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I got jumped by Jesus freaks today and I didn't handle it well.
I was on my way to lunch, which is never a good time to try to start a conversation with me. I'd politely refused a flyer and was continuing on my way when the young woman asked me, "Do you have any spirituality at all?" and I felt compelled to answer, "Nope, I'm a total atheist." And that's how I got sucked in.
A couple things about this sort of interaction offend my sensibilities. The first is the overweening arrogance of these 20 year-olds thinking they've got something worth sharing on the subject of belief. I outright said, "I'm 48 years old. What could you possibly tell me about Jesus that I haven't heard before?" Predictably, all they had in response was platitudes about "opening your heart".
The other is the pathetic inability to acknowledge the particular harm this belief system has done. I don't like to lead with the gay thing because it feels like a bit of a cop-out--I think I'd still be an atheist even if I were straight. But the truth is that being told from an early age that there was no room for faggots in Heaven has forever coloured my attitudes toward Christianity.
I made this point indirectly when I told a young man who'd come to the aid of his struggling co-prosyletiser, telling him I'd be fine with people believing whatever they wanted if it didn't invade the political realm. He admitted to me that there was no way of preventing his morality from informing his political beliefs and I don't really think he was able to think through the consequences of that for a queer atheist like me.
When they saw how het up I was getting, they abandoned ship and wished me a good day. This was another sort of harm: You've got to realise when you're confronting others with your Christian beliefs that you may be forcing them to deal with difficult, painful, and even traumatic experiences. To do that and then not be prepared or willing to deal with the consequences is shitty.
I pondered these things while wolfing down my sandwich and eventually decided to go back...and apologise. Regardless of how ill-though-out their approach was, it wasn't ill-intentioned. And regardless of the unfairness of the situation, I wasn't happy with how I'd handled it. But I couldn't locate the faces of the pair who'd talked to me in the crowd; the pamphleteers were different (and took "no" for an answer this time). So no closure for me, just a resolution to think this through so that I'm better prepared next time.
I was on my way to lunch, which is never a good time to try to start a conversation with me. I'd politely refused a flyer and was continuing on my way when the young woman asked me, "Do you have any spirituality at all?" and I felt compelled to answer, "Nope, I'm a total atheist." And that's how I got sucked in.
A couple things about this sort of interaction offend my sensibilities. The first is the overweening arrogance of these 20 year-olds thinking they've got something worth sharing on the subject of belief. I outright said, "I'm 48 years old. What could you possibly tell me about Jesus that I haven't heard before?" Predictably, all they had in response was platitudes about "opening your heart".
The other is the pathetic inability to acknowledge the particular harm this belief system has done. I don't like to lead with the gay thing because it feels like a bit of a cop-out--I think I'd still be an atheist even if I were straight. But the truth is that being told from an early age that there was no room for faggots in Heaven has forever coloured my attitudes toward Christianity.
I made this point indirectly when I told a young man who'd come to the aid of his struggling co-prosyletiser, telling him I'd be fine with people believing whatever they wanted if it didn't invade the political realm. He admitted to me that there was no way of preventing his morality from informing his political beliefs and I don't really think he was able to think through the consequences of that for a queer atheist like me.
When they saw how het up I was getting, they abandoned ship and wished me a good day. This was another sort of harm: You've got to realise when you're confronting others with your Christian beliefs that you may be forcing them to deal with difficult, painful, and even traumatic experiences. To do that and then not be prepared or willing to deal with the consequences is shitty.
I pondered these things while wolfing down my sandwich and eventually decided to go back...and apologise. Regardless of how ill-though-out their approach was, it wasn't ill-intentioned. And regardless of the unfairness of the situation, I wasn't happy with how I'd handled it. But I couldn't locate the faces of the pair who'd talked to me in the crowd; the pamphleteers were different (and took "no" for an answer this time). So no closure for me, just a resolution to think this through so that I'm better prepared next time.
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