"We're atheists."
"Oh. Okay," said the younger woman.
The older one wasn't willing to give up so easily. "You've probably asked yourself the questions in this pamphlet!"
"Uh, maybe." I mean, it is possible that atheists think about god more often than many believers.
"Like, 'Why is there so much wickedness in the world?'"
"Actually, no. I've never asked myself that."
"Really?"
"I can honestly say that I never think about wickedness."
"Never?"
"Never."
After I shut the door the three-year-old who had been standing by my side throughout the exchange astutely observed, "That was not the babysitter."
*
Am I in the minority here? Do you ever think about wickedness?
photo courtesy PhillWatson, morgueFile
There are certain politicians, political pundits, and religious leaders that fall into that category, I suppose. I often wonder how they can be so malicious. I find a lot of human behavior disheartening, you know, genocide and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, the wickedness I think about is the mild kind that hides behind my bedroom door. I doubt they cover that in their pamphlet.
The three-year-old is hilarious. Wit in the blood!
ReplyDelete"Wickedness" as a term feels weirdly dated to me, but as a more general concept, or called by another name (cruelty, evil), yes! I think about it very often, probably too much.
Nope, you're not allowed. I don't spend time sitting around wondering that and it always weirds me out when people asked stuff like that cause apparently they are.
ReplyDeleteSimilar people came to my door when I was hugely pregnant last year and told me that while I was probably worried about all the sinfulness in the world (SPOILER: Totally not worried about sinfulness), that was okay because God told us there would be this wicked period.
ReplyDeleteI can never bring myself to tell the missionary folks that I am atheist. I always just say I'm not interested.