Atheist - Christian question; Can I just read a book???

Question

So I just went to a Subway around my job, which is where eat everyday. I know the staff and I usually stay there 15-20 minutes after I eat my sandwich either reading or watching someone on my iPod. I own the book "God is not great" by Christopher Hitchens, I bought a few months ago but never really had time to read it so I decided it was time to finish it.

As you may or may not know the cover of the book says: "God is not great; How religion poisons everything and because I know how intrusive people are I decided to remove the cover and just bring the book itself with me, not realizing that it has the title on the spine, of course.

So I'm reading my book after I ate my sandwich, and this normal-looking 40-something guy who is seating next to me with whom appeared to be his wife or maybe a friend asks me very politely what the book is about. I sense trouble but I give him a brief description, and then he starts talking to me about our finite minds and God is a concept we're never going to understand because he’s infinite, and then the lady tells me that the fact that they saw the title of the book even though I remove the cover (which I told them I did to see if I could get rid of them) proves that God exists, while I just look at them and think inside my head how ridiculous this arguments are. I’m not ashamed of being an atheist but this is exactly why I didn’t want to show the title.

So the conversation was over, no yelling, everybody was polite to each other but I have only one question:

WHY???????!!!!!!

Why is it that I can’t read a book without a Christian coming up to me and asking what the book is about to then proceed to criticize it? Does that make any sense? Why do you care? This is not the first time this happens to me. I mean, I can understand if I’m reading something that looks interesting and someone has a question about it, that’s ok, let’s talk about it, but why would you ask me about something you know you’re not going to like?

That’s like me asking someone I don’t know what type of music they have on their iPod and then try to convince them that the music they have sucks, What do I care?

What is this need that some religious people have to save everybody? I would never go to STRANGER that I see reading the bible to try to start a debate about religion, What happened to privacy?

Please, if any religious people, psychologist, sociologist, philosopher or anybody can tell me why I will really appreciate it.

Thanks

Answer 1

i can't answer the question - but the exact same thing has happened to me when i was reading TEXTBOOKS for a class i took on feminism.

normal looking people would interrupt my reading anywhere - everywhere (even on campus) and start lecturing me on the evils of feminism. and they were not as polite as the people you describe.

I think those people

1) just can't keep their mouths shut and

2) they think they can save you ( or me) if they just explain to us why we shouldn't read these things.

as best i can tell, they don't think we are capable of reading and making up our own minds what we believee.

Answer 2

I myself am i proud christian. and i know exactly what you are saying. And i think that when people believe in something they want to show other people what they believe. and also i don't think i have the guts to walk up to strangers and talk to them, but i find it interesting to hear what others have to say about what they believe. i may speak my points but i try not to argue. i'm really sorry i'm afraid to say there will always be people saying things to you. i hope this helped in some way.  

Answer 3

coming from a believer/lover/child of Christ....

All i can say is that not all christians are like that. But at the same time i feel  like atheist are always quick to bother christian the same way some christian bother atheist.

p.s.  I don't believe God is not great, but i do believe RELIGION poisons everything and is the reason why most people don't wan't anything to do with it! and i apolagize for the hypocritical, self rightious, you no whats MOST christians are today ( and have been throught history!)

Answer 4

There are plenty of Christians who don't do that, and who probably saw that and wished that jerks like that would stop making Christians look bad.

There are atheists who go out of their way to be annoying to Christians.

It's a matter of personality type, not religion.

I'm much more covert about my religious beliefs, but on the rare occasions I'm confronted by people I actually appreciate their concern. As far as the guy who bothered you knows, h**l is a real place where you're going to go when you die. Now, we think otherwise. But in that guy's mind, he's trying to do your eternal soul a favor. He acted like a jerk, but his intentions were good.

Answer 5

You forget that Christians are on a mission from God.  In their minds those nice people were trying to save you from the devil himself and they were justified in inturrupting you lunch to do so.  Alhough their motivation is noble their manners need work.

Answer 6

To me, you would appear to be questioning your own beliefs as to whether or not God is great.  Why would you be reading this book if you were COMPLETELY convinced that you are an atheist?  Wouldn't you already know that God wasn't great and wouldn't you not care?  That may be why they come up to you.  And also, Christians only want to save people from the awful h**l that is mentioned often in the Bible.  In criticizing your books, they are trying to find a way to help you understand that having God in your life is totally worth it, but some just don't know quite how to do it.  Anyway, good luck on your spiritual journey.

Answer 7

Many Christians believe that they are supposed to try and win souls for Christ.  And indeed they are.  They do so out of compassion.  Some approach it the wrong way.  They sometimes offend.  But in all cases they have good intentions.