Thursday evening is one of the two evenings per week that I have class this semester. For various reasons, I've had a longer than usual stretch of time today between leaving work and starting class. I decided to hole up in the student union and work on a statement of purpose for a grad school application.
I was deep in thought, staring at my laptop screen when two people who appeared to be undergraduates approached me. After a lead-up of them telling me their names, asking me my name, telling me how random their approaching me was, and admitting that they didn't know whether I was spiritual or not, they cut to the chase and invited me to join them at a meeting of their bible study group. I had an ironclad excuse not to go:
"Oh," I told them. "I'll actually be in class when your meeting starts."
But then--and here comes the trap--one of them asked me if I would have been interested in attending if I hadn't had class.
To be clear, I have no objection whatsoever to religious group meetings of any kind. But it's not really my thing. I prefer to keep my religious/spiritual beliefs private, and shared spiritual beliefs are not what draws me to other people. I didn't explain any of this.
"Ummm...." I said. "Probably not. But thank you very much for inviting me."
I won't lose sleep over this encounter, but I am sort of wondering what one does in that sort of situation. Is it a thing now for people to approach strangers and invite them to meetings? Was there a more tactful way I could have answered the question? Should we all just be brutally direct in responses to such questions?
Maybe I should just try to look really mean while I'm working in public places.
