Sales Pitch

So, continuing my thought of carrying my own atheism/agnostic pamphlets, I've got to think that it's a lot harder to convert a religious person to non-religious versus vice versa. Just think, bottom line, religious is selling you something -- a hope, a supernatural being looking down (kindly) on us, life after death, that life has a purpose after all. Whereas atheism is selling nothing. It's like saying, "Sorry, buddy, all you see is all you get." There are no extra stock in the back (afterlife). Or, agnostic, "Sorry, buddy, there might or might not be something after death. Life might or might not have a meaning -- we just don't know."

When a person is in distress, it is natural to turn to a superpower, or at least hope against hope that there is one. Hence the saying "there is no atheist in a foxhole." Even the most logical person is willing to give up logic, when logic is not offering a way out, i.e. a loved one is diagnosed with terminal illness. All of a sudden they are willing to try prayer (can't hurt), or try any natural/homeopathic concoction of vegetables that allegedly will make your love ones' cancer go away.

And, most importantly, it is going to turn many people's lives upside down, if they decided to give up their religions. Religion, for the most part, in my opinion, is a clutch; a clutch that allow one to deal with the hardship, desperation, or just the mundaneness of everyday life. It is, for this very reason, that atheism will be a hard sell.