Small Town Reality Check

Brent,

If you really wanted to kick it old school, you could organize an Atheist Meetup at the Diner and do an old fashioned lunch counter sit-in...nonviolent direct action has its place, sometimes. I guess you could've complained to the manager, but...as you say, you were able to get a good calzone next door, and they lost out on a sale and tips. If it were me, I don't care how good the sandwiches looked, I'd tell myself I don't want to patronize a place that wears religion on its sleeve so overtly and would've walked out upon getting a look at their menu and maybe say something like "sorry, suddenly lost my appetite".

On the other hand, I do eat at Chick-Fil-A and Whataburger because I love their food, even if they are supposedly owned by Jesus freaks. I do draw the line at Dominoes Pizza, though (their CEO engages in anti-abortion lobbying). It annoys me that Chick-Fil-A isn't open on Sundays, but that's their choice. Whataburger is open 24/7, which rocks.

So anonymous doesn't like out-of-the-closet gays or atheists. Too f*cking bad, pal, we're here, & we ain't going away.

I've had experiences kind of like this (but not for atheism, fortunately)...what really gets me about your story (and stories I've experienced) is that some person, after it all, has the nerve to say, "Hope you enjoyed your lunch!"

I try not to let it get me down though. I realize that this is just the fruits of people's beliefs, upbringings, etc., As they themselves say, they will be judged by their fruits. That's a cafe that's alienated, and about whom the word is being spread.

I always find it amusing that theist people are "genneraly" more hostile and condesending then the "typical" atheist. I have never looked down at someone because they beleive in god, but I have been treated in many less then desireable ways due to my lack of beliefe in god. If I owend a reseraunt and a bible pusher came in to eat, I would serve them with a smile as thier money is just as good, even better knowing they are supporting a non believer.....

Did the sticker actually say "Atheist" on it, or was it just the "A"? Because I have my doubts about how recognizable the symbol is, outside our community.

Maybe she was just a really bad waitress.

Love your site and the comments. Hilarious, I needed a chuckle today.

I think there is a New Atheist wave, and eventually they will acheive political power.

Then it will be off to the Gulags for people like me, like it was for my grandparents. Fortunately my parents were young enough to be taken out of the country by my aunt.

I know you will all just deny this, but I have infiltrated enough atheist meetings to know what their intentions are.

Did you ever think people who go to a Christian oriented location like the one you described above with such a symbol adorning your laptop can be viewed as jackasses? If I was a waiter there, I wouldn't serve you, but not because of your beliefs. Because you are a jackass.

Think about it like this... Do you like overtly gay people? That's how normal people view atheists.

By the way, the atheists are at Ken Ham's "creation museum" today. Follow the whole thing at Pharyngula or on Twitterfall. Go to http://twitterfall.com/ and enter #CreoZerg in the search window to find it.

First off, as a professing and confessing Christian, the treatment you describe is tough to justify from an examination of Christ's life as told in the gospels (or even in Scorsese!) Sounds a lot more like the behavior attributed to the Pharisees than to Jesus...

Second, we'd love to have you come visit our church, as long as you did so respectfully (just as I would try to attend one of your meetings respectfully). I find it really helpful to discuss issues of meaning with atheists, because it helps me really clarify what I think and why I think it. Is my understanding of the essence of meaning in life really based on Adam having a pet dinosaur? Really? That's the crux of all that is? I also really enjoy conversations that get past ontology and into meaning.

All that to say, not all of us are like that. Had I been in there & noticed your situation, I hope that I would have asked to sit with you.

Of course, I prefer calzones to greasy diner food anyway.

Some of the members of my local atheist Meetup group went to church last Sunday. Stirred up thoughts in my head ...

Years back, I was one of the first atheists to brave the religion chat rooms on Yahoo. When I first went in, they were festering festivals of simpering goddy and New-Agey nonsense. I started a little bit of pushback, just saying that there were no such things as gods and most of what people were saying was untrue. Early on, I was a trampoline for ardent Christians, who drowned me out with their arguments and passion, but within a month or so, there were two or three other persistent atheists in the rooms. In less than a year, the atheists outnumbered the godders, and the whole thing flipped over -- anytime someone came in with the standard religious proselytizing or mystical woo-woo, they were overwhelmed with arguments, facts, jokes and sometimes mass iggie buttons.

Thinking about that experience, I wonder what would happen if atheists started visiting churches. Not to disrupt, or even to announce themselves, but to post later reviews of what takes place. All the irrationality, the brainwashing, the racism, the political commentary ... or just the fellowship, if that's what happens. Although I don't see any reason to maintain any sort of presence at the more loving churches -- the purpose of these visits would really be to keep an eye on the more hateful groups.

Could be interesting to see what happens.

(And to those who think there's something bad in the idea of atheists visiting supposedly 'private' religious institutions, remember that they DO get what are essentially government subsidies -- a broad array of tax breaks. Far as I'm concerned, as long as you're not creating a disturbance inside, and as long as they pay no taxes but receive all the same benefits as those who do, churches are as public as a library.)

Yes, it will indeed take a long time. Once can still find sexism, racism, and all sorts of other obsolete reactions without looking too hard. None us us will live to see the day when anti-atheist bigotry does not exist, but we can and must keep working for atheist equality.

Maybe they thought you were an Adulteress.

Welp, as long as you got a good calzone across the street ... fuck 'em.

Nice bit of serendipity between your post and mine, Brent.

Jim Downey

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