After four months of planning, waiting and restless nights, it is about to start. The boxes are being filled and the final paperwork prepared. The great exodus is about to begin.
As many of you already know, Reed (your humble Editor) and I are buying a house together and moving in! We are set to close escrow on March 15th and start moving. We are both very excited. The house is located in a new developing subdivision in Albany.
While I expected to make all sorts of changes with our new situation, I took it for granted that our atheism wouldn't be a problem. That was until I found out more about the neighborhood: Middle-Class, White,
Anglo-Saxon, Protestant. A HUGE Seventh-Day Adventist Church literally shadows houses at the back of the subdivision (across the street from that: a “Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall”). During the last Presidential election the neighborhood was thoroughly decorated with countless Bush/Cheney signs, as well as some signs supporting the OCA anti-gay ballot measure. Not to mention a minister is moving onto our block. Now I know what you are thinking, why should any of this matter to two outspoken Atheists? In reality, it doesn’t matter to us, but we ARE concerned about good relations with the neighbors.
We have no plans to hide the fact we are Atheists, but we want to get along with the neighbors. After all, we plan on living there for several years. Unlike apartment living, it’s a lot harder to walk away from a home you own. What we plan to do is remove one or two of the more offensive bumper stickers we have. It seems like such a little thing to do, but it still bothers me that we feel we have to do it. Or that we are having discussions about what political causes to publicly support. We not only want to get along with our neighbors, but we don’t want to personally offend any of them too badly.
Until now, I never realized how often I and other Liberals stop and consider other peoples feelings. We are asking ourselves if the bumper stickers we have might be too harsh and offensive to our neighbors. Can you imagine a conservative Christian stopping to ask themselves if the religious bumper sticker they have is too offensive to anyone? The idea is laughable. I guess that’s part of the definition of being a Liberal, you think about others first.
Yet we look forward to being asked about our Scientific and Atheist ideas. We will arm ourselves with lots of FFRF Nontracts that sit by the door waiting for the expected flood of religious recruiters. Bring ‘em on!
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
Copyright © 1996 - 2002 Angela C. Byers
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