And we kick puppies, too.....

        While spending very important moments of my limited time on this orb checking in on my Facebook account, a friend popped up in the chat box and after we exchanged the usual banal salutations she asked what I had done the past weekend.
        "I was in Omaha."
        "Oh, neat.  What were you doing there?"
        "Attending the Midwest Skeptics Conference."  I enthusiastically typed since I was still modestly adrenalized by said event.
         "What's that?" came the puzzled reply.
         "It was a conference attended by skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, and atheists."  I clacked back.
          "Do you really hate Christians?"
       
          Aaargghhhh.......I won't go into the rest of the conversation other than state I attempted to explain the answer was "No" but I felt I was speaking Pashtun to a Finn by way of a partially-deaf Swahili interpreter.  I also assured her we weren't mapping out churches to burn in Omaha on Saturday night but actually went out to eat and visited a couple of pubs just like normal humans might do.
         I get it.  Atheists are unpopular to begin with.  If you want to get elected in this country by god you'd better not be an atheist.  We rank just above pedophiles for trustworthiness and below all religious groups that believe a virgin fooled around with a deity or some illiterate loon in the desert flew on a magic carpet.
        Apparently we are perceived as nasty, spiteful, and out to make life miserable for the good deists here in America.  I am sure there is also some voice in the back of their head thinking these infidels might make my friends, children, or even me become a non-believer and therefore they are the true enemy in this world!  I know many a religious leader has barked that out from the pulpit to his flock.
      As we grow stonger-and polling shows a dramatic uptick in our numbers-the voices will become more shrill and shall we say "less Sermon on the Mountish".....So I propose we do what many of us are already doing.  Let's turn the tables on our religious friends, neighbors, and countrymen.
       First, if you have not joined a skeptics/atheist organization do that and either get involved in their charity work or help them organize that effort.  As secular humanists we are promoting the betterment of mankind and charitable work is a first-rate way of showing this.  Also, it takes ammunition away from the naysayers who can't believe you can be good without a sky daddy.  Kind of fun to see their faces as they attempt to absorb that spanner in their dogma.
       Secondly, be kind and courteous to religious folks but let them know you respect them but do not respect their religion and if they wish to discuss your unbelief then their belief is fair game as well.  Again, do it with a smile and courtesy.  If anyone is going to blow a stack let it be them not you.
       Lastly, encourage and assist your local group to advertise their existence so other non-believers can know about your group and before you know it your membership is growing and you have new facebook friends to spend very important time on fb seeing what they are up to-or not.