So I was on a plane earlier this week in an aisle seat and I noticed that the woman in the middle seat next to me was talking to her travelling companion who was seated in the middle seat in front of her. I decided to make a kind gesture and ask the woman in the row in front of us if she would like to trade places. She was surprised that I would offer my aisle seat to her only to be cramped into a her middle seat. She thanked me and accepted my offer.
The two women began talking predominantly about their church and their missionary work and when they were saved and all manner of things regarding their Christian faith. Once it was time for approved electronic devices, I went into Ipod world and did some work on my laptop. After the 4 hour flight, as I was getting up from my seat, the woman I had given my seat to goes to hand me a pamphlet telling me about the story of Jesus Christ. I simply said, "No thank you, I am an atheist" and walked off the plane. Had she simply said "thank you for your kindness in giving me your seat," I could have pleasantly said "my pleasure, enjoy your trip" and we would have gone our separate ways. Instead, our brief meeting ended in an awkward way. But I must say, I felt lucky to demonstrate to a clearly devoted fundamentalist Christian that atheists are moral, ethical individuals capable of improving our world through acts of kindness.
As an atheist, I have decided to be more open about my rejection of Christian and other religious faiths. I think American atheists are demonized because people feel like they don't know any. I hope more atheists will develop the confidence to be more open about their beliefs. A website I found recently might help some people do so.
Richard Dawkins has set up the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason. You can find it here:
http://richarddawkins.net/
The website contains many articles, interviews and lectures on the subject of reason, science and atheism. May it be of help to people who seek to live meaningful lives without religious faith.