I am totally disgusted by the irresponsible conduct of certain people representing some religious organizations in our community.
They have no boundaries of decency, they display poor judgment and a lack of respect for other people.
Am I against people who believe in their faith strongly enough that they wish to carry their message to others? Absolutely not, they have my blessing and may God be with them.
I draw the line at people who use intimidation, manipulation or false pretenses of generosity to push their views over the free will of another human being.
The other day my wife was just heading into town when she saw two women talking to our elderly neighbour at his door. He is a fine gentleman who’s health is failing. He is on medicine and can become easily confused by strangers. My wife pulled over to make sure all was well.
When she walked up to the front door the two women were trying to nudge past him to get into the house. My wife could see the man was confused, and he looked so pleased, even relieved, when he saw her.
When she asked the visitors who they were and why they were there, one woman acted indignant and high handed. My wife demanded they answer her questions and only then did they admit they were there to peddle their religious views.
My wife asked them to leave and they were not compliant. My wife had to make it clear they were to leave or she would call the police.
She also informed them not to return and specifically pointed out our adjoining property where she instructed them not to visit.
My wife reassured our neighbour all was well and he returned to the protection and privacy of his home.
The two women appeared to have left but my wife decided to stay close by to watch. Within a few minutes, the same two women pulled up in front of the gentleman’s house. My wife put the run on them again.
A few minutes after that my wife doubled back just in time to see them driving towards our property gate. Our gate is down a short driveway all by itself, it leads only to our house there is no reason anyone drives that last short entry of road unless they are coming to our place.
My wife confronted them again and they denied knowing it was our land.
These two ladies represent the same religious organization which has visited us twice before and on both of those occasions the representatives were politely told, and I do mean politely, that we were not interested in their religious beliefs and we did not wish for them to come again to see us.
As you can tell from this letter, I am no longer in a polite frame of mind. I want these people to stop coming on my property. I also want them to stop taking advantage of elderly people who are obviously not clear about what is happening. That includes gaining entry to homes by offering to wash dishes, or do house cleaning.
If unemployed young people used a ruse like this to gain entrance to the home of an elderly person, the police and the community would be very upset and suspicious.
I for one am just as concerned and suspicious when the same tactics are used by a couple of older women in the middle of the day claiming God has sent them.
– Brian Norwood, Grand Forks