Religious soliciting

I was just sitting here playing a computer game and daydreaming about "door-to-door sales" of religion. In our house in PA, we got a lot of religious solicitors, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses and protestant hyperfundamentalists. My response when they would come was to let the dog bark his head off and be polite and to say something like "I'm happy with my faith, thanks."

I once blogged the story of the two women who came to the door and wanted to know what my faith is/was. I like the term "witch" but a lot of people bristle at it (esp. non-Pagans) so I just said, "I'm a Wiccan." Which was akin to "run! run for your life!" in JW-speak.

In my daydream just now I thought about putting a sign on the door or saying to one of these people, "I understand that it is part of your faith to share your gospel with others..." Then I thought, "Why is it I know about the basics of their faith but they can't be bothered to learn about mine?"

Today I was in a bookstore reading a little of Raising Witches, a book about pagan parenting. There are a few sample kid-questions and parent-answers. One was, "Why can't I be open about our religion?" Why indeed. The answer was basically a brief history of pagan/Christian relations, like "when people sought to bring Christianity to pagan people, they were often met with resistance and they were afraid so they told lies about Pagans and used force and violence to impose their will." It's a good answer to a hard question.

I guess what I'm pondering here is why some faiths seem very open to learning about the beliefs and traditions of others while some faiths are completely closed off. Do they really believe our (common) Divine Force would punish them for simply educating themselves?

I also heard or read recently that violent behavior almost always stems from ignorance or fear. I guess it's no wonder that so many Pagans are afraid to show their faith outwardly when there is such a great chance of violence b/c of fear and ignorance.

I also daydreamed about fundamentalists saying they would pray for me and responding with, "Would you like me to do spellwork for you?" Of course they would be horrified and I would say, "You see, witchcraft does not impose itself on others. I would never do any spellwork, which is a form of prayer, without your knowledge and consent. Would you impose your faith on me?" I just wonder what response a person could possibly have to that.

In any case, I did really well in the game I played while daydreaming. Probably b/c I was channeling the goddess of fortune ;)