I “came out” to my family as an atheist when I was a child. Here’s what I told them:
It may be that I am incorrect. It may be that when I die I will be confronted with supernatural beings who will demand answers for my arrogance in having ignored their mandates to live certain ways.
To those beings I will say, “I apologize. I see now that I was wrong. I had every opportunity to listen to those you sent to tell me the truth of your existence and expectations, but I wasn’t able to ‘believe’ because of the intelligence you gave me. I thank you for that intelligence. It has been the single thing I have been most proud of and have gotten the greatest use of throughout my life. I thank you for it even if it is now the cause of an eternity of torment.
“This is the only life I know for positive sure that I’m going to get, so I’m making it count. I WANT to be kind and do good works. HERE, in THIS life. Because I think it will make this life better for everyone, not because I’m afraid of what may or may not come after this life.”
Believe it or not, the novel A Clockwork Orange (NOT the film! The novel! And make sure it has 21 chapters! Don’t get the corrupt American edition!) is great at teaching this concept. It’s author, Anthony Burgess, was (is?) a Catholic. Spoiler alert: The message of the novel is that “God” gives us free will~which means we have the free will to behave like church ladies OR Reality TV Show Stars and that it is ungodly–it is AGAINST God’s WILL–to tamper with that choice for another person.
In short, the message of the novel is that someone who tries to force another person to behave one way or another is WORSE in the eyes of God than someone who rapes, maims, murders, etc.~because the rapist (et al), has God’s okay to do all that (having been given free will), while evangelizers do not have God’s permission to play god (i.e. “Justice is Mine, sayeth the Lord.” “Judge not lest ye be judged,” etc., etc.)
Sedem Xosi 