At least the door to door evangelists prompt a debate! Unfortunately it is very difficult to have open debate when both parties have an agenda for the outcome - usually both parties are convinced of their own position and are looking to prove the other wrong, rather than come to a consensus.
I think there's effectively a consensus in place in the UK; no-one's threating agnostics with extermination on the basis of their lack of faith, and no-one's realistically proposing the slaughter of Church of England vicars. In other times and places, one or the other extreme has been considered or implemented.
I think you're describing mutual tolerance, which is great, but not the same as a consensus. It's agreeing to differ rather than holding a discussion with the aim of agreeing on a common conclusion.
I'm all for it of course, live and let live and all that, but i don't think that's what the doorstep evangelists are trying to achieve - I think they would aim to effect change in the other person's beliefs rather than persuading people to refrain from burning them. :)
Ah, indeed, that is true, it is more tolerance than consensus. But then, I think "there is a God, who is worth worshipping" and "there's no reasonable ground for believing in a God, and tensions over worshipping this being has caused untold misery again and again and again in human history, so it's something to be avoided" are like "the sky is purple" versus "the sky is blue"; "consensus," were it to be reached, would have much bearing on reality.
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I think there's effectively a consensus in place in the UK; no-one's threating agnostics with extermination on the basis of their lack of faith, and no-one's realistically proposing the slaughter of Church of England vicars. In other times and places, one or the other extreme has been considered or implemented.
I'm all for it of course, live and let live and all that, but i don't think that's what the doorstep evangelists are trying to achieve - I think they would aim to effect change in the other person's beliefs rather than persuading people to refrain from burning them. :)