Does proselyzing hurt or harm people?

[Jacksnyte]

I believe that there are many ways that proseltysing hurts. When the hoped for outcome (conversion) happens, it causes so much disharmony in families. Brothers won't speak to each other , cousins can't enjoy get-togethers. and much much more.

Then there is just the annoyance factor. With the advent of the internet and libraries, every single faith system is available to anyone on the planet.

Historically, although today is somewhat better, it has caused disappearances of entire gentle cultures. Extinction. Loss of knowledge (ancient herbology, to mention one)

I have nothing at all against ethical conversion, where there is no sneakiness or proseltysing tied to things like food and weakness on deathbeds.

Thoughts?

Proselytizing the, way it is most often done, Can be rude, and often makes the one doing it look very bad because the ones who participate in it are most often the ones who are the most ignorant of the religion/non-religion/belief structure of the person they are attempting to convert, as well as their own religion. I think if more extreme Christians actually did their own studying of their own book without letting other people teach them fallacious info due to taking things out of context, we would have a lot less ignorance and intolerance spread in the name of Christianity. I have many Christian friends, and I try to encourage them to actually think about what they are being taught, and not to just accept it because "Brother so-and-so said it, and he knows everything about the Buy-bull". I think the people proselytizing should take all the energy they waste annoying the crud out of people who really don't want to hear it, and use that energy to actually research in depth, and learn about the roots of their religion: where/when it originates, actual facts about who really wrote the writings it is based on, what the actual teachings are without someone elses personal predjudices superimposed over the actual teachings. True learning can only come with an open mind.