[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Neil

Why has it (Christmas)been banned as well?

Only by the do-gooders who think that openly celebrating it causes offence to other religions. Come to think of it, maybe that would be covered by the bill in that case! Of course in reality the people who are supposedly offended don't have any problem with it at all. It's like removing the Gideon's Bibles etc. Why can't we still have them and have the other options as well?

Originally Posted by DebbieJ

I can see a lot of people locked up the next time Jehovahs witnesses or Mormons do the rounds. Can the PC not introdue a bill to stop the door knockers who always seem to appear when your in the middle of something & insist on you giving them 5 minutes of your time.

I can't speak for the Jehovah's Witnesses but I'm a Mormon (or to give us the proper name - a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and have been a missionary so know how they ought to behave. It is preferred for them to approach people who actually express an interest in knowing about the chuch and they'd much rather do that than go from door to door but when they have no actual "referrals" they do call on people unannounced. If you politely tell them that you aren't interested and ask them to leave then that is exactly what they should do. The young missionaries (lads of 19 -21 and young women a little older) do 2 years voluntary missionary service, usually something they have saved up to fund throughout their childhood. Older couples who are retired do serve as missionaries too but they usually work within the church organisation in temples or something. None of them should ever make nuisances of themselves and if they do it is very much frowned upon. Having said that I do know that some can be over-keen and so enthusiastic that they can't understand why people don't want to hear what they've got to say.

Years ago I had some Jehovah's Witnesses call here and I invited them in to discuss what they wanted to talk about. One of them actually ended up leaving here with a copy of the Book of Mormon - maybe that's why I haven't seen them since.

A JW friend of mine once invited me round to their church, possibly thinking that I wouldn't go but I did because I'm a curious sort of person and I found it quite fascinating. It's interesting to learn about different things even if we don't totally agree with them.

It will be a great shame if this bill frightens people off from each other or from discussing each other's religions for fear of breaking the law if we express disagreement. I can disagree with what people believe in but still respect their choice to believe it.