There are good ways and bad ways to try to influence others and convert them to your way of thinking.

Here are a few reminders of what the bad ways look like, courtesy our Christian friends:

—– Colorado Springs Church, School Clash Over Proselytizing (Mark Barna/The Gazette/The DenverPost.com; May 4)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado: Representatives of a local Christian church tried to lure a seventh-grader at Russell Middle School into a church van last week, school district officials said.

As a result, the principal sent students home with a letter to parents asking that they instruct their children not to talk to strangers, and the district has beefed up security around the property at 3825 E. Montebello Drive.

The letter to parents did not identify the church, and the district – acting on the advice of its attorney – has declined to name it. But sources told The Gazette that it was Cornerstone Baptist Church, which is about 2.5 miles from the school and has gotten into trouble in the past for baptizing children without parents’ permission.

Students at nearby Keller and Fremont elementary schools also have been approached by church members, and church proselytizing has been escalating in recent weeks at Russell. Still, officials were unprepared for what happened Thursday, district spokeswoman Elaine Naleski said Friday.

“We have never had a problem like this before,” she said. “We are shocked by their actions.”

A few weeks ago, officials at the school met with the church’s leader to complain about members coming on school property to preach the Bible, Naleski said. But rather than stop, church members started proselytizing from public sidewalks outside the school.

The school will seek a no-trespassing order if church members resume harassing children on school property, Naleski said. But it will be up to parents to take legal action against the church if their children are approached in public areas outside the school.

Assistant pastor Ford Glover said Friday that Cornerstone would have no comment.

The church website’s “doctrinal statement” that “we believe the church is a local, separated body of believers who are sent forth into the world to get people saved, baptized, and added to the church.”

—– Father: Son Baptized Without His Permission (TheDenverChannel.com; May 5)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado: A father is upset that his teenage son was baptized without his permission.

The father, James Radar, told KRDO-TV his son was baptized at Cornerstone Baptist Church two Sundays ago.

Chris Radar, 17, said he was told to put on a robe then, “I saw one little boy got baptized, but I didn’t know he was taking me to get baptized.”

James Radar said he was never asked if it was OK. He called the church, but didn’t get a response. Radar went to the church with a TV reporter.

While the reporter was asked to leave, the church’s pastor talked to James and his son. James told KRDO-TV after the meeting, “I told him my concern was that they baptized my son without my permission. He said he was under the impression that he was 18. He doesn’t even look 18.”

Chris is 17. He said he was invited to the church by someone he met while walking home from school.

KRDO reported that in 1993 and again in 1997, Cornerstone Baptist Church leaders were accused of baptizing children without parental permission. Cornerstone Baptist Church lost a civil suit in 1997.

—– US Troop Conversion Allegations Diplomatic Minefield (Ed Stoddard/FaithWorldReuters; May 4)

U.S. President Barack Obama may face a new minefield on the battlefields of Afghanistan – one that combines a potent mix of religion and culture.

Explosive allegations have emerged that U.S. soldiers have been attempting to convert Afghanis to Christianity, a scenario sure to stir passions and even anger in the overwhelming Islamic country. You can see our story on the issue here by my colleague Peter Graff in Kabul.

The U.S. military denied Monday it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with bibles translated into local languages.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera television showed footage of a church service at Bagram, the main U.S. base north of the Afghan capital Kabul, in which soldiers had a stack of Bibles in the local languages, Pashtu and Dari.

A military chaplain was shown delivering a sermon to other soldiers, saying: “The special forces guys – they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down.”

Critics have long contended that parts of the U.S. military have been unduly influenced by a powerful evangelical Christian wing which has pressured men and women in uniform to convert or conform.

Many U.S. military events often feature public prayers which some also say blur the line they say should be drawn between church and state. We have blogged on this issue before.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has for years tried to raise public awareness about this issue and has in the past accused the military of sanctioning missionary activity in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Headed by former U.S. air force judge advocate Mikey Weinstein, it said on Monday that: “His (Weinstein’s) calls for action have been met with a full assault of denials, baseless and anti-Semitic accusations, and most recently imprecatory prayers against him and his family. But now there is VIDEO PROOF that Mikey has been right all along.”

The U.S. military has said that the comments from the sermon shown in the video were taken out of context and that it firmly prohibits soldiers from proseltyzing while on duty.

Whether this is true or not, there is no question that at least some damage has been done.

You can see the video evidence that Weinstein is referring to by going to the end of this Reuters report.

—– Sect Disrupts Church Services In The Netherlands (DutchNews; May 5)

Some 10 church services in Apeldoorn were disrupted on Sunday by members of a German religious sect, the Nederlands Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

The sect members claim the attack on the royal motorcade during the Queen’s Day celebrations on April 30 was due to divisions between Christians, the paper said. Responsibility for the attack, therefore, lies with the Christian community.

Different churches had different experiences with the sect members, the paper says. In some instances they handed round leaflets, in others theyattempted to make speeches. Once asked to leave, all did so without problem and the police were not involved.

The sect members are followers of the German evangelist Horst Schaffranek (1923) who are notorious for disrupting church services.

—– Anti-Gay Group Protests Outside School (KCCI.com; May 5)

DES MOINES, Iowa: Members of the anti-gay group cut their protest short Tuesday afternoon at Lincoln High School in Des Moines.

Close to a half dozen Westboro Baptist Church members stood outside the school at 2600 SW 9th St. around 2 p.m.

The group is from a controversial Topeka, Kan., church that routinely protests against gay issues around the country. Members said they were at the school to protest a student receiving a Matthew Sheppard scholarship.

Police barricades kept church members on the east side of the street, while several hundred students stayed behind barricades across the street in front of Lincoln’s main school building.

Relatives of churches founder, Fred Phelps, said the world needs to know that God hates gay people.

“The promise from God is if you obey me, I’ll bless you, if not he will curse you and they will not obey the word of their God,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, church member.

“We are all equal. I don’t think we should say you can’t do this or be that and judge each other, not right at all,” said Zahara Yual, Lincoln High student.

“They are trying to justify hatred and God doesn’t hate anybody and love is not up to them, love is a human experience,” said Aaron Staver, Grandview student.

More than a dozen Des Moines police officers were on hand to make sure the protest stayed peaceful.

I have often heard Christians say that “militant” atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are rudely and aggressively trying to force their beliefs on others. If they’ve ever done anything as rude or aggressive as the Christians in these stories from just the last few days, however, I seem to have missed it….