From: Ye Olde Farrar
Date: Feb 5, 2007 7:14 PM

I heard about this great thing on the news one day called freecycle, and when I saw that there was a New Orleans freecycle group I thought it would be a great way to get rid of some things I thought other people could use. So I used freecycle for a little while and found it very useful (especially in getting rid of things) but extremely annoying because of all of the Christians using the e-mailing list for advertisements. Every day someone was advertising ‘Free daily devotionals,’ and sometimes those things would come two or three times a day. When I asked them to stop because freecycle was about the trading of actual material posessions, someone went on a rant about how the spirit must not be neglected. I postulated that those who don't share their views find the posts annoying at best and offensive at worst -- being told that my soul is at risk is not something I want to have to even hit the ‘delete’ key for several times a day -- especially since, as an atheist, I don't believe in an eternal soul.

Open mouth, insert foot -- soon I was being ridiculed by people on the list who were asking sarcastically how I could explain that being an atheist had enriched my life, et cetera. They were all incredibly sarcastic and the moderators refused to step in. I reminded the group that the purpose of the list was not to berate people online. Some of them then got angry and asked questions like ‘And what have ATHEISTS done to help people after the storm?’ and ‘Tell us how you and the other non-believers have helped make the world a better place.’

Rather than patronise the ever-more-smug Christians and feed their sense of superiority, I simply left the group without fanfare.

I had not too long before this incident given one of my horns to a woman whose son lost his during the hurricane. I could have sold it somewhere for a few hundred bucks but I was feeling charitable and I felt sorry for the kid. You wouldn't believe how grateful they were -- she thanked me a million times and we found out that we actually work at the same university. I then told them where they could get a bite to eat since it was late and they had a long drive home (and not too many places were open after 9pm following the hurricane). Curiously, the woman who called me a godsend to my face never stepped in on my behalf online -- she never explained to the group how kind I had been to her and her son, or told people that at least she never got the *impression* that I was an evil person. I guess only Christians deserve gratitude.

-Farrar