I had my own personal experience with the clashing of religions this winter, and I think it scarred (and scared) me a little. I was engaged to a fundamentalist. Not a very practicing one, but he definitely wasn't an agnostic either. In reality, I'm not even sure of the depth of his religious beliefs. He never shared much in that way. I also knew that he hadn't attended church regularly since we met, or been highly involved in religious activities. About the only thing he retained from religion was guilt over certain activities. While religion wasn't a big part of our breakup, it was something that I had worried about in the back of my mind.

In another related story (sort of)I recently had a conversation with one of the other student workers at the cafeteria. He had noticed the ankh necklace I was wearing, and commented on it. He, like many others, had mistaken it for the Christian cross. I corrected him gently, and said that for me, it had no real meaning. I simply like the design. We spoke briefly about his beliefs. He, like many of the international students workign in the dishroom, was Muslim. When he asked about my religion, I didn't say atheism. I simply said I had none. To me, it seemed a gentler way of stating it, since I really didn't want to offend this guy. He then asked me one of the most important questions that religious people can ask one without a belief: What makes you do what is right, if you have no God to answer to? I thought for a moment, having never really been asked this question before.

I told him this: I did what is right, because I believe myself that it is right. No one else had to explain to me what is right, using a God-in-the-sky as a reasoning for things being right. I know that if I want to continue living my life, I have no right to intentionally take life away from another person. It's only fair. If someone else dies at my hands, or even because of my carelessness, I deserve to be punished in some way. I can still believe in "do unto others as you'd have done unto you", even if I don't believe that the son of God expressed this wisdom. It's still a good bit of advice.

He seemed satisfied with my extremely brief and crude explanation. I feel that he went away with a good opinion of the non-religious. That should be at least part of the goal of every atheist: to show reason. I was able to show one person that all atheists are not "monsters", while being courteous regarding his own beliefs. This conversation was not the time to shoot down Islam, and I avoided doing so.

In closing, I guess I just experienced my first bit of atheistic "witness".

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