"Say the secret word, and win a hundred dollars..."

The specter of religion is haunting me again. Well, 'tis the season...

Today's word is, "proselytize." Which the dictionary thingy on my computer defines thusly: 

"Convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another; advocate or promote (a belief or a course of action)."

I will never cease to be amazed by the number of people who think that their religion will make perfect, irrefutable sense to me if only they explain it clearly enough. Or perhaps slowly enough.

OK, one last time...

You may think that by flaunting my Atheism I'm disrespecting your religion. But while I freely admit, proudly, that I am an Atheist, I don't try to convert anyone to Atheism. I talk about it, certainly, and I make no apology for that, but I tend to avoid using my Atheism like a cudgel to beat you into submission and I do not proselytize. If I did, I would certainly be disrespecting your faith and you would probably find that annoying, to say the least.

Please recognize that I have enough respect for you to not try to convert you, and please have the same respect for me.

Yes, this is specifically aimed at a couple of people, and no it probably isn't you. (I've told them this was coming, so if I haven't told you that...) Not to any great degree, at least. But every time my life crashes someone thinks I need them to "save my soul," and it's getting tedious. Look to your own damn soul, people, and let me contemplate my own soul's nonexistence in peace.

If I'm to be expected to show some degree of respect for your faith, then please have some respect for my lack of same.

Oh, and by the way: Please don't try that old argument about how I should tolerate your proselytizing because it's what your religion requires: the Thugee used to strangle people because it was what their religion required, and I do seem to recall that the British were rather intolerant of it. In other words, that dog won't hunt. I'm not going to continue to put up with your proselytizing to my annoyance just because you say that this is what your God requires of you. I require a bit more respect from my friends.

Now, granted, I'm not going to mobilize the Indian Army against you: I don't actually have one, anyway. But I do have other resources...

The Blues Viking

The opinions herein expressed are mine and if you don't like them you can get your own damn blog.