Toto

Except for our right of privacy, which may or may not lurk in the penumbra of the ninth amendment.

{edited for spelling, and to say that I am suddenly afraid. I found Renquist's dissent made a lot of sense. Should I turn myself over for reeducation camp?}

[ June 17, 2002: Message edited by: Toto ]</p>

tragic_pizza

Even Scalia makes sense on occasion. Especially when I agree with him .

The right to privacy is enforced in this situation, imho, by the individual posting signs forbidding solicitation. Should the signs be ignored, the local police should be summoned, and the offenders arrested for trespassing.

never been there

In Canada, rules are naturally different. You may find them interesting:

- In some municipalities, a resident's "no flyers" sign must be respected by businesses. Companies that ignore such signs can lose their business license. The motivation for these laws is environmental. Hard to enforce on political/religious groups, and that isn't the intent.

- A "no solicitors" sign would make anyone knocking at your door asking for something ($.25 for the Watchtower) a trespasser, if you wanted to push it. That might work in the US. I suppose you could send a letter to the Watchtower Society c/o the nearest kingdom hall to really cover your bases.

- Signed-up representatives of political parties are exempt from all the above, and must be given access past the security doors of apartment blocks.

I did once put up a sign saying "No flyers, no proselytizers". My roommates asked what the hell a proselytizer was and how that was to have any effect. I told them those concerned know perfectly well what it means and they did indeed stay away.

Buffman

Forgive me, O'Great Zeus! I have a confession to share with the assembled masses.

I love having JW's and Mormon Bicycle Boys knock on my door. I introduce myself to them as, " I am Evil Incarnate. Welcome to my Intellectual Hell, where Why is God and Critical Thinking is Jesus."

My neighbors used to ask me what I had said or done to cause many of these religious proseltyzers to go fleeing down my drive with faces masked with terror and me chasing after them waving a Bible and saying, "Come back! Come back! I'm just getting warmed up."

I suspect that their local canvassing maps are now annotated with a picture of Satan where my home should be. Where these unprepared folks used to show up around twice a year, I have only had one (out of the area WatchTower group) show up in the last five years...but I still see them going to other people's homes. (Muhahahahahaha)

crazyfingers

Buffman, send them to my house! I never get the opportunity to talk to real live fundies in person.

Stephen Maturin

Not to worry, Toto. Even a blind, evil, malevolent squirrel who's hell bent on accumulating power for himself at the expense of the executive branch finds a nut every now and again, and today it was Rehnquist's turn. I had the same reaction you did, but I suspect it'll fade with time.

Buffman

crazy f.

Almost without exception, these are very nice, sincere, people. In one sense, I am a little ashamed of myself for exposing them to the fallacies and errors in their stated beliefs. It is their hierarchal manipulators that deserve my true ire. However, those types are far more elusive and unwilling to chance doing or saying anything that could rock their religious gravy boat.

I do get rather aggressive when some of the women bring their very young children along with them. I usually ignore the adults and talk directly to the children. I ask them if they believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, ghosts, imps, pixies, devils, angels, Pink Unicorns, etc. When they invariably answer that they do, I ask them "Why." Naturally they look to their parent to bail them out. That's when the fun begins. I ask the parent if they believe in all these things...and casually mention something about bearing false witness...before they can answer.

If I could, I would send them all to you.

Seeker630

OK all--in the same vein------

I recall reading in a thread on another board a couple of years ago, that a problem had popped up for one of the posters who lived in an apartment complex. Somehow the JW's had got on the property and managed to get buzzed into individual buildings by residents, claiming over the intercom that they were from the company that cleans the hallways and stairs in the building. At which point they started going door to door inside the building.

Although this is clearly fraudulent and illegal, it does raise the point in relation to the wider issue under discussion;

Can LDS, or JW's then now still be excluded from such private property areas like apartment complexes, mobile home parks, condo complexes and so forth, in light of this new decision? Do the managers of such communities now have to admit these people to the property? Anybody know of any other court precedents or incidents?

It seems to me that people living in controlled access communities have a big advantage here. They can always be turned away at the gate or simply not have a card/key/code to gain entry.

Jewel

The last pair of JW's to knock on my door was a father and son team. The kid looked about 12 and quite bored. I was living in the Florida Keys at the time and the weather was just beautiful (as usual) and that kid looked like he'd rather be doing just about anything rather than going door to door selling religion. I rally wish I would have thought about talking to him instead of his father.

Since moving to northern VA I have only been visited once by door bell missionaries (a pair of Mormon boys) and I did not have time to talk to them. I see the Mormons in my apartment complex every Saturday but they have not come back to visit me.

-jewel

Oresta

JWs come regularly through our neighborhood. They come in pods/flocks/beveys whatever. I used to answer the door and politely tell them I wasn't interested. They would politely depart, but be back in a couple of weeks. However, in the past couple of years, I have seen them on the block, but they pass this house up. My theory: JW evngalists who come through here are all black. I think the word is out that ours is a white household and we are not likely to be likely candidates in an interracial exchange. On the other hand, they may have decided we just aren't worth saving.

A final note. I agree with the Supremes' decision on this. The ordinance is discriminatory, singling out an evangalizing religion to register as a "security" measure in the community. All it takes to keep JWs et. al. away is a "No Solicitors" sign. Rhenquist's dissent is just, plain silly. It's the sort of nonsense argument given by concealed handgun supporters who claim an armed adult in the school could have prevented the Columbine tragedy.