By Eris D
I have been lurking on this site for a long time. Sometimes I comment on the occasional testimonial.I just want to say that I am constantly amazed at the warped views that the majority of people in America have about atheists. First, many think that we have no morals because we do not believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God and/or we don't believe in a god. Consequently, they think they make negative assumptions about our integrity and honesty in many ways.
Unfortunately, I live in a part of the country where the majority of the people strongly believe in a mythical god and my husband and I hear those code words 'Have a BLESSED Day" almost every day. We know that we must conceal our atheism in order to keep ourselves and our kids safe against retribution from those who will do ANYTHING in the name of their mythical god(s), like defacing our property, harrassing our kids or getting us fired from our jobs.
Last year I pulled up to the drive-thru of my local credit union to check my balance. I had just paid a huge bill, and my funds were running low and I was worried about paying the bills on time that month.
When I drove up to the Pneumatic tube station, I pulled out the tube in order to put in my identification so the teller could give me my balance. Guess what I found in the tube? A roll of 20 bills that totaled over 800.00. I didn't even give it a second thought and immediately closed up the tube and sent the money back to the teller. When she received it she asked me what I wanted to do with it and I told her that it wasn't mine. She was shocked that I had returned it and promptly did a little detective work to find the rightful owner. She said the owner had driven up earlier with a van full of kids and she was busy talking on a cell phone and not paying attention. Then she thanked me for my honesty and took care of our transaction.
A couple of days later I relayed the story to some of my family members who are Christians. They expressed utter shock and amazement at my actions! They asked me why I didn't just pocket the money and leave! I am NOT kidding! Some said they would have had a hard time deciding what to do.
That is when I proudly stood up and proclaimed that I am an atheist therefore I take responsibility for my own actions, and I don't look for some mythical god to forgive my sins, and I don't blame them my shortcomings on some mythical devil! I don't have a problem with being honest. I am an atheist!
That shut em up!
FYI -- In my life, I have been ripped-off, raped, assaulted and battered by so-called Christians. I have never been victimized or scammed by an Atheist.
Consequently, when someone is doing some kind of work for me or selling me something, if they start proclaiming their faith, I usually either disassociate with them or watch them very closely. I know they are not all bad, but I have observed that the louder a person proclaims their faith and belief in god, the more problems they have with honesty.
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