Atheist "Evangelism"

Here's my explanation for why I talk about my atheism a lot.

It's the same reason I talk about the experiences of LGBT people. It's not that I'm evangelizing to make more LGBT people. Though these experiences of marginalization are obviously not equivalent, I do think that the atheist movement has a lot to learn from the LGBT movement on this subject. It doesn't all have to be about recruitment. Sometimes it's just about visibility. People will be better to atheists (and yes, this may sometimes extend to being more willing to consider what we're saying) if they know that they know atheists, that we're normal people, that we can be good people, that we aren't so different from them, and above all why we are atheists at all.

If all religious people were like Quakers running around pushing for the abolition of slavery, LGBT rights, and environmental protection, I don't think you'd even hear atheists griping about obnoxious theists or whatever. Those people aren't my main concern when I'm talking about atheism, though, because believe it or not? It doesn't always have to be about theists!

Atheists need to be able to talk about ourselves without theists making themselves the center of attention and discussion. Sometimes we need to be able to talk to and about each other, too. Sometimes atheists talk about being atheists because it makes it easier for other atheists to be atheists. It's just like how some people talk about being LGBT because it makes easier for other LGBT people to be LGBT.

So, in short, atheists need to talk about their atheism. We have the right to do it, we have the right to have our reasoning heard, and we have the right to reach out to each other. Yeah, I believe there are benefits to "deconverting" theists, but much of the time for me it isn't about that. Just because theists are the dominant group in my culture doesn't mean that every ounce of energy I spend and every minute of my thoughts needs to be dedicated to their wishful thinking. Sometimes it needs to be about us.

If moss rose were a person, I wouldn't fuck with her.

I had moss rose reseed itself three years in a row after I planted it in containers on a concrete patio through two of our hottest summers and only sort of occasionally actually bothered watering it. This year I actually put it out next to the garden and watered it daily (and even occasionally fertilized it) through the height of summer along with everything else and it EXPLODED.

Like, this plant went apeshit. It got so big it overflowed the pot and pieces fell off of it into the pot next to it... where they grew roots and became their own plant.

That's why there are two pots of identical pink flowers in this picture.

So.... yeah! Fuck only knows what's going to happen NOW.

In other news! My bee balm came back. My artimisia survived the winter and is restarting itself. My purple sage survived. I expect my moss rose to return because that stuff is unkillable. My gargantuan lantana monster had evidently put down like six inch deep wood roots holy fucking shit, so I had to get those out.

We will see if my morning glory bush (not the vine jfc no) seeds from last year come up this year. I am planting crocuses. Not a bad start!