A neighbour in our small street came by this morning and introduced himself. After asking “what we did for a crust”, he asked if we were Christians, then asked if we’re affiliated with any church! And said he’d given up drinking alcohol for Lent.
I was brought up to believe that subjects such as politics, religion, and sex were off-limits in general conversation and should only be entertained once you knew the people you were talking to really well. This neighbour is older than us, so I presume he was brought up the same way, but maybe not. Then again, he may belong to a church that is all about grabbing new members – there’s a strong JW community in town, I believe…
I don’t think I’ve ever been asked those questions before! Certainly not by someone who I’d met for about 2 minutes.
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
You know they say if they convert 12 they get a toaster oven… 😉
A strong JW community? What does the JW stand for?
I’m surprised to hear this story coming out of Australia. It just doesn’t fit with the image I’ve always held of Australia — that of a country where folks pretty much let other folks be the folks they’re meant to be without a lot of intrusion, judgment, and so forth. Seems I have some reading to do…
Sadly, I had many similar experiences when I lived in the American Midwest — especially in the Upper Midwest. Like you, I’d been raised to believe that politics and religion should be discussed amidst family members and very close, long-time friends.
Should be no surprise that I moved back to New England. The Midwest is lovely…has lots of things going for it. But it wasn’t until I moved that I realized what a dyed-in-the-wool New Englander I’d become (even though I wasn’t born here).
JW = Jehovah’s Witnesses (Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses)
Oh, okay. We have them here, just never saw “JW” used to refer to them. They do their occasional door-knocking to “share the word” but otherwise usually don’t do a lot of pushy recruiting. (At least…not here in the Northeast U.S.) The members I’ve met have been very nice, polite, good-hearted people…so I’ve never really understood the jokes and stereotypes that have been applied to them in the States.
For whatever reason, it hadn’t occurred to me that they’d established a presence in Australia.