No More Anti-Theists

[Catholic_Lady]

Respectfully, I don't think anyone here can tell me who I have and have not encountered, and whether I would or would not be able to get a vibe for what type of people they are. Furthermore, I'm not so cold hearted and unaware that I wouldn't "notice" that myself or my group were "being horrible" to other people.

I love ya, but I gotta be honest, I did not appreciate this comment very much.

I think the point attempted was that none of us know all those things about the people we meet. When I was 42, I had knowingly met two atheists my whole life. That realization prompted me to start a group in 2003. I scheduled meetings and the first three or four, I was the only one to show up. Then two people besides myself came to a meeting. And I knew one of them, I just hadn't known they were an atheist. Eleven years later, I've met hundreds of atheists. But if I hadn't made a special effort, it would be a lot less...at least knowingly.

I met a serial killer in the eighties, also unknowingly, didn't find out until months later. Unless we live in a very closed environment, we're going to meet a lot of people we don't know much about.

I understand that, and it makes sense.

I guess I should have specified by saying I've literally been surrounded by people of faith my whole life. Went to a Catholic school from K-8th grade, was very active in our Church, was part of my Church's youth group during high school, and was part of the Catholic student association in college (where my husband lived at the parish dorms with all these folks, so I was over there all the time when we were dating). That, and mine and my husbands families are both pretty devout. 

So it's not like it was just people passing by that I didn't know so well. Not that all these people acted perfectly all the time, of course, but I definitely never saw anything like what has been described here. I know it happens though, so I understand how lucky I've been.