I recently got into a debate on Twitter over a tweet that I sent when I received some unsolicited mail hand delivered by whom I can only guess was a preacher for the religion. It was a leaflet inviting me to a mass that a local Jehovah witness church will be holding on Easter Sunday.

Being outraged by this, I lashed out on Twitter with the following tweet.

http://twitpic.com/4kaqu0 Um…. get lost you Jesus lovers! How dare they knock on my door and hand me this bullshit.

This brought some attention to myself regarding free speech which then continued into a debate about how religions continue to push their faith on to the “non believers” and others of different faiths.

One of my main arguing points is that I continually see preachers and the like in city centres preaching their beliefs on a megaphone to the public walking by. This angers me. If someone from a not too known, or “socially unacceptable” religion done this, then it would raise all types of trouble.

For instance, if a preacher of Satanism wanted to stand in the city centre preaching about how the devil and the satanic practices they follow are just and that everyone would die in misery if it’s not followed ( I don’t know specifics ), then I can almost guarantee that within minutes of starting, the local authorities would intervene and remove the subject from the ears of the public.

The illusion that we live in a free society is coming to light more and more these days. One person is not allowed to do this or that, but it’s perfectly fine or acceptable for another to do the exact same. A good example of this is “racism”. Which I will leave there as that’s an entirely different post.

Schools such as the one my son goes to, have people from a local church come in now and then for a Friday assembly loosely based around religion. This religion is what? I hear you ask. Christianity. I spoke to Ryan’s teacher and the schools receptionist about this and they could offer no explanation as to why it was only this certain religion. Why was there no assembly involving Buddhism, Islam and Atheism or others?

This is the problem I have. The children of my son’s school have no choice in the matter but to sit there and be forced to listen to what the preachers have to say. Sure, the parents have the right to take their children out of the assembly, but this is not a solution. If one religion is involved, then all should be involved. Make it more about learning about the various cultures and religious practices rather than pedal one such religion just because its socially acceptable to class it as the standard faith in the country.

There is a way to promote religion and other things and it’s certainly not by shoving it in someone’s face as they walk down the street or sit happily at home watching television. Another thing that really has annoyed me is the amount of shit I get from my local political “representatives” when coming near to election time.

If I want to learn about politics or religion I should be the one going to find out what it is, what it’s about and how to get involved. This type of crap should definitely not be shoved down my throat. It’s a waste of resources, time and energy. At the end of the day, not one single person will get interested if this constantly happens. It will all turn to white noise. The first thing that I do as soon as I get some “spam” through my door is throw it into the recycle bin. Until I need a service or information, stop bombarding me with the needless crap that comes through the door or gets handed out the damn streets of the city I live in please!

If you read this and think of me as a person who is against religion, then you are wrong. I have no problem with religion existing, my problem is with the way it’s promoted to the young of society. With babies, they have no choice in the matter if they are baptised, thus setting their faith and setting them apart from the rest of the world as they grow up.

A child baptised as a Protestant certainly cannot, in no way shape or form, get married in a Catholic church. This is then the fault of the parents for pushing their religion on to the child. The same could also be said about political families. An MP has a child, as the child grows up it will inevitably believe the propaganda that their parent is spitting at them thus becoming a bigot of society pedaling their beliefs.

As I see it, if you believe something, that’s fine. There should be no reason for you to “make others believe”. If you feel the need to do so, then surely your faith in what you believe is not that strong, and you need to ask yourself, do you really believe? The best way to get someone to believe, is to allow them access to the information they seek in a clear simple way that everyone can understand. Do not hold anything back from them and do not force anything upon them!