, and I'm not a vegetarian...I just try to consciously take what I've learned and apply it to everyday life.

Anyways, the reason I bring it up is because I strongly believe in what the Buddha taught his followers regarding this issue. People interested in Buddhism are welcomed and encouraged to seek their own truths. A Buddhist will never try to force his beliefs on anyone else - even if he does charitable deeds.

I think the best thing to do is let those people come to you who seek the truth, and then at that time you can do your best to explain your perception. Until then, I think the best thing to do is to treat it very respectfully and make sure you are open to other's opinions. This doesn't mean you believe them, but you accept and appreciate we're all allowed our own opinion. :)

I think what a monk once told me was very profound - there are many fingers that point to the moon. :)

Religion does mean different things to different people.

I think I would be less scared of the little things than the big things like the people who are in my city centre they actually do scare me but I don't think it's to do with the fact they're religious I think it's just their attitude and the way they approach me because apparently I dress like a devil worshipper and must be walked towards in a menacing manner and followed down the street.

I haven't actually seen the Jesus statue but unless he starts shouting at me I don't think he would bother me too much.