Every time that I visit a gas station or a store that I have never been to before I ask the cashier:
“Please can you tell me where they hold the big monthly atheist meeting?”
He or she will look perplexed and mutter something about not knowing.
I then say something like:
“Yes, apparently Byron (or wherever I happen to be) has the largest number of atheists per capita of anywhere in Michigan and they have a huge atheist meeting once a month. People come in from New York and California.”
I chuckle to my self as I leave the store knowing that, at some point, the clerk will one day say to someone in conversation, “Did you know that we have the largest number of atheists in all of Michigan”
In the story book world that takes place inside my head word about this huge population of atheists soon spreads and becomes an enormous game of “Telephone” (Chinese Whispers as we called it in England).
People start to cast furtive sideways glances at neighbors who they have lived next to for years. Church goers look suspiciously at each other on Sunday mornings wondering if any “Fifth columnists” have infiltrated their ranks. A committee is organized to combat the problem but falls apart due to infighting and mistrust. Friends who have known each other for years start to doubt one another’s commitment to the word of god and slowly stop all contact with each other.
Parents take their children out of bible camp because they no longer trust the strange looking man with the paisley waistcoat who greeted them on the first day. A teenage boy is imprisoned because he has red hair. Two elderly sisters are shunned for growing strawberries. A posse of townsfolk gather at midnight with pitchforks and shovels and storm the old castle high on the hill.
2 comments:
Welcome to Atheism Online. I just approved your directory entry. It is always nice to see another atheist blog. This looks like a good one.
BTW, I love the idea of telling people that their community is a hotbed of atheist activity. If only it was true!
Love it!
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