Out Of The Blue Jesus Pitch

My friend Gary is an atheist. He has profiles on a couple of dating sites. He lists himself as an nonreligious or atheist, something like that. Today a woman contacted him, out of the blue, with this email through one of those sites:

"I don't know you but Jesus does & I will pray that you will not be fooled by that devil anymore & be saved before very long! Nothing more then living for all the good of things and not the bad. The Bible tells us what is right & wrong. Turn on channel 17 or TBN sometime. You will love it! Jesus loves you & you should open your heart to HIM. He loves you & we will be rewarded someday. I will pray for you!
Just trust in the Lord.

May God be with you. There is only ONE GOD - Jesus! He died on the cross for our sins! Thank you Jesus! Please forgive me for my sins!

May God Bless you when you come to HIM!

Jenny (name changed to protect identity)

Now, Gary has a really gruff personality. We banter back and forth all the time. But this was his response, which I think was a really great way to handle it:

Jenny, you look like a nice lady.. So I'm not going to go into great detail bashing your religion. I know you think it's the only way to live.

But, I have chosen a different path, and have come to realize that your religion is bogus.

I did not come to this conclusion over night, nor did I come to it without much study and reflection.

See, what folks like yourself don't understand is, it takes a lot more study and understanding to be an Atheist than it does a xian. I probably have read and understand your bible far better than you do.

For you to be a xian, all you need to do is "believe" and "have faith".

For me to be an Atheist, I have to actually study and understand the xian bible so that I can form a logical argument against religion.

If you would actually read it one day, and open your mind, you will see all of the inconsistency and inaccuracy in it.

And sorry, but "The Devil" is a xian concept, that I don't believe in.

"I would appreciate it if you would consider my wishes, and not try to convert me to your religion, as I would never try to convert you to my way of thinking. It's rude and egotistical.

Good luck in your search for happiness."