Funny how you make no comments about athiests but only a couple of religions. I find it offensive when athiests claim I am stupid ignorant uneducated bigot. Not only are they wrong and have no idea what my views or practice are that is offensive. So best just ban any kind of talking on the street. I would say no topic should be banned but do agree that if the audience needs to be there or need to line up to frequent a business there then it is not reasonable to allow as they don't have the choice. It is also unfair on businesses if we say go elsewhere so you don't hear it as I could easily choose spots where I know people line up to get into and start preaching there.When I went to university, for about a year there was a (horrible) street musician on the only sensible pedestrian route from the train station to the campus. Every single day, this guy decided he had the right to annoy me and hundreds/thousands of others with his tunes and his begging, ruining fine mornings with mangled renditions of whatever song could coax a few cents from the dumb minority who appreciate accordion music at 8 AM. And that just involved horrible music. Someone telling me that I'm going to hell every morning is much more than "just being an unwanted listener for a few seconds". It ruins the mood, it ruins the atmosphere, it makes the society a crappy place to live for everyone except the one guy who really feels a need to shout at strangers.
I really like the dutch word for society, "samenleving", or literally something like "together-living". It indicates that the idea is to live together, that the thing only works if you keep each other's needs, wants, and desires in mind. Actions that are only beneficial to one person and detrimental to everyone else (and no, some madman raving on the streets is no way beneficial towards establishing "thoughtful dialogue" or anything of that kind..) are not beneficial to the society, and thus don't belong in public.
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