Remember PZ and Co's field trip to the Creation Museum? The certainty of some (even here) that the atheist interlopers
had to have been disruptive twits?
It turns out there was a pastor in their midst. Aaron Gardner went with the group just to see how the "other side" gets treated in a Christian venue. He didn't like the experience at all:
While I did not have a T-shirt (a symbol anyway) it was obvious that there was a distinctive way that we were being treated because of the shared identification. There were hateful glances, exaggerated perceptions, waxing surveillance by security, and anxious but strong ‘amens’ accompanying a lecture on “The Ultimate Proof of Creation” by Dr. Jason Lisle.
Is this how Christians treat people? Is this how we follow Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? I cannot help but think that many Christians are fearful of atheists. It is a sort of xenophobia that runs along lines of faith and belief. What we tend to forget is that atheists, agnostics, and evolutionists are people too. If our attempt to preserve our belief means that we are treating these people like animals, are we really holding up principles that are based on a creation worldview?
There have rarely been times in my life that I have been ashamed of people that I call “brothers and sisters in Christ.” This was one of them. To be judged by people that share my beliefs because of the name tag I wore was appalling. We forget that Jesus not only commanded that we love our enemies and pray for them, but he also sought out people who were rejected by the religious order, embraced them, spent time with them, and partied with them. It was not a covert operation to get them to say the sinner’s prayer (which was not invented until the 20th century) and get them to change their ways. Jesus knew that spending time with them was like good medicine: those who are well do not need a doctor.
http://pastoraaron.info/2009/08/11/scarlet-a-for-a-day
http://pastoraaron.info/2009/08/14/atheism-at-the-creation-museum