Free thought warm fuzzies
Offline As I was walking onto campus this morning, there was an evangelist student standing in front of the library, literally shouting xian woo-woo at the top of his lungs:
"REPENT! THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND! WE CANNOT MAKE IT INTO HEAVEN UNLESS WE RENOUNCE WORDLY THINGS! GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON! REPENT!"
I was a little sad and extremely irritated, to say the least. I'm sure he considers himself a fisher of men, or some other cute xian euphamism, but he sounded more like a doomsayer or a crazy homeless guy ranting about how the government put a chip in his brain. It was very awkward.
My mood immediately changed, though, as I gradually noticed several things:
1) Nobody was listening to him. People were actively avoiding him.
2) At least two groups of students laughed at him as they walked by. (I didn't like this because of the mean-spiritedness, but because of what it said about the laughing students' healthy skepticism.)
3) Several times throughout the morning, I passed students talking on their cellphones, having conversations along the lines of: "Did you see that guy outside the library this morning? What the fuck?!" OR: "And my friend was all like 'yeah, he's right', and I'm like seriously? You believe a dude was swallowed by a giant fish and then regurgitated alive a few days later? That a magical man lives in the sky? I mean... really now..." etc etc
As a person who lives in Indiana (aka: Christiana), I was pleasantly surprised. It gave me the atheist warm fuzzies all morning to see how one obnoxious evangelist could get all the free thinkers voicing their skepticism. Casually! And in public!
I'm sure that as soon as I leave the university, all of that would change. But still. It was nice, and I needed to tell someone.
A place common to all will be maintained by none. A religion common to all is perhaps not much different.
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I'm often taken aback by quotes from surveys that talk about the percentages of Americans that are theist vs atheist, and I have to admit that I think things have changed enough in the past decade to merit a more up to date, and better survey.
I think there are more atheists than people realize, and that these surveys suggest. Far more.
You just made me smile. Thank you for sharing this.
We get those guys at my campus. We have two different ones. One brings a big sign with a list of the kinds of people going to hell on it. The other brings extension cords and uses them to show how god made our genetalia to fit into members of the opposite sex and not members of the same sex. Both of these men are obnoxious and even religious students on campus don't like them. It is actually funny to watch them since they give crazy person rants that alienate people.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
I still encounter the odd person who thinks "atheist" is as much insult as anything. The last person I told said in a sad voice: "oh, don't say that". I told her it just meant I didn't believe in a god, and she looked at me funny.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I guess some people think that 'atheist' is code for 'amoral communist.' The plain definition of the word doesn't seem to stop people from thinking that it has a sinister connotation.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India