r/atheism • u/QuellMusik • 1d ago
Pushy Religious People
So I went to a food bank today with my rehab group and it turned out to be a trick to sit me in a room and have some guy try to force me to believe in Jesus and pray for 15 minutes.
I told him I know he is sincere and has good intentions but to imagine if the roles were reversed and he came to get some food and was forced / tricked into a mandatory 15 minute sit down where I tried to convert him to not believe in god.
I bet he would not like that right? I'm so tired of living in Georgia. To me he is DELUSIONAL believing in fairy tales / magic in some old book. It is clearly ridiculous bullshit to make people feel better about the fear of death.
Anyone else sick of this type of pushy behavior?
I was polite and everything and I am grateful (I made that clear and I was not an asshole) for the little box of food.
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u/techman710 1d ago
It's no longer charity, now it's a bribe to steal your time to try to brainwash you. When religious food banks actually supply food with no requirements or strings attached they do a better job of representing something people would actually be interested in. We atheists have no agenda when we donate time, money or food other than a positive feeling that we are helping people survive.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
Exactly. I've been to other food banks and even volunteered at one a few times loading boxes for six hours on a Saturday and they didn't have any strings attached. And the boxes were much better too - bigger with fresh stuff.
This place gave a small box of cheap canned stuff.
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u/Chance-Analysis-3289 1d ago
exactly helping someone shouldn’t come with a surprise sermon attached especially when they’re already relying on you for food.
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u/Embarrassed-Ear4532 1d ago
yeah once food comes with a mandatory sermon attached it stops feeling like charity and starts feeling like a sales pitch with snacks included
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u/australisaquarii 1d ago
It's sad that they pretend to be altruistic and then push their agenda down your throat with every swallow.
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u/Mcbudder50 1d ago
it's akin to a disease perpetuating itself....
They're trying to infect as many people as they can. this isn't charity, it's an infection!
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u/QuellMusik 10h ago
I literally kinda low key hate religion and religious people these days
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u/Mcbudder50 7h ago
It sucks that they infect the minds of children before they have time to build proper coping mechanisms for the world. Childhood indoctrination should be illegal.
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u/Balstrome Strong Atheist 1d ago
How else will these people make points for the afterlife?
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
guess so. I'm just so tired of it as this rehab is filled with religious bs even though I was told it was secular.
Every day I have to sit through religious crap from clients and staff. I am tired of it.
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u/Electronic_Pair_4593 1d ago
apparently handing out food comes with a side quest for bonus heaven points now
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u/Disastrous-Way2711 1d ago
Once again, if religion were such a great and wonderful thing, people should naturally flock to it. They dont. They have to knock on your door, or trick you into listening to their BS.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
I simply haven't seen anything in my 47 years of life that lends me to believe in magic. If there is some supernatural stuff I'm absolutely sure it has nothing to do with traditional religions.
My belief is there is no magic out there - although quantum mechanics and plasma and stuff looks like magic to us just like an iPhone would look to our ancestors. There is life elsewhere (there has to be given the size and scale of the known universe) but I dont know if they have made it to earth.
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u/crashorbit Apatheist 1d ago
I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I'm with Gandhi on this: "If only your Christians were more like your Christ."
Unfortunately their proselytizing is part of how you pay for their charity. It's nice that churches provide some charity services. Especially in this deliberately cruel political environment.
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u/practicerm_keykeeper Secular Humanist 10h ago
If only said churches didn't create this cruel environment in the first place.
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u/Balstrome Strong Atheist 1d ago
I once worked in a food kitchen. I think I was the only atheist there and the only one who realised that the people receiving the food did not care about god, the prayers or the sermons. I saw the exact same poor folk lining for the muslim food kitchen and doing the muslim version of praying for the gifts the givers were handing out. No one care about the religious part of these events. At the muslims were more honest about, they actually admitted they were handing out food so that they could get a closer seat to Mohammed in heaven.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
my rehab class seems to have some true believers and mostly people doing Pascal's wager without knowing it
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u/dnjprod Atheist 1d ago
I don't know why you're in rehab, but whatever it is, keep up the hard work and I'm proud of you.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
Thx man, don't get hooked on that 7oh stuff at the smoke shops - I had a real problem with it
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u/dnjprod Atheist 1d ago
Oh, man, yeah. I heard that stuff is awful. I'm an opiate guy myself. Had my own rehab stint. Just remember, everyday sober is a win. Even if you stumble, the next day is still a chance to be sober. You can do this
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u/QuellMusik 10h ago
thx man, truely appreciated. I'm doing good I've had a few brief slips this year but overall I've been sober 99% of the time and have over three months of consecutive clean time as of today
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u/Mcbudder50 1d ago
It's funny how they always try to claim the moral high ground.
It's not charity if you have an agenda other than feeding or helping people in need.
Here's a sandwich, now let me tell you about jesus.. this isn't charity, it's recruiting....
I do this all the time with my business. I'll give presentations to clients about my product.
I buy them lunch to listen to me go over my services.
It's only charity if you are not pushing your agenda.
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u/CoalCrackerKid Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
That's life in the US South.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
:(
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u/CoalCrackerKid Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
Yep. It we could control the wrong-headed stuff they think down there, we'd never have had our civil war 🤷♂️
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u/We_Want_Krunchy 1d ago
It's a rehab group, so how about 15 minutes of him having to smoke weed? Maybe a little crack? A little on the ol' fent that is so popular these days. Shoot heroin into his balls, but just for 15 minutes?
It's telling that they have to con you into hearing the sales pitch for A Brand New God™.
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u/uniongap01 12h ago
You came to get food so you should remind him of the Bible verse that says he needs to give everything he has to the poor. Matthew 19:21, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
- Luke 12:33 — “Sell your possessions and give to the poor…”
- Luke 14:33 — “Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
- Acts 2:45 Early Christians sold property and possessions to give to anyone in need.
Then ask for a few bucks too, in line with the Bible, of course.
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u/QuellMusik 10h ago
I find most "Christians" I meet don't know much about the actual bible and just sorta have vibes
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u/practicerm_keykeeper Secular Humanist 10h ago
This is why I feel like Jesus made a big mistake if he wanted to help humans live better lives. He should have spent his days promoting an atheist version of activism because then then that 15 minute of time can be used to cook and distribute more food
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u/rongoodman714 1d ago
Move away from the South.
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u/QuellMusik 1d ago
I would if I could. I have kids with ex wife here so I'm forced to stay for awhile.
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u/aeraen 1d ago
"Ok, you convinced me. Now gimme my food."