Months ago a group of teenagers
rang our door bell and introduced themselves.
They were from a local church and were out trying to spread the word on
their church and when services were.
When I told them we were Atheist in our house and were not interested
something intriguing happened. The leader
of the group took a small step back like I had punched him in the stomach. I assure you I had not. But the effect of my statement seemed to
physically show on his face and in his body language. Immediately the group began proselytizing1
in a very firm and aggressive manner. I
told them that I wasn’t interested and to please leave, before they could
respond I shut the door. This is just
one reaction to informing someone from middle America that you are an atheist.
What we really want to talk about
is how social pressure from the hard core bible beaters affects the people of
this area. Here, it is socially acceptable to be a “bad Christian” but to be a good
and honest atheist makes you a social pariah. As a child Locke was forced to
attend a Methodist church, while Demonsthenes was raised and then sent to
Catholic school for several years. Over
the years we have observed how attendance is very different during the regular
Sunday service and the services on Christmas and Easter. My hardcore Methodist family informed me that
this influx of attendees was due to the “C and E Christians”. These C and E Christians were both loathed
and loved by the church. First the
church liked the opportunity to get some needed money from donations and try to
convert C and E’s to become every Sunday Christians. The “true” Christians judged these C and E
and made hurtful comments behind their backs. The same could be said for the
Catholic population, who’s attendance seemed to increase during Lent, when
having smears of soot on your forehead was a social badge of pride to carry to out
into the world that said “See, I am making a personal sacrifice for my faith.
Ask me about it!”
Every
week we want to share either a personal experience or story about our lives as
atheists; how we got here, how our relationships with family have been affected
by coming out of “the god closet” and the hypocrisy we observe around us.
Hopefully you find some humor and relate to our experiences. If not, well, at
least you had something to kill some time at work with.
1. Proselytizing: present participle of pros·e·lyt·ize (Verb)
Verb:
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