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What if...?by Laura Hinds |
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Imagine, for a minute, that you are in an alternate universe. In this universe, the U.S. is made of 80% or so atheists and just 7% Christians, with 13% of people following various other religions, such as Judaism. In this alternate universe, come about October you start to hear advertisements for No God Day, the biggest Atheist holiday of the year in December. As the weeks approach December, more and more, you see "The Perfect Gift for No God Day!" advertised on huge billboards. By the end of November, you can't go into a store without hearing No God Day-themed tunes running in the background. Every merchant is geared up for No God Day. There's No God Day clothes, No God Day food, No God Day colors, and of course plenty of No God Day gifts. After all, No God Day is the day Atheists celebrate the lack of God in their lives by giving gifts to their family and friends. Now you, as a Christian, aren't all that enthused with No God Day. It pretty much goes against all your religious beliefs. But since so much of the whole society is wrapped up in No God Day, you can't avoid it. To your chagrin, when you suggest that you don't really want to participate in No God Day, your friends and family can't believe what a poor sport you're being. Even if they're not terribly into atheism themselves, they celebrate No God Day. Some of them go to one of the local Atheist Centers the night before, or the morning of, No God Day making it the only time of the year they ever go to an Atheist Center. Even at work, you get days off around No God Day which means that even if you would rather work on and around No God Day and instead take a few days off in February to go skiing, that's not acceptable (even though the skiing is expensive and the snow is poor on No God Day). To add insult to injury, you have to take your own vacation time for Good Friday, an important holiday you celebrate as a Christian. No one wishes you Happy Good Friday or Happy Easter, but if you don't tell people "Happy No God Day" they think you're being a scrooge. In fact, No God Day is just a big thorn in your side for probably 6 weeks or more in early winter. No God Day season is when life is toughest to be a Christian, but there are other times when you are made to feel uncomfortable about your beliefs. When your grandfather died, they talked on and on about how he wasn't going to any afterlife, even though you knew he leaned a little towards Christianity. When you finally decided to get married, there were few places to have a Christian wedding, but plenty of Atheist Centers that regularly hosted them. You even had trouble finding a Christian minister to perform the ceremony owing to the fact that the phone book didn't list them. All they had were Atheist affirmationists and a few Jewish or Muslim priests. After all that was over and you got back from your honeymoon, Atheists stopped by your door to ask if you would consider giving up your belief in God! Even though it's hard being a Christian in an Atheist society, you try hard to respect the beliefs of Atheists. You didn't slam the door on the Atheist converters, you did in fact get No God Day gifts for everyone last year, and you thanked your great-aunt for the VERY atheistic birthday card she sent you last year. But you draw the line on making legal anti-God affirmations over the school intercom or posting "THERE IS NO GOD" on the walls of public buildings. After all, this country is supposed to uphold the freedom of religion, right? It just frustrates you when some of the more militant atheists want everyone to be an atheist, or when the not-so-militant atheists can't understand some of your problems with atheism. So, to show your atheist family and friends what it's like, you made up an essay about what it would be like if the world were reversed, and there were, instead, a whole bunch of Christians and only a few atheists. You're sure the Christians would be MUCH more tolerant of the atheists' difference in religious views. |
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