NOTE: I apologise in advance for the length of this post. In order to give the proper amount of background info & context I knew I just had to plow through it. Sorry. --R

What's your "Atheist Public Persona"? Before I explain what I mean, a little background info is in order.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFO
I'm a native Southerner. I was born in Atlanta, but grew up in suburban & rural GA my entire life. Like most Southern atheists, my entire family is comprised of VERY conservative Trumpers, with pretty severe racist tendencies and a healthy dose of evangelical holier-than-thou syndrome.

As I describe it, I'm the "white sheep" in a family of "black sheep".

Unfortunately, people like my family comprise the vast majority of society down here. This in turn makes it even more intimidating & daunting to even admit you're an atheist to yourself, much less to your family or society at large. And I don't begrudge them anything; to come out as atheist almost guarantees you heated conflicts, shunning, harrassment, and more. You'll almost certainly be ostracized by members of your family, and will probably lose most of your friends. You can even lose your job (but of course in a way that makes it hard to prove).

It's much to risk.

When I came out as an atheist to my family at around 16, I remember my grandfather telling me that he'd "rather I be a homo than an atheist" - which gives you some insight into what most of us are dealing with.

THE PROBLEM
Most people's minds have been stuffed with a plethora of negative stereotypes concerning the godless, and from every facet of their lives - family, church, friends & their families, and even school leaders. They're told we "hate god", are "in league with Satan", are "amoral anarchists" who want to "tear down the very foundations of our society", and who "can't love others because love comes from god - no god, no love". And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

MY SOLUTION
So, shortly after the, ahem, "welcome" I received from my family I decided that, if I want society to be more accepting of us then I should stop bitchin' and start doin'. I decided that I needed to do my part to affect change where I can, when I can, in my own way. I decided to embark on somewhat of a guerrilla campaign to try and break down the wall of negative stereotypes, one brick at a time.

THE GOAL
I realized my primary goal isn't too tear down their beliefs. Instead I just want us to be accepted & respected within our society, and for us to not need to hide anymore. In fact, that should be the default for all of us, no matter what out belief system or philosophy happens to be.

Simply put, my goal isn't conquest, it's acceptance.

CRAFTING THE SOLUTION
I realized that it's very easy to hate an abstract concept, which is how racism works. You hate some nameless, faceless ethnicity or another because of preconceived negative stereotypes that have been cemented into your head. But when get to know someone from a "not us - other" group - and I mean, really get to know the individual at a deeper level than just exchanging pleasantries - it suddenly becomes harder to hate them. Consciously or unconsciously you begin to realize we're all more alike than different. Most are good people - they simply want to lead a good life, take care of & provide for family & friends, give their kids a better life than they had, help others, and live in peace.

Suddenly their ironclad resolve to hate an entire group of people comes with riders & qualifiers. How many times have you heard, "I hate ALL ___ - except for Bob, he's a great guy."

That's one brick knocked out of that wall, only a few million more to go.

BORROWING FROM THEIR PLAYBOOK
I knew that I had to slip past their defenses to be able to truly reach them. This means I couldn't use the standard "tear down their beliefs with facts &logic" approach; I needed something more subtle, a less threatening way.

After giving it a bit of thought I decided to take a page out of my old church's Handbook of Indoctrination. I decided that I would conduct my life as a "living testimony of my non-belief".

I would witness to them. My life would be my living testimony of atheism.

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
First, I wanted to build a rapport with those that I encountered on a regular basis. People such as cashiers at the stores where I regularly shop, coworkers, my kids' teachers, friends, and their parents, etc - you get the idea.

Next I needed a conversation starter. I needed something that would compel them to start a conversation with me. So I began wearing my Atheist symbol necklace every day, and always visible. I also have the same symbol tattooed on my lower am. This way at least one of them is visible every single day. (BTW you can see the necklace in most of my pics, and there's one of my tattoo itself.)

Since very few people outside of the godless community know what our symbols are, it tempts them to ask me about it. Eventually, Most of the time. ?

BOOM! I'm in.

The beauty of it is that in almost all circumstances, people don't feel comfortable enough to ask me about it until they feel they know me well enough to ask. And at that point I've already started tearing down those prejudices, because they view is as friends, and see that I'm a good person.

"THE TALK" (No, not THAT one ?)
Once they ask me about it I simply say it's an atheist symbol that I really like. I explain briefly that I want people to see that we're not the monsters you've been taught we are, etc. I then answer any question they want to ask, in an overly friendly way. I tell them to feel free to ask me anything they want and I'll gladly answer their questions.

The way it typically goes is that they do come back with other questions, and each time they do they seem a lot more at ease.

And with each subsequent visit another brick or two is knocked down.

BTW, notice that I never mention their religion, because I never want to give them the mistaken impression that I'm here to attack them or destroy their beliefs.

WRAPPING UP THIS NOVELLA (FINALLY!)
So, I guess I would define my "Atheist Public Persona" as an ATHEVANGELIST - someone dedicated towards the acceptance of atheists in society at large, someone who demonstrates that we're not only "good people", we're pretty much the same as everyone else. Additionally, there's a pretty good chance you already know multiple atheists amongst your friends & family - you just don't know it because they have chosen to keep it to themselves.

What about you? Are you out of the godless closet? If so, what's your Atheist Public Persona?

I'd love to hear all about it! ?