Christians, why are you persecuting me?

If I call myself “atheist” today, it is only as a resistance against the people who ask me to pigeonhole my religious beliefs so they can judge me accordingly. It is only until the day when someone who asks whether I believe really cares about what I believe and how I believe it, not so that they can change me, but so that we can share a connection, so that we can be open to each other’s beliefs, “two solitudes greeting and bordering each other” as Rilke would say. And in that moment of connection, if something moves me, then that is something that is real.

If you are a proselytizing Christian, ask yourself, are your beliefs a fortress? Do you attack another’s beliefs from behind your high walls? This is why people resist, or, if they capitulate it is only an illusion, a heart that is captured but not swayed. If you don’t make yourself vulnerable in this moment of connection, I don’t believe you can ever really touch someone.