I wouldn’t report the guy, but I would certainly ignore him and brush him off with a “Well, that’s nice and all, but it doesn’t help my broken phone line.”

if not, maybe the owner will fire the moron, so he can go to work as a Wal-Mart greeter.

if the owner is complicit, i’d (seriously) demand a 100% refund – just for the harassment. whether he completed his plumbing task is irrelevant.

When I’ve been in similar situations, I simply say, “no thank you, I am an atheist”. I say this as simply and directly as possible with a slight “nice to meet you” smile. I let the other person decide whether he wants to be polite or a jerk.

I wanted to reply one last time, because I’m surprised at the vitriol you reserved for another commenter. I’m sorry that you feel defensive about posting anonymously, but that’s what happens. You’re entitled to do it, and I’m entitled to think and say what I wish about it. Have a big ol’ cup of Get Over It.

You’ll notice that my comments only dealt with *my* own experiences and why I react the way I do to unwelcome proselytizers. For some reason, you’re presuming that you are the arbiter of how one “should” comment and that you’re somehow being invited to judge whether courteous responses are “weak-kneed,” “desperate,” or the actions of a “coward.” I don’t know why you care to this degree about the milder responses of some non-believers. Your attitude is contemptuous, and it’s that very people-unfriendly attitude that alienates people who do have religious beliefs … and some who do not. It it because of the existence of such rudeness that others like me try to control irritation when we’re preached at.

Your comment about whether I can think critically is unnecessarily insulting and laughable, considering that your responses have been emotional while mine have not up until this point.

And — in a small spark of my own temper — I’ll say that in your case, per your example, I’m perfectly willing to equate Spork with a buttplug.

See ya.

By the way, to the website owner, I think it’s sad that a site intended for reasoned discussions has a troll like this. But no big deal. There are plenty of other good sites to visit!

Ah. Feel better now. I’m sure the Sporky troll will respond again, but I don’t have to listen to that crap.

Now I just nod and make non-committal noises while I find something else to do.

One final comment on bravery: It’s ironic that you commented anonymously on how other people are not being brave. )

Carolyn, please do Google ‘Silence Dogood’ sometime. While I am an “out” atheist in my workplace, and my views are pretty well known, I save a little vitriol for weblogs and message boards. Use of a pseudonym is pretty much a requirement.

I also find it odd, every single time I encounter it, how many self-proclaimed critical thinkers need a “name” attached to postings on the internet. Does a name, such as Ricky Moore, or Suzanne Pennings, or Arthur Buckwallow really mean anything more to you than spork, or napkin, or buttplug?

You should really be evaluating postings on content and the quality of reasoning displayed within said postings, rather than the monikers attached to said postings.

Then again, if you could think critically, you’d have known that already.

If he persisted, I’d say “Thanks for coming. I’m not happy being preached at in my own home. I want you to leave now, and I’d like the name of your supervisor.”

Simple, polite, and effective. For bonus points I’d invoice the company for the time wasted listening to the guy preach on company time, and point out that they were in fact paying for him to do it.

Of course if you have some time to kill, you could a) feign interest and keep him for an extra couple of hours b) ask him if he’s heard of Dianetics/Amway/what-have-you.

Also, I agree with Pseudonym. Calling this “terrorism” is like calling the insults Hilarry Clinton received “rape”; if you are going to degrade the meaning of those words like that, what’s left to call real terrorism and real rape?