I was asked today if I will be going to church on Good Friday by our Korean janitor. I was sunning myself like a big fat lizard, because I was not feeling well. He asked his question, in broken English, while I enjoying my moment in the sun, so naturally, I did not give my response much thought. "No. Atheist. Discgolf." His response was as hilarious as it was hateful. He acted like he had stepped in dog shit. He averted his eyes, said "No." while shaking his head, and stomped off in a huff. He's a very religious man. I am sure my office will never be cleaned again.
Such is life among the haters.
The other party to the event was incredulous. "But Joe, you don't act like an atheist. You read poetry and are so nice and everything."
Yep. I'm a nice guy. Too nice to argue the point. Duck. Water. Back.
Update 4/3/2012 evening regarding use of the word Korean. I blogged this from my phone today. It's easier to think at home. I would have left off the janitor's ethnicity if I had taken more time on the post. My bad. I am sorry. My Korean janitor is one of many Koreans that I know who are fierce Christians and defenders of the faith. I was tying to link this trait in the post and did so poorly. My janitor is a man I respect and one who works tirelessly at his job. I meant no disrespect.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
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Cullen Athey · 683 weeks ago
Know what you mean by supposedly denigrating otherwise upstanding citizens, eh, but the Christians don't give us the leeway we give them. Maybe we should be a bit more militant in our atheism. Now, I'm not so much evangelistic as an atheist that I feel the need to put down the Christians, surely they mean well, but a lifetime of Christian evangelism kinda works on one's psyche, eh?
Mojoey 107p · 683 weeks ago
Mike aka MonolithTMA 58p · 683 weeks ago
Unfortunately too many Christians view atheists based on what they see in the media, and don't realize that many of the nice people they interact with every day can be atheists without them ever knowing it.
Mojoey 107p · 683 weeks ago
don't understand this as there is no evidence for it (that I can see).
People like the janitor I mention in the post replace what they know
and see with what they are conditioned to believe. I try to change
minds one person at a time, but it reinforces why we need a larger
effort to reach more people.
arejay · 683 weeks ago
So I have not had a lot of experience with the hard core atheist being tolerant of what I believe.
Mojoey 107p · 683 weeks ago
war. We must all learn to love and respect one another. That is the
only way I can see things working out. Thanks for the note.
deleted8470268 143p · 682 weeks ago