This may be the last question I post on IA....

[P-Kasso2]

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I have to admit that I am getting slightly peeved at posting questions on IA and nobody answers!  It feels a bit like weeing into an abyss at times.  Are my questions too boring - or what?  If so I'll up my game and hope for a reply (or even two!).

Anyway friends, I'll give you all another chance.  Here's my question...

I haven’t had a Jehovah’s Witness knock on my door for ages. Have they died out in Britain?

Twenty years ago Jehovah Witnesses used to be knocking on my door almost every two weeks.  And I once invited a Jehovah Witness in and we talked for about four hours. It was a memorable conversation with a very interesting chap - and our views on the world weren't really so far apart until it came to the 'Churchianity' aspect and the quoting of the Bible chapter and verse 24/7 of Jehovah Witnesses. 

Although I did not wish to convert to the Jehovah Witness message, I was always very polite to them, and they always seemed to be very decent and caring people.

But now they have vanished! Or they seem to have vanished.

Is it because I no longer live in London? No longer on a Jehovah Witness's 'flight path'?

Have they stopped knocking on doors?  Or am I on some kind of Jehovah Witness black list?

Can anyone tell me what's going on?  Are Jehovah Witnesses still thriving?  Have they disbanded?  Or what?

[Duffield1]

Hoping it isn't going to be the last post, PK - but this one I can certainly answer!

No, they are not dieing out - I see Jehovah's Witnesses every day walking into York past my daughter's school when I drop her off, and there is an active Kingdom Hall adjacent to where I buy my dog food.

I suspect that they have changed their strategy a little and concentrate on high-traffic areas rather than door-knocking, though I have seen pairs of them in streets near us occasionally.

Apparently, there are 137,000 followers in the UK, and 8.2 million internationally.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/25/jehovahs-witnesses-accused-of-silencing-victims-of-child-abuse-uk

[P-Kasso2]

"I suspect that they (Jehovah Witnesses) have changed their strategy a little and concentrate on high-traffic areas rather than door-knocking, though I have seen pairs of them in streets near us occasionally."

Well Duff, that certainly strikes me as a better marketing strategy.  Less hit and miss and far less  labour intensive than banging on doors etc.

On the one hand, I certainly hope that Jehovah Witnesses are thriving - because there's already far too much religious persecution in this world without adding JW's to the list.

On the downside, I know there is a Kingdom Hall opposite Waitrose here in downtown Lewes but (call me slowmo) I only just realised a few weeks ago that it's a JW outpost and it seems to be doing well.  It is plastered with so many posters with day-glo Biblical slogans on them that I can't really see myself as ever wanting anything to do with such a screechy shouty outfit.

I suppose it must take a very special type of person to want to join the JWs - and I am just not that kind of person. Certainly not the kind of person described in your Guardian link!  It's not just the Catholics then?  Religions all seem to have kiddy fiddlers' skeletons in their gold encrusted cupboards.

I think I made the right choice deciding to be a Humanitarian when I was thirteen.

[P-Kasso2]

Well, well done IAers! There HAS been a slight increase in questions and just as importantly, answers, on IA lately.

So I will soldier on. For those itching to read my next question, have a look in 'Science and Nature' for my latest question (on Pollen and allergies).

For those of you still feeling too weak to click on 'Science and Nature' the question is "How big does a pollen grain have to be before it sets me off in gales of sneezing?"

Over to "Science and Nature".