The Harmon (beauty products) cashier askes me if I go to church

[lindysalsagal]

We were not having a conversation and I did not know her. She was of another race and 30 years younger than me.

So I said, "Why do you care if I go to church? I can't shop here unless I go to church?"

She replied, "Jesus is coming."

Without losing a second, I said, "Jesus is bullshit. You're in a cult. One day you're going to wake up and realize it's all a lie."

She replied, "I love you, anyway."

I replied, "You only say that because you're a victim of their conditioning and brainwashing. And you shouldn't use your job to prostletize."

She was shocked, and speechless.

Gotta admit, it felt good.

On the way out the door I was thinking that it might take less time for her to realize the cult leader was using her and that none of his bullshit promises would ever come true. When she turns up in trouble, thrown out of the house, on drugs, broke, whatever, they'll dump her like a hot rock. That's when she'll wake up.

[Capt.Rocky300]

1. I used to be concerned about these kind of peoples'....

feelings so I'd say something polite respecting their right to believe in the magical man in the clouds. Not anymore. The evangelicals have had a large hand in fucking up our country because they are willful idiots. They don't deserve any respect and I don't give them any.

[Duppers]

2. Exactly! That's a point I've tried to make here before.

They vote as a group and any fool knows that, that's why we should all care.

[Duppers]

7. In addition, this young lady makes a lot of good points

[Binkie The Clown]

3. I worked with a guy that kept quoting chapter and verse of the Bible, until...

my boss and I started quoting chapter and verse of The Three Little Pigs in response.

[truebrit71]

4. LOL!!!

That's great!

[progressoid]

5. What the f...?

You could also have asked her why she was working on Sunday. God hates that shit.

[D Gary Grady]

6. If I had to be stuck next to one of you on a long flight...

She asks a pretty harmless question (maybe she was hoping you could recommend a church?) and you suggest she's trampling on your shopping rights. She admits she thinks Jesus is coming (however behind schedule) and you go into a rant calling Jesus bullshit and her beliefs a cult and a lie.

I have to admit that at this point in the story I wasn't feeling too fond of you, but she tells you she loves you. (I guess the difference is I'm not a Christian.) You say her loving spirit results is the result of brainwashing, without which she could presumably have matched your level of dickishness. Also, she shouldn't use her job to express her beliefs, but it's fine for you to attack hers, I suppose because you're doing it on your own time and thus enjoy amateur status under NCAA rules.

Look, I can appreciate where you're coming from, but how in fourteen fucks does this help? When she tells her friends about this it will simply reinforce their hatred of atheists.

And while some churches would reject her as you say if she got into some sort of trouble, not all would. In fact, an atheist friend of mine who had fallen on hard times spent the last part of his life in a Salvation Army home. They never tried to convert him, and when he died there, his funeral was presided over by a Salvation Army minister who, in keeping with my friend's beliefs, conducted a completely secular memorial service without the slightest taint of theism except for a cross on his uniform. A secular humanist counselor couldn't have done better. I probably have way more in common with you than that Salvation Army guy in terms of beliefs, but I'd rather have him as a role model, and I'd pick the cashier over you to sit next to on a long flight.

[uriel1972]

8. Two guys facing a firing squad....

One starts mouthing off at the soldiers and crowd...
The other says "Jeez, pipe down, you don't want to make them angry..."

[mr blur]

9. Cool story, bro...

She asks a pretty harmless question (maybe she was hoping you could recommend a church?)

Oh, please. What gives people the right to question you about religion, anyway. Thankfully, I live in a country where, if someone asked you that, they'd get laughed at.

[Brainstormy]

11. I disagree with almost everything you said, but

I'm only going to take up one point. The "I still love you" line is bullshit, too. The nosey proselytizing Christian was talking to a complete stranger. Either she's lying about the love or she has no discrimination and her "love" is meaningless. That's just part of their shtick. Sheesh.

[D Gary Grady]

15. No problem, but

I've known a lot of Christians (the woods are full of them), and I'm pretty sure a lot of them indeed are lying when they talk about "loving" everyone. But some are quite sincere, striving to love humanity in general to the best of their ability, the way others talk about loving nature or reason. Without going too far off on a tangent, they have a specific sort of "love" in mind that's distinct from romantic love and the love of a friend or a family member. You or I might term it "respect."

In any case, any blanket statement about Christians -- or for that matter Buddhists or Muslims or secularists or teenagers -- is unlikely to hold up to close examination. Anytime any of us feels inclined to say something about "those people" I think we ought to stop a second. I like to think of our side as the voice of reason rather than a mirror image of an angry fundamentalist.

[Goblinmonger]

12. Well aren't you special?

So this cashier gets to spout off about her religious beliefs, but the person that she--uninvited, by the way--starts preaching to doesn't get to talk about THEIR own feelings on those beliefs. Why is that? Atheists just need to take it? Thank you, sir, may I have another.

I imagine if this OP instead said that they came up to the cashier and just said "Jesus is a myth" without any prior discussion you would, once again, be on the side of the cashier over the atheist. You might want to explore why that is.

[D Gary Grady]

14. Apparently we're all special

I'm fine with someone expressing disagreement with Christians, or even with me. I just don't see how launching into a tirade helps, unless your goal is to reinforce popular prejudices against secularists. Try imagining the situation reversed: For some reason you say something to a coworker or customer indicating you accept the reality of evolution or the age of the universe is more than a few thousand years old, and the other party responds by angrily tearing into you as an idiot brainwashed by Satan. Would that help their cause?

If Pat Robertson were smarter about PR, he might even hire a team of pretend atheists to go around ranting against Christians just to give atheism a bad name.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Shouldn't have quoted Trump: "It's none of your business."

[lindysalsagal]

13. I'm so tired of the shame-based society that breeds hate.

Religious zealots get off on putting themselves in the position of judging everyone who prays with different words in a different way. It's hatred disguised in false piety.


They need to know it's all crap from their own minds, not a magic guy in the sky. It's delusional.

When one person talks to their imaginary invisible friend, they're nuts. When thousands do it, it's religion.

Total bull crap. Atheism is growing fast, and religion is fading, and the world is better for it.

Time to give jesus a rest and start caring for people, animals, and the planet.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. I would say:

I go to the church of Our Lady of None of Your Goddamn Business.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. It gets the point across...

without being a total ass.