Oh, come on...religious festivals are fun. Especially Christian ones. Why, you may ask? Perhaps festivals is the wrong word to use. Sociable gatherings, rather. Ever been to a heavy-duty Calvinist gathering, with loads of sombre hymns and extremely serious people? Let me tell you, go to one of those and listen to a few sermons on how vice-ridden modern life is and how we have all strayed from the flock and we need to return to traditional virtues...blahblahblah...when you hit the bar afterwards and gulp down the first pint, beer has never tasted sweeter.
As for people pressing their convictions/opnions on you, either respond in a foreign language while gesticulating wildly with both hands or slap them with a rolled-up newspaper. People are, basically, like dogs. They like to sleep, eat and..well...you know...and if you hit them with a newspaper they go away. Dogs will sometimes responds by biting, people rarely do. Except if you hit someone like Jeffrey Dahmer, then he wiil probably bite and eat you. So don't hit homicidal cannibalistic maniacs and, to be sure, always enquire if people you meet belong to that category, as my mother used to tell me. Guess there was a reason I was not allowed to play with the other kids.
If you encounter a religious zealot who really tries to press the point, inform said individual that you alone possess the real truth, the only truth. Then proceed to dance around your victim, pointing a finger and chant "My truh is better than your truth, nananananana" and then run for it.
Sorry for the ranting. I am happy and thus I rant.