Source
r/atheism•
flowmage

Four athiests walk into a restaurant... (A story about nice people and interfaith interactions)

A few friends and I were out at a restaurant (mmm queso). Our conversation eventually turned to Christianity and the bible - public school mandated bible study, treatments on the bible as literature, etc.

Sometime in the middle of the meal, the couple seated at the booth behind us got up to leave. The woman (mid-late 20's or so) hands a small note to one of us, saying, "I just want you to have this. I loved listening to you talk. Have a nice night!" The note said, "More about mormons! www.lds.org."

No preaching, no anger, just a nice person wanting to share, with no accountability if we didn't want to listen. We all thanked her for it, and smiled at her as she left. There's really no chance to convert any of us who were there, but if there were, the way she went about it would have vastly improved the odds.

Just a quick story about how some Christians out there are really nice, even if they don't think as we do. I can only hope that atheists when attempting to argue or convert someone are just as nice.

TLDR: We can just all get along!

Edit: Fixed my typing fail. You guys are ruthless. :)
Edit2: Fixed my grammar fail too.

Posted Aug 16, 2009, 6:53 PM UTC · edited

3151
wwabc•

those fucking eavesdropping mormons are everywhere

54
Crath•

you made me spit my coffee...

10
wonkifier•

Don't worry... they don't drink coffee. You don't need to spit in it to protect it from them

6
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
grondo•

Nice try, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

20
wwabc•

no way, the OP totally sounds like a real "athiest"

6
in_ten_cities•

Haha yeah, an obvious fraud. Look at his typing mistake!

3
monkeychipsx2•

dum dum dum dum dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum.

7
grondo•

I'M ATHIER THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED

9
stesch•

And you put your head into a hat to translate the note to the others?

18
deathdefier•

Somebody slipped me a small note, after listening to me and my buddies raving about social networking. The guy said,"I just want you to have this. I loved listening to you talk. Have a nice night!" The note said, "More about trolls. www.lemonparty.org."

16
Nougat•

I'm so doing this.

3
Mavus•

must do this for greater justice

2
wolfbrand•

"Myself and a few friends were out at a restaurant" - Not Acceptable. "A few friends were out at a restaurant" - Acceptable. "I was out at a restaurant" - Acceptable.
"Myself was out at a restaurant" - Not Acceptable.
"A few friends and I were out at a restaurant" - Acceptable.

We'll never convert people to rational thought by using "myself" as the subject of a sentence.

12
liquidpele•

TLDR: We can just all get along!

The problem is not the nice understanding people though.

11
addmoreice•

it's the bug nuts things they believe and there willingness to do whatever it takes to get others to believe it also....or at least force you to ACT like you do.

3
flowmageOP•

True dat.

1
[deleted]•

I feel like you should respect people for having their own original opinion even if you don't agree with them.

As far as converting someone is concerned Why? What's the need? and Doesn't it make you look like a hypocrite?. Is someone really out there keeping scoreboard for Atheists Vs Religious?

7
[deleted]•

[deleted]

7
flowmageOP•

It was actually just a handwritten note on a bit of napkin. I know it's still evangelism, but it was still a nice person doing it.

4
Niops•

It's that fake nice where you know they pitty you. And then you wanna punch them in the poon.

2
dunmalg•

she must've been out of cards

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
Turandot•

Their church pushes every Mormon to be a "missionary" ... as if it's not bad enough that they have some 50K tie wearing, white shirted, pimple faced 19 year olds knocking on doors worldwide. The truth is that the Mormon missionary program is floundering. Most converts are the gullible from Third World countries who generally stop going to the Mormon church within month of baptism although the Mormon church will count them as members until their 110th birthday because it inflates their membership rolls.

Next time some over zealous Mormon slips you a note with their website on it, tell them to take at peek at www.exmormon.org. That site is vastly more entertaining.

5
elcabrondefernando•

Wait.....queso? Where were you eating? I love queso.

3
cbucks•

are mormons even christians? i know they believe in jew zombie, but i wasn't sure if they are considered christians by 'true' christians

3
miyakohouou•

That would be the No True Scotsman logical fallacy. In reality, anyone who believes in some biblical account of Jesus is a Christian.

Mormons are Christians because they believe in Jesus.

5
greyfinch•

This isn't the "No True Scotsman" definition. Christians build on Jewish doctrine, but are not Jewish, and Muslims accept Jesus as a prophet, but that does not make them Christians. In the same vein, Mormons build on Christian doctrine, but while their faith can be similar to Christianity, there's a massive amount more to their belief than just that. To name one, their core book is the Book of Mormon, and they consider that to be inerrant COUGH but they believe that the Bible has been irrevocably altered. There are many other main differences between the different brands of Christianity, but Mormonism is almost as different to Christianity as Islam is to Christianity.

1
Blacksh33p•

Mormons are literally Christians as they believe Jesus was the son of God and the messiah. Case closed. They aren't considered 'true christiansTM' by other sects mainly because of the beliefs that the BoM is infallible but the Bible is not, that prophets still exist today, and a completely different understanding of what God and heaven/hell is.

2
greyfinch•

I started writing counterarguments to this, but I may have been going about this incorrectly. Mormons by and large consider themselves Christians, so I don't think I or anyone else can tell them they aren't.

However, I don't think it's an entirely legitimate action because of the significant difference between what are generally recognized as Christian teachings and what the LDS church teaches and practices.

1
wonkifier•

When I was a Baptist, we didn't consider Catholics to be Christians

1
Nessie•

When I was a Catholic, we didn't consider Baptists to be humans.

1
dunmalg•

Mormonism is almost as different to Christianity as Islam is to Christianity.

No, it's not. The central basis of Christianity is that Jesus, the messiah, is the son of god, died for our sins, and was resurrected. LDS is a sub-sect of Christianity that believes in additional material, but they're still rooted in the basic JC=messiah belief that is the core of Christianity.

But don't take my word for it. Get the answer from the LDS web site.

1
Tholo•

Think of the Bible as a trilogy. Old Testiment= Volume 1. New Testiment = Volume 2. Koran = Volume 3. Judiasm are purists, who think only the original counts. Christians think that volume three was too much of a departure from one and two. Muslims like the whole series. LDS read one and two, and liked them so much they began writing fanfic.

1
P3G•

Ah, it's always good to see the irrationalists act rationally, even if such an event is rarely rationed.

2
siveh13•

haha handing out cards like a business, how fitting

2
sifumokungAnti-Theist•

I usually remind them that both our opinions are protected by the first amendment - as much for them as it is for me. I find that when tempers begin to flare, I can appeal to our mutual patriotism. This way, we remain on common ground. I tell them I have no problem with churches, religious community groups, and the like. (I also mention that I think it's bullshit that churches don't pay taxes.) When emotions run high, retreat to common ground.

1
juma606•

Phony baloney.

1
dunmalg•

TLDR: We can just all get along!

No, the TLDR is "nice people are easy to get along with"

Some of the delusional religion believers out there are nice people, but that doesn't make their delusions any less dangerous. Mormons are certainly noticeably more pleasant as a rule than other, more confrontational sects. Of course you could always ask her what she thinks about gay marriage, see how nice she is then...

1
crusoe•

Just don't be a mormon kid who masturbates.

0
asthepenguinflies•

I bet she kept the pen she used to write the note in one of the pockets of her magic underwear.

Underwear that I bet she let you try on a while a later, at which point you were pleasantly surprised at how nicely the fabric cupped your balls without judging you and without any sort of accountability.

1
[deleted]•

Isn't it "fiath"?

1
db2•

Atheism is not a faith.

1
AthierThanThou•

The four of you can be athy, but only one of you can be athiest.

1