Submitted by AR team member Jenny Del Toro

1. The butthurt-Christian facebook friend

They know you didn’t post that funny Richard Dawkins meme because you thought it was hilarious, and you thought your atheist friends would also get a kick out of it, you did it because you wanted them specifically to see it. You did it just to make fun of them and they’re going to let you know how horrible you are in the comments section. How dare you offend him? How DARE you?

2. People who think their religion gives them automatic cred

My husband and I faced a lot of this while interviewing potential child care providers for our son, “Good Christian” would be listed on resumes as a qualification next to “CPR Certified” and “Non-Smoker.” What does that even mean? Are non-christians more likely to forget to use diaper rash cream? I had one potential sitter email me to tell me that I would need to be aware that she is a Christian before proceeding with any business. I emailed her back and let her know that I am a firm Bible-believing Christian as well, and that she will have full permission to tend to my child to the letter of Biblical child-rearing, so if he disobeys, stone him to death. Also, noticing that she was not of the same ethnicity as me, I told her that I would not be paying her for her services as it is my God given right to take her as my slave. She replied back with simply, “Satan, I rebuke thee!”

3. The relative who hates you

If the family you’re from is religious to any degree, no matter how cool the majority of them are with your atheism, there will always be that ONE relative who is utterly disgusted by your godless lifestyle, and lets you know exactly how they feel by posting vague, passive aggressive Facebook status updates and comments.

4. The people who believe in hell

This is the one that really makes me wonder about some people. There are still grown-ass adults alive today who believe that if you don’t believe in their version of religion, that you will indeed burn and suffer unbearable pain for all of eternity. Really? That doesn’t seem a bit harsh to you? That billions of people are going to burn for all of eternity just because they were born into the wrong religion? And people say it so casually too. I work with a girl who boasted to me once, “oh, I believe in heaven. I believe in heaven and I believe in hell!” Like it was her number one virtue. I asked her if she thought I was going to go to hell since I don’t believe in God and she just gave me a “sucks to be you!” look and shrugged. She shrugged at the thought of me being tortured for all of eternity. That’s messed up.

5. The people who think they can convince you you’re wrong

And it's finally time to talk about these guys. Ugh. They all use the same tired, erroneous arguments, “prove that there isn’t a god”, “what if you’re wrong?” “doesn’t it take more faith to not believe in god?” “aren’t you scared of going to hell?” “god exists because the bible says he does.” “you’ll stop being an atheist once you get cancer.” All of these are easily refuted, but you have to be careful when you prove a theist wrong, they get extremely irritable when they can’t prove their uneducated points. They're very committed to their delusion, so it's better to just walk away.

These are some encounters Jenny has had, how about you? Let us know what types of people you have to deal with as an atheist.