A christian Couple Wears A Scarlet 'A' For A Day

creation museum

I was stumbling around the interwebs the other day and came across an article on Skepacabra that was so interesting, I have to share it with you.

Apparently when the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) went to the Creation Museum recently, a christian couple snuck in to see what it would be like to be an atheist. It was a bit of a social experiment. Apparently they were not prepared for how they were treated. They didn't wear atheist gear, but got name tags that proclaimed them as part of the group. They were appalled by their treatment.

First, they noticed that security had been beefed up a great deal since the wife's last visit to the museum.
While I did not have a T-shirt (a symbol anyway) it was obvious that there was a distinctive way that we were being treated because of the shared identification.  There were hateful glances, exaggerated perceptions, waxing surveillance by security, and anxious but strong ‘amens’ accompanying a lecture on “The Ultimate Proof of Creation” by Dr. Jason Lisle.
Is this how Christians treat people?  Is this how we follow Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us?  I cannot help but think that many Christians are fearful of atheists.  It is a sort of xenophobia that runs along lines of faith and belief.  What we tend to forget is that atheists, agnostics, and evolutionists are people too.  If our attempt to preserve our belief means that we are treating these people like animals, are we really holding up principles that are based on a creation worldview?
There have rarely been times in my life that I have been ashamed of people that I call “brothers and sisters in Christ.”  This was one of them.  To be judged by people that share my beliefs because of the name tag I wore was appalling.

Yes, this is how many christians treat people. Oh, and christians are far from persecuted in this country, so that's inaccurate. But otherwise, thank you to the couple who decided to walk a mile in our shoes. Empathy can be a powerful force for understanding. If only it could open a dialogue between "us" and "them".

9 comments:

  1. I wish more Christians would pose as open atheists for a day or two. Then, they would understand why many of us are closeted or semi-closeted.

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  2. Yeah, no kidding, Mark. I totally agree. But I doubt this will happen too often.

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  3. Neat story,thanks! Neece!
    My christian friend from work Judy(the most perennially cheerful real person ever!) told me there was a minor problem for her on facebook after she commented on my status including a "pray" comment.....i kinda had to apologize for my more callous atheist friends who made some remarks.....yes the mixing of atheists and theists is where its at - that was a cool experiment those 2 christians designed and results we all can learn from : don't pre-judge people ( and always be nice !!)

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  4. >If only it could open a dialogue between “us” and “them”.

    It has. Have you seen this?
    http://thomas2026.wordpress.com/

    To briefly summarize, a Presbyterian pastor and speaker at the SSA conference went along with the trip to the Creationist museum and won a lot of points with the Pharyngula crowd for his honest rationality.

    This post is a good place to start:
    http://thomas2026.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/my-reaction-to-the-t-shirt-scandal/

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  5. Sounds to me like they got a VERY rude awakening. GOOD!!! Now they know what it's like,,, now it would be nice if something positive comes out of this..

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  6. I think that atheist friend was me. I looked over the conversation and I wasn't mean on purpose. In fact I wasn't talking to her, I was making a joke to hopefully make you smile. I never meant to get into it with anyone. But I guess just being myself, I could be seen as callous.
    I think being nice only goes so far. At some point I think you have to be honest. That's the nicest thing to do. And honesty isn't always perceived as a kindness.

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  7. Thanks for sharing that Tomato. :)

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  8. We'll have to wait and see. :)

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  9. Awesome! It was probably good for them to see just how "their folk" treat others.

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