Here in the states we are subjected to all kinds of religious imagery including huge billboards, TV commercials, etc. Atheists tend to take it in stride and simply go on with their lives without complaint yet it seems to only fan the flames of the religious individuals who seem to take this as a sign that they "need" to try much harder to "save" those atheists. But as stated in a previous reply, IF atheists did such a thing in return then we would see something that I can explain only with a good pun: "all hell would break loose!".
I used to work with such an individual. I was welcomed to work with daily preaching and "lessons" on how wrong it is to be atheist. I consider myself to be atheist but with a hint of being slightly agnostic. I believe that we serve a higher being but that being is the collective goodness of humanity, not an entity of the Bible's stories.
This person was completely astonished at what I had to say while I explained myself and my thoughts. Firstly he didn't believe that I didn't go around trying to UN-save religious people. He had been raised on the theory that all atheists spend their time trying to "kill God".. Secondly, he had NO scientific background, in fact he believed that science was of the devil (I kid you not..) and refused any explanation of science. His answer was simply "God's will" for everything. Snowflakes=gods will. Lightning=gods will.. You get the point( I can't even make this stuff up it's so strange..).
Oh and forget about trying to convince this person that he should question the world around him. That, in his mind, means that he would be negating his "faith" by questioning God.
To which I asked, "if God created man, then why do we have the power to question him?"
To which he replied " God wants you to choose to follow him".
To which I replied "How can you choose a side if you don't know one side from the other? If I have two sandwiches, one filled with turkey and the other with sand, how do I know which one to choose if I don't investigate and understand what I am looking at?"
To which he replied "God's will. He will show you the way"
To which I replied ???
But I am a scientist at heart so if some miracle were to happen (a real true miracle) and I witnessed it, I would follow the facts towards "God". As it stands though, everything that I know in my life has been explained by science and the facts are easily followed to that conclusion.
