The main chef, and restaurant owner, Antonio, appears to often be displeased with me. It took three months of me working there before he spoke to me, and he only did so to enquire about my religion. Or lack thereof as it happened. From the moment those words fell from my mouth ("I don't believe in God, I am an atheist") I knew Antonio had it in for me. Immediately he tried to challenge my non-religious beliefs with arguments such as "So you don't believe in Heaven?" (No, I believe when you die, that's it. Finito.) "Well who do you think puts dreams in your head at night?" (Dreams are images and thoughts that occur as a result of neural processes in your head whilst you sleep). And "So if I told you it was going to snow tomorrow, and it did, surely you would know God gave me this information?" (Or maybe you just watched the weather forecast).
Now I have never been one to criticise anybody for their beliefs, and I have a genuine interest in religion, and peoples' ideas on life, and I particularly enjoy engaging in a good, well thought out, educated debate about Creation Versus Evolution. However, I find it extremely difficult to be patient when someone's idea of a discussion about religion is to use the point "Because God did it" or "I just know" or "God told me".
In the last few months I have been accused of being on my way to Hell, being narrow-minded, being ignorant, and worst of all... being empty! Yes, Antonio once told me that because I am atheist, I am also empty and soul-less! In a conversation minutes later when I stated I was thinking of getting a pair of glasses to give my eyes a rest from contact lenses, Antonio let me know that "If ever I think my eyesight is going, or getting worse, I ask God to correct it, and he does." What logic is this? Surely if this were indeed a valid point, all religious people would have perfect eyesight, and us 'empty atheists' would be walking around bumping into everything, spending hundreds of pounds on eye-care.
As I said, I have nothing against anybody with any religious views, but I believe to so openly insult me and judge me, and try and enforce religion upon me is wrong. Surely the Christian thing to do would be to accept me. And not forgetting the Golden Rule; treat others how you wish to be treated. If I so frequently mocked Antonio's religion, slated him for it, and judged him, there would be an imminent uproar! Disrespecting somebody's religion has always been seen a a controversial and detrimental thing to do. And yet the same does not apply for disrespecting somebody's non-religious beliefs. I find this slightly unsettling, as and a family member pointed out, surely it is a form of bullying in the workplace?
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