"The Bible ain't even really about religion," a boy said to me a few days ago, after overhearing a conversation that a friend and I were having about my declaring myself to be Atheist.
"It's more of a, a lifestyle," he continued.
"It isn't mine," I responded, quickly and coldly, in part because the conversation was none of his business to begin with and also because I don't think anyone should have to justify their faith or lack thereof, especially to strangers.
"I'm an Atheist," I told him, half expecting and half hoping he would go away. Instead, he mumbled a sentence I still can't quite wrap my mind around.
"I don't believe that."
So I asked him why. I asked him what reason he had to not believe me, and he shrugged. Part of me took that to mean he suddenly thought less of me, and the other part suspected that he really didn't care at all anymore anyway and that he had gotten over it.
He hadn't.
He looked right at me and asked, "How can you not believe in a higher power, especially when you exemplify characteristics of a Christian woman?"
I was stunned, but for a minute or two I thought about it before finally answering. "I can not believe in a higher power in the same way that you can."
He looked shocked as I continued.
"I can exemplify Christian characteristics, or characteristics of any given faith, without believing in those teachings."
I could tell he couldn't quite figure out how to refute what I had just said, so I took it a step further.
"I can help a child with their homework, and seem to be enjoying the process, without wanting to be a teacher," I said. "I can exemplify the characteristics of a good educator, without having the goal to be one."
Another shrug. "That's absolutely fine," he said. "I'm not going to think any less of you."
That was the first time I've ever heard anyone tell me that. In previous instances, I've told people about my being Atheist and I've gotten eye rolls, laughs, lectures, insults, and I've heard the phrase, "that's too bad," a few too many times.
But it's not too bad. It's not bad at all actually.
I'm not against religion at all, and I'm also not 100% for it, and I've never thought that religion should change someone's worth as a person. But that's just me.
