Losing my religion…
Being something of a Free Speech absolutist, I question the fairness of this (when proselytizers show up at my door, I find a simple “I’m not interested, thank you” works pretty well) but it seems to be a popular measure.
From Denuncias.mx (my translation):
The Senate is working on a new bill, designed to respect “dominciliary privacy” in religious matters.
The bill would provide for sanctions, and possible jail terms, for those who harrass people in their homes for religious reasons. This follows a recent survey which identified religious propaganda as a major concern in some communities.
People complained about proselytizers making them feel as if they were prisoners in their own homes, or waking people early on Sunday morning, or even threatening to return when told that the householder is not interested.
Under the proposed Ley para la Protección Doméstica, unwanted intrusion by vendors, bill collectors, and even the police would also be covered. Scheduled for a vote on 25 May, the law would provide for jailing the offender up to six weeks, if they return after being told not to, when the householder files a complaint with the public prosecutor.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of the Third Day, and the Church of the End Times, have all been mentioned a the most likely to be affected by the new regulation.
I know these kinds of regulations sound as if they’d be “unconstitutional”, and they probably would be (or at least challenged) in the United States, but the Constitution here gives one not just the right to religion belief of one’s choice, but also specifies the right to DISBELIEF. Subtle, but important.
The Mex Files 
It is high time some regulation takes place. I would say that on a good 40% of the time my children are bothered to answer the door to these zealots, they miss at least a significant portion of a Family Guy episode. And we wonder why the world is going to hell in a hand basket..
Let’s hear it for Freedom From Religion. As important as freedom of religion if not more so.
And what about the telemarketers?The people who call on behalf of banks, insurance companies and so on? I’ve had them call at 9:30 pm on a Sunday. They bother me more than the religious zealots…
How about simply not answering the door? Do we really want Mexico to go down the road of criminalizing all kinds of things that are properly considered nuisances? And jail time? Seriously? Don’t these legislators realize that they could go to hell for passing such legislation?
How about focusing on some real problems first, like corruption of police and public officials? Or maybe public education? Or drug gangs? Once they’ve mostly fixed a few of those, then let’s talk about the proselytizers.
They should be embarrassed that they are even talking about something so trivial. What’s next? Legislation about who can use which restroom?
I’ve lived in Mexico since October 2000. At my first place of residence I’d get door-knockers of various stripes, sales (from furniture to tapetes), begging, outright scams (“I need money for a cylinder of gas”…), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormon’s and so on.
When JWs stop by whether they anglo- or hispanohablantes, they always start with an opening question that is intended to put the resident back on their heels. As a young Baptist in Texas, I was taught that Jesus always answered a question with a question. So, I listen to asker’s question (like, “What do you think of prophesy?), then I pick the key word from the question and ask them, “Will you please define prophesy? Then I can make sure were talking about the same concept.” The ‘definitions’ that they give are so wrong, it’s amazing.
What I did was I took their script (or flowchart) away from them. Understand please, I don’t want to convert them, and I don’t want to teach them a bible lesson, but I do want them to learn a lesson. That lesson, of course, that though I’m friendly toward them, I really don’t want them to come back. And they don’t.
One English-speaking couple with whom I spoke for nigh on to 30 minutes finally told me that they had to move on up the street. I can imagine that they took out their street map and put a big red X where my domicile would have been and marked it with “DON’T GO BACK HERE!”