The Evangelical Atheist

My Lenten reflection for today is on evangelical atheists. This morning as I got off the bus, I noticed an advertisement along the side that said: "Sleep in on Sunday mornings," posted by our friendly local evangelical atheist establishment. The ad puzzled me at first, because certainly more people sleep in on Sunday mornings than go to church, and what do these folks gain by increasing their numbers? Generally people pay a lot of money to plaster their message on the side of a bus because they hope to gain something from it, like getting you to buy their brand of poppyseed toothpaste or purchase some dry ice sculptures from them. How do the Evangelical Atheists gain by getting people to stay in bed on Sunday mornings? They certainly don't gain anything monetarily.

I would think atheists would regard those who believe in God the way skeptics regard people who believe in, say, astrology. I'm not one to read my horoscope, but I have noticed that we Capricorns tend to be fascinated by the fact that we're Capricorns. (True story: I worked with a total enginerd who had the same birthday as I did, and he said, "I'll bet you never guessed I was a Capricorn!" Are you kidding? I never would have guessed he knew what a Capricorn was!) Why this should be, I don't know. A goat doesn't seem nearly as cool as a lion, but somehow we always find each other in the crowd and start discussing our Capricornness while the Leos just roll their eyes. However, the Leos do not post ads on the sides of buses saying: "Capricorns, quit reading those descriptions of yourselves in the Astrology books!" Why would they spend money on something they consider silly? And shouldn't atheists consider Christianity something silly that they don't want to waste time and money debunking?

I'll tell you what their motivation is: FEAR. No matter how many Capricorns say, "I'm supposed to be very organized," no sane Leo is going to think, "I should go read an astrology book to see what I'm like!" But when a Christian gives up sleeping in on Sunday morning, somehow that threatens these Evangelical Atheists. They think it is some sort of comment on their lifestyle. Now of course it isn't, since everyone knows you can go to Saturday evening Mass and sleep in on Sunday morning. What is actually behind their fear is guilt; the Leos know that no Big Astrologer in the Sky is going to come down and say to them, "Yo, LEO!!! How many astrology books have I put in front of you, and yet you still don't know what Leos are like!" Because of course there is no Big Astrologer in the Sky to do that. However, when Christians go to church on Sunday morning, that reminds atheists that there just might be a Big Judge in the Sky who doesn't like what they are doing. Otherwise, why on earth would ANYONE care what someone else does with her spare time? Especially enough to spend money on bus ads? Christians may care what the atheists are doing for the sake of their souls, but if atheists don't believe we have souls, then their nosiness doesn't stem from concern for Christians but their own guilt.

Funny that these are the same people who say: "Opposed to abortion? Don't have one!" Their world view is not very consistent, or they would say, "Opposed to going to church? Then don't!" with the same implied understanding that the other choice is just as valid. Apparently they consider a woman's right to choose pregnancy or termination sacrosanct, but her right to choose church or sleep should be influenced by ads on the side of a bus.

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