An Atheist's Letter to the Faithfull

[jespirals]

I wrote this a year ago this weekend. It was posted on a forum where the thread got hijacked by a fundamentalist who took it as a personal insult, which was sad. But reading it again.... I still mean it.

-----------24 Sept 2006----------------------------

This morning as I was bicycling to the market I was stopped by a member of the faithfull who's daughter had dropped her sweater in the park I was about to enter. She asked me to pick it up and put it on a bush or post so they could collect it later.

As I crossed the park I found the sweater and rather than leave it there where it might blow to the ground again, and figuring they weren't walking that fast I rode back to them and delivered it. This act was met gratitude of course, but the degree of astonishment was also considerable. To me it was a small kindness and took very little effort on my part and I knew from the sad look on the girl's face when they asked me to look for it that it would make her very happy.

Her mother went on and on about how unexpected and kind it was. And it got me thinking. There we were she in her dress and hat on her way to a day of prayer and contemplation, me in my bike kit obviously not of her community on my way to more earthly endeavors. I'm glad that I surprised her. It is not the first time I've had this reaction. As I left the exchange the thought that filled me was how glad I felt that she was off to a day of prayer with a reminder that not all the kind and just in the world belong to her's or necessarily any other faith.

*****************
an atheist's letter to the faithful -

Remember me

while you pray in your community of fellow faithful, please take a moment and

remember me

I have helped you when you needed it and will do so again with pleasure

I let you out in traffic during rush hour
return the money you dropped
retrieved your child's lost jumper
picked up a few things for your grandmother next door while I was out shopping
look after her plants while she's away
a thousand little things that I will think nothing of doing

remember me,
when you are surrounded by your community

do not pray for my salvation or conversion to your faith
it will not help and is not wanted
I have searched my heart and mind and soul and found no ability to believe

just remember me

I picked the rubbish up that blew down our street
called the police and waited with you when you were in an accident
helped keep your children calm when you were too shaken

you will not meet me in your church, synagog, temple, mosque or shrine
I will not be sitting next to you there.

but I am in your world and I will help you where I can

I will defend your right to pray in whatever way is right for you
I will defend your right to live by the rules of your heart and your faith
but I will never sit beside you as you do

I will be there to help when you are in need because I know it is right to do so, because that is the rule of my heart.

I sometimes envy you in your secure faith and community as I have never felt that security but wrestle alone with every moral and ethical question. So when you are there remember me.

And when you need me I will help as I can without a second thought or any need of recompense.

just remember me