Per Ross: Finally, I think Peter T.'s criticism of missionaries is overly simplistic. You can make the the case that it's pretty annoying for them to decamp to some other location and start pushing their views. On the other hand, wouldn't the ideal situation be a commitment to freedom of speech? Nothing forces people to accept the missionaries' message (in this day and age, at least).

My response: Ross, nothing I said can be viewed as endorsing the impingement of freedom of speech. Missionaries absolutely have the right to be pushy, deluded dickheads. But your naive to retort with the "in this day and age" argument. In sub-Saharan Africa, a region decimated by AIDS, Roman Catholic missionaries are preaching the evils of condom use to a seriously less than informed populace. Talk about some lethal proselytizing! "Annoying" this ain't, Ross, it's sometimes deadly and shameful.

Peter T.