Dear Christian

A couple days ago at work – now that I have been allowed out from behind the register – I was shelving a cart in the religion section.  Section A is Bibles, B-D is Christianity, F-G is General Theology and Catholicism, and H-L is Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and atheism.

Well, when I reached the atheism section, I was at first surprised and then outraged to see that someone had turned around all of the faced-out titles so that they weren’t showing.  Books like God Is Not Great, The Portable Atheist, The Atheist’s Bible, The God Delusion and others had been hidden.

It seemed logical to me that only someone who was offended by atheism would do such a thing, and that only someone who believed in a god would be offended by atheism.  My instinct led me to think that a stereotypically narrow-minded Christian had done this.  On behalf of my faith, I was appalled.

I have long felt that Truth can easily sustain heavy outpourings of doubt and disbelief: if something is true, it must and will be True, yes?  I am not at all concerned, disturbed, or offended by my or by anyone else’s skepticism or defiance.  I always think of Habakkuk’s questioning of God, and of God’s answers (read the book; it’s short).  Also, and most importantly in this case, I think that a Christian ought to love his neighbor so well as to leave his choice of literature unmolested.

Was this anti-atheistic customer perhaps concerned about the name of God being blasphemed?  If someone wants to write about Why I Am Not a Christian or about his belief that God Is Not Great, he is allowed to do it!  And the person concerned with God’s reputation ought to look to how his own actions are representing his Lord.  The proverbial plank and all that.

While I was shelving, a man was reading a book about Islam.  Although our managers tend to be overly zealous about engaging the customer (“Can I help you find anything today?  Can I recommend X to you?”), I decided to let him read.  When he looked up at me as I walked by, I only smiled at him.  If he’s looking for Truth, he’ll be able to find it.