Today I told my doctor I was an atheist

Today I told my doctor I was an atheist

she didn’t take it well

the first words our of her mouth were:

“You can’t be!”

then I asked her if she ever thought

about becoming an atheist

immediately the shutters on her mind

slammed down and she said:

i could never be an atheist

and lets me know there is

absolutely nothing i could say

that would ever convince her

all i wanted her to do

was to seriously think about

why she’s a theist

to not throw up that wall

around your mind

when someone starts

talking about the subject

just to leave it down

then imagine what her life would be

like if she did not believe in god

this is a second generation doctor

who spends time with you and knows you

if i wanted to talk politics

or medicine

or science

or any other subject

in the world

she would be open

to conversation

on an objective basis

without declaring her intention

right up front

to never consider the idea period

this is a physician

educated, literate, intelligent

attractive in emma thompson way

she just was so shocked

not only by the idea

that i was an atheist

but that i would ask her

to consider what her life

would be like

without god looking over

her shoulder all the times

at one point she was

so freaked she actually said to me:

why don’t you just kill yourself

and get it over with

since nothing means

anything anyway

my personal physician,

a woman i hug when i leave

her office

advised me to kill myself

i figured i’d expanded her cranium

enough for one day

so i didn’t say

my life has meaning,

much more now than

when i was a christian

sweating blood over my

own eternal destiny

does anybody think that’s a bit selfish?

children dying around the world

from easily preventable diseases

or malnutrition or being raped

and forced to kill their families

then to kill others

and all Christians

can think to do is save their

own ass from the fire?

bottom line is

i am an atheist

because i am sickened

by what we have done

to the world

and each other

and women

and children

i am an atheist, in part,

because i came to realize

that Christianity

is the only religion ever

to exist solely for the purpose

of denying the teachings

of its founder