So my (formerly agnostic, now atheist) friend (Christian) is very Christian and obsesses over it. Her only friends besides me are Christian and all they talk about is the Bible, Jesus, and God. She also tries to “convert” people. She tried to convert me by asking what my relationship with God as like, if I read the Bible, etc. and tried to get me to apologize to God for being agnostic and not Christian “for Christianity is the only true religion and He will come soon”.
She constantly talks about it like I said and constantly tries to get me to convert every time we talk.
You tell her “I love you and enjoy spending time with you, but it’s starting to make me uncomfortable that you keep pressing the religion and conversion conversation.”
Then, if she keeps it up, you cut her loose because she doesn’t respect your boundaries.
This is the way, I feel. But sticking to it is difficult.
My best friend Chuck would follow any fad or trend, and he got into amway. He wanted everyone to be in the same club he was getting such validation in. He proselytized like mad. We told him no.
He kept asking and offering and trying to show the pitch videos. We told him no; and that the third time he tried this it’d be the last we saw of him.
I hope he’s doing well and broke free of those guys. It’s been 28 years, I’m sure. But we haven’t spoken to him since a few days after the ultimatum.
It is difficult, absolutely. It comes down to knowing that your personal, healthy boundaries are more important than whatever someone wants to talk at you about. You’re never obligated to interact with a person that makes you uncomfortable.
Very sound advice. To be honest, I’ve just entered my 40s and I’ve only just figured it out.
Having social phobia fucked me up in a few secondary ways and this is one of them - any conversation/relationship pretty much made me uncomfortable and it took me a long time to be able to separate normal conversations/relationships from the ones with people keen to take advantage of a meek, quiet person.