***Note***
I've received a number of comments about this piece. Most of the comments demonstrate exactly why I was hoping for comments from people. The problem is that so many people lack understanding about what an atheist is, what we believe, and so forth. Example: many "agnostics" came out of the woodwork. Well, read this, agnostics, please. I wear these types of shirts so that when I meet people who do comment, I can try and educate them about something they almost never understand, at least in my experience.
Thanks!
---
For the last week and a half or so, I've been road-trippin' through the south. Starting from Philadelphia, we (my girlfriend and I) drove through Atlanta, Pensacola, New Orleans, Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Johnson City, Leesburg (where we got a tour through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which was awesome), and then back to Philadelphia.
So, why am I telling you about this? Well, mostly because I was traveling through parts of the country while wearing a myriad of shirts that advertised my lack of belief in any gods. I have a number of shirts that identify this about me, and I wore them almost everywhere we went. So, what kind of responses did I get? Surprisingly little, actually.
Yes, I got looks, double-takes, and even a few people becoming less hospitable after reading them. But surprisingly few actual comments or questions from people arose. While in Austin, Texas ( a beautiful city, btw), I did have one apparently homeless man walk by and call my girlfriend (who is not an atheist) an "evil bitch" in response to reading my shirt that said "Hi, I'm your friendly neighborhood atheist!" I never said anything to him to provoke him, he just said it. Talk about irony!
I guess the fact that we spent most of our time in or around cities meant that we ran into either more tolerant people or people who were more used to seeing things like that. Either that or they were just being polite in not asking questions or commenting. I did have at least two people comment that hey liked my shirts. I thanked them with a smile. I had one bartender warn me that wearing such things may not be a good idea. Maybe I just got lucky.
I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I just wanted to observe whether people would react differently in the "Bible belt" than they do in Philadelphia, where I wear said shirts fairly often. My experience, short as it was, didn't offer much of a difference. I guess we should have hung out at more rural roadside biker bars or something....
While I was in Austin, where we spent a couple of days, I did get to meet some of the people from the Atheist Community of Austin. I have been listening to their podcast and recorded cable-access TV show for a few years, and since we would be there I figured I would meet some of them. They were very friendly and we got a chance to see them tabling at the Austin Pride festival, which was pretty fun in itself.
But before we reached Austin, we traveled through Pensacola, home of the Pensacola Christian College. This college, which I had never heard of before a couple of months ago, is a school that grew as some people split off from Bob Jones University because it was too liberal. Yes, you read that right. PCC is about at conservative Christian as they come. They are run by the A Beka Book company, which means that the school has tons of money and seems to be used by the publisher as some sort of tax shelter.
Now, I know about this school because my girlfriend, with whom I traveled, went to this school before they kicked her out for, as she says, challenging them too much. This is the kind of place where not only can men and women not talk outside of specific places and times, but very conservative dress codes, segregation of races (in terms of dating at least), and constant fear of trouble for questioning pretty much anything abound (listening to jazz, for example). I don't know how she survived more than three years before she was kicked out.
I have encouraged her to write about her experiences there. I think she could have a book deal coming, if she does. The things she has told me so far are, well, scary. And I've seen Jesus Camp.
We didn't visit the campus. For one, classes were not in session. Another reason is that they would not let either one of us on campus because I am an advertised heathen and she was wearing shorts. Maybe next time we'll try going in incognito. Maybe not.
It was an interesting trip. We saw lots of great cities, met some really nice people, and now we return to real life. I don't know if I should be glad that people were about as accepting of me in the south as people are here, or if I should keep in mind that people here are just about equally unaccepting of my being otspoken about my atheism as they are in the deep south.
Comments
The "lack of response", at least in part(not all), is not because they don't have an opinion, but because increasingly our society has had political correctness shoved down it's throat.
As an atheist myself, I'd prefer to have them say something, that way I know who they are.
What you don't have the ability to do is record what they say at home or in their churches in private behind our backs.
I am not saying things aren't improving, they are. But I am also saying there is still a long way to go.
You should try going to Miami where an atheist told me that I abuse my children because I am raising them according to my theistic beliefs.
Christ is King. Everyone worships something even atheists. Why waste your life?
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.
I visited my friend Michelle in Lynchburg, VA earlier this year (she is a liberal living right near Liberty University). It made me very grateful to live in Philadelphia!
~Irish American Community Examiner
This says way more about the author than it does about Southerners. Not surprisingly, they come out on top.
Enjoyed reading about your successful experiment provoking homeless people with opinionated clothing. Someone needs to do more of this. America's mentally ill and downtrodden simply don't get enough of this type of provocation to get them moving on a daily basis. Kudos for the informative editorial on passive aggressive hatred Shaun, you douchebag.
What a waste of time.
You're a hipster douchebag.
Just thought you should know. Have a pleasent weekend.
Look at Sean! He's an attention whore! Contrary to his bigotry, the vast majority of people everywhere are not laying in wait to lynch everyone unlike them.
So what were you trying to prove? I guess you thought you were being clever? Get over yourself. The south is cordial and kind even to undeserving pricks like yourself.
So, you are surprised when southerners are civil to you despite your attempts to rile them? Seems to me they treated you with christian kindness.
What a twerp.
Flecha, your friendly neighborhood agnostic.
The South is a lot more tolerant than people give it credit for. Exposure is knowledge, my friend. I disagree with Brian 100%. They weren't saying anything to you b/c in all honesty they really couldn't give 2 chits about you. They (like you) have their own problems to deal with.
Did you know that most small-town teenagers have a blast wearing that stuff and irritating everyone? They're used to it and they just think you're immature for needing to tell everyone as soon as you see them your beliefs.
This reminds me of that Dateline (or 20/20) story where they sent a black couple to a NASCAR event and were shocked that they didn't get discriminated against. Folks seem surprised to learn that we have indoor plumbing and horseless carriages down here.
And for your next trick, just for a laugh, go join the Westboro Baptist Church, undercover, just to see what happens! Tee-hee, ho-ho.
There's no reason to provoking people to challenge YOU.
I'm an atheist also, but you're no better than the people who knock on my door and tell me that Christ died for my sins.
I wish they had lynched you.
Austin, Texas - and most of Florida do not qualify as part the "Bible Belt". Next time.. try KY, TN, AL, AK, and LA.
"I'm waking around being intentionally obnoxious to people and surprisingly few people called me out for being such an ass."
Awesome job, moron.
Wow! You are SO cool! Why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, because most of us in this world have to go to our regular jobs, nor do we care about what anybody else thinks of us.
Wow, a whole article based on dirty looks. Sounds like a reality show if I've ever heard of one.
identified a douche that was begging for a fight, and being normal people with agendas beyond provoking strangers, simply went about their business.
you are unsurprisingly full of douchiness
1.) Your a douchbag.
2.) People in the south are polite, my comments not withstanding.
3.) Your a Yankee please stay in the north, there are too many of you down here as is.
Visiting the big cities of the South and wondering why you weren't lynched? Because the big cities, no matter where in the world you are, are almost always more liberal than the rural areas.
Come to some of the rural parts of South Carolina I live near and find yourself basically being lambasted at every turn. But that would actually be dangerous.
Wow, Shaun. I live in Texas and if I saw you and your shirt I might have done a double take but I wouldn't have said anything because THANK GOD it is a free country and you can wear whatever the heck you want. Why do you want to hack off Christians? Does it give you a thrill? What a sad, sad life.
So, basically you had negative preconceived notions about a group of people and were shocked when these notions weren't fulfilled? By definition, doesn't this make you a biggot?
I don't know what you should find more shocking, the civility with which you were treated or the closed mindedness of your own position. Religious people should not be treated like some freakshow. They do, after all, make up the overwhelming majority of the Earth's populations. Pull your head out of your own ass and stop being a douche.
That was a nice story about what you got up to on your holiday.
Nice job Shaun. You went all that way on a fishing trip to find intolerance when all you had to do was look in a mirror. Maybe you should examine yourself a little more fully instead of prejudging others.
You are not very smart if you think you are the first person to wear an atheist shirt into the south. The south is just chock full of uneducated people who practice this sort of childish behavior all of the time. I'm sure locals just thought you were one of the neighbors' kids and did not respond to your shirt due to the tolerance taught in their religions.
Seriously, there's no such thing as an atheist because they all believe they are God themselves, nullifying their lack of belief in a god. You are proof perfect of this point. From the sound of this article, you became an atheist because you are an attention whore. Am I right?
How much money did you spend on your "atheist shirts"? In the future, please just throw your money in the trash can and have idiot tattooed onto your forehead. It will save everyone their wasted time from reading your juvenile shirts.
For the record, I don't go to church--haven't for many years--and I live respectfully in the north Georgia mountains.
I am an agnostic raised in northeast cities. You are a completely useless human being.
Try wearing one a shirt from thoseshirts.com in a douchebag hipster town like Austin, Cambridge, Berkley or Ann Arbor.
What are you, thirteen?
Hey don't worry there little hipster, you can still keep your prejudices against anyone with a drawl and still sleep at night. You are, after all, better than them.
Shaun, I'm assuming you are young because it seems as it is mostly the young who seem to be impressed by their own importance. I used to be like you, clever, witty, impressed with my own intelligence and believe that I am most right. Then I joined the Army, went to war, spoke with people who weren't elitests impressed with their own thoughts. I am not writing this to berrate you, merely to let you know that being smarter than the average bear does not make you MORE Correct or MORE Worthy. I am not a bible thumper, but I also know that for some people it provides them with a comfort that reading or cognitive provides for me. The article was self-serving and biased from the get-go. I've lived in the south most of my life, and yes we have our "special people" but so does Philly and every other town in the world. Last words......Shaun, grow up.
The fact I can't get those 5 minutes I spent reading your "article" is enough cause for me to lynch you next time you're in the South.
If you were trying to provoke a reaction, you were going about it the wrong way. Next time wear a shirt that says "General Sherman invented the BBQ in Atlanta" and refer to statues of Confederate generals as "second place trophies".
I guess the votes are in, and you ARE an immature douchebag. Grats! Now LEARN from this experience.
All you did was no much different from what the preachy bible bashers do. You went around shouting about being an atheist. You might not believe in a god but you still have a religion, which is Atheism.
Is it not conceivable that no one cares about what you believe?
Sean, you should know that we outlawed lynching douchebags a long time ago in the south. If you had asked the question online, we could have saved you the trip. Yep, we even got them fancy calculatin machines with the intarwebs south of the Mason-Dixon now.
Not all us southerners are knuckle-dragging racist bible thumpers. Wow! Who'd a thunk it?!
Raleigh, NC
What a great social experiment you ran, nothing like having preconcieved notions about the outcome that don't come to be. Maybe you should try it out in the Northern states and see where it gets you? I'm sure the north will see you as the same douchbag that the south did.
Im still trying to imagine what he was expecting. This provincial a-hole clearly doesn't get out much.
Nobody gave this turd the time of day. Big surprise. What a douchebag.
Not particularly interesting. I'm not sure why you viewed the homeless man's coment as being ironic. I am also not sure why a person would walk around wearing clothing in an attempt to illicit negative responses from people. Maybe the next time you walk through a poor inner-city neighborhood you will wear a shirt that says "I am your friendly neighborhood white boy". This might make for some more interesting story telling. Or perhaps, you could try life on the other side and walk through a liberal norther city wearing a shirt that says "I believe in God" and see what happens. It might be interesting to compare this to your most recent trek.
There's 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Thanks, buddy.
Talk to me after you drive around the Dallas area with an atheist bumper sticker on your car for a couple years.
How very disappointed you must have been to not have been lynched or kidnapped by some hillbilly preacher, made to churn butter or bathe in the crik.
The most interesting part of this article is not that you are a big bad atheist, but that you have such stereotyes, such expectations from people who live in a different area of our country than you.
No one argued with you. In fact the people who you assumed you happily might most offend more than likely said a prayer for you instead. How ignorant and backwoods of them!
The tone of this article is like a small boy who does things for attention. How sad to be an adult and still act that way. How sad to create stereotypes yourself for atheists as deprived children stamping their feet for attention.
How amusing that the people you seek to prove less than you, are so very much more.
What a f*cking douchebag you are!!! Try growing some brain cells instead of being a disgrace to the human race!
You probably should have gotten punched. Not for being an athiest, but for being an ass.
Looks like your identity as an ATHEIST was created while trolling the web and you have no idea what the real world might be like.
Wow, different than the web, b . . bu . . . but
Pages
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!