what do you say to this?

[Cyberman]

This isn't quite the same, at least not in scale, but I have a couple of longtime and very dear friends, now married, who are more like hobby xtians; ie in it for the feeling of belonging to a club type of thing. Anyway, in the past they were much more blatant about proselytising to me than they are now. I well remember one occasion in a bookshop with one of them, when he came out withe a comment about how knowledge is the biggest cause of evil in the world; to which I replied "Second only to ignorance." Then there was the time when he tried to convince my nephew, then probably aged about six, that devils and demons were everywhere just waiting to punish the wicked etc. Later, when we were alone, my nephew came up to me, his favourite uncle, and asked me if all that stuff was true and that it had really frightened him. Of course I reassured him it was all bollocks (though I used a more age-appropriate term) and he forgot all about it. One short sharp, um, chat with my friend later, and he never tried that stunt again.

The reason I bring these examples up is that these friends are otherwise perfectly rational and down to Earth without these odd ideas. In fact, over the years their faith - such as it may have been - seems to have dwindled to the extent they don't appear to be a factor anymore. I'm sure it's due to my influence. So these stories don't always have to have an unhappy ending.