I Have a Sudden Urge to Devangelize

I now have a new way to meet women!

Ride the subway and begin reading an atheist book. The ladies will flock to you.

At least that’s what happened to Adam. He was reading The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by Andre Comte-Sponville when he had an interesting encounter:

… I was standing in the subway car and reading it, not thinking much about what I was doing, when I felt a touch on my arm.

It was a woman, a stranger, who looked to be about my age. “Sorry to disturb you, but what is that you’re reading?” she asked.

“See for yourself,” I said, and gave her the book so she could read the publisher’s blurb on the back.

She read it, then gave it back to me. “Are you an atheist?”

“Yes, I am,” I said. “I have been since college. Why? What are you?”

“I’m an atheist, too. A new one. I was a Christian for over thirty years, and I just became an atheist, but I don’t know any other atheists yet. What I’ve been trying to find out is if there can be spirituality in atheism.” She went on to explain that she had read Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, and was currently reading Richard Dawkins, and while she agreed with most of what they had to say, she wanted to know more about if there was a positive side to atheism and whether atheists had any kind of community. She said that she had been looking ever since she left her church, but hadn’t found anything like that yet.

“Well, I think you came to the right place,” I said with a laugh…

Man! That has *so* not happened to me yet.

Maybe reading a book is too subtle. I need to make it easier for the ladies to identify me as a non-religious person.

From now on, I’m reading an atheist book and wearing this (NSFW) shirt everytime I get on the subway.

That should do the trick. (I’ll book a place tomorrow for my impending wedding.)

Adam also offers some excellent advice to anyone else who may be in this situation in the future:

… as atheists’ numbers grow, coincidences like this one become more and more likely. So let me say this: Don’t ever hide that you’re an atheist. Don’t be ashamed of who you are. You never know when you may meet a fellow nonbeliever, one seeking aid or advice of some kind that you’re personally qualified to give. We do have reason to spread the good news of atheism, and we do have reason to establish a true community of freethought and reason. Chance encounters like mine are just the first step.