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I try to be a nice person, but fundamentally I'm just pretty cranky. Case in point on Friday. I walked across campus for a meeting and my path was blocked by two young women distributing copies of the Book of John. I politely said no thank you and went to the meeting. When it was over I passed them again, and again they went out of their way to get in my way. I swerved around and when one of them asked me if I wanted a copy of the Book of John I said (shaking my head, and with a fairly aggressive tone of voice) : "Pack of lies. Pack of lies!" and kept walking. She shouted back (indignantly): "Ummm, I beg to differ! It's a pack of truth!"

Sigh. What a terrible attempt at communication on both parts. I know I had PMS. Maybe she did too? Either way, it doesn't bode well for peace, love, and understanding in the world. I've just reached a saturation point with proselytizing, and can't even bear to be confronted with it any more.

When I was at a conference last week I shared two 3-hour drives with a colleague who is a professor of religious studies and a life-long, and very dedicated Christian. We had the most wonderful and open conversations about belief and non-belief. I think we both are left with an uplifting feeling of having learned and shared on a pretty deep level. I was so happy to hear him say that he thinks doubt is the only defensible position as a Christian. I don't think I'm anti-belief per se, since it's one of my favorite things to discuss with people I respect and know, but I just can't abide complete strangers shoving it in my face.

While waiting in the airport on the way to that same conference a woman with a "We Need Alan Keyes" button sat down next to me and another guy. They guy looked at the "Boycott MacDonald's" form she was filling out and asked her about it. It turns out her "reason" (in the loosest sense of the word) was that MacDonald's is pro-gay and holds meetings to encourage its employees to become gay. Seriously. He asked her if she was voting for McCain and she said "No way! He's not pro-life" (last time I checked McCain is running on a firm pro-life platform, but who am I to correct this lady?).

She and the guy started exchanging comments about how horrible homosexuality is, and then out of the blue she turns to me (who is diligently knitting and trying to avoid eye contact with the nut jobs) and tells me I need to go see some movie that will "improve your marriage." When I say I don't think I'll do that she goes on the attack "Why not? Don't you want to improve your marriage? I went and it improved my marriage." Not a word about whatever religious message is in the film, because then it would be obvious that she's pushing her religion on strangers, but you have to know the film is religious. To satisfy your morbid curiosity I'm linking to a Christian website that has a description and trailer of the film, which is called Fireproof.

From there the woman went on a rant about how liberals are supposed to be so tolerant, but they're really more closed minded than everyone else. Well, yeah. She's right. I wasn't going to listen to her, so I moved to another seat. I am intolerant. I'm sick of the crap these people spew at complete strangers.

What I don't get is how these people, who know absolutely nothing about who I am, what I believe in, or what my life is like continue to think it's okay to just launch into me. And then if I choose not to drop everything and bow down to whatever cockamamie attitude or deity they're buying into, they get all huffy. What a totally weird way for people to spend their time...