Hiker brings "I BELIEVE IN GOD" sign to top of Mt Elbert, CO and posts pic to 14ers.com FB page. Another user quickly calls him out for littering w/ photographic evidence. (x-post /r/hiking)

Certainly not! Actually the fact that it looks like several people have been doing the same thing is kind of sickening to me.

I'm pretty low-key on my personal proselytisation, I'm not very good at realtime point-counterpoint debate (damn you Dunning-Kruger!), and generally just tell people why I think my life is joyful.

I really cringe when I see people 'get grabbed by the collar and shouted at that they are sinners', and I know this isn't as uncommon as I would like it to be.

We are tasked with being good stewards of the earth. Good stewards don't leave garbage jammed in rocks in the middle of pristine wilderness.

I know some people are offended when I say "Merry Christmas" (not many, admittedly), and I do not enjoy making others uncomfortable.

This is a weakness in me, but I believe you might have some insight into how we think if I give you an outline of the internal conflict I experience every time I get the urge to spread the Gospel:

1) Ok, this person should really hear about what Jesus has done in my life.

2) They look like they've had a bad day, maybe this will make them feel better.

3) Will they get offended when I walk up and start talking to them? (Not because I am a Christian, but because I am a stranger)

4) How do I deal with them if they start shouting?

5) I really want to share this good news with everyone!

6) Not everyone wants to hear it. Sometimes the ones who need to hear it the most are the most shouty and offended.

7) Maybe I should just help carry their groceries?

8) What if they think I'm a creep?

9) How is God going to feel about me chickening out here when I could possibly help save a person's life?

10) Oh, they just got off the train at a different stop from mine... I wasted all of this time I could have been talking with them on worrying whether or not I should talk to them at all.

11) I'm not very good at being a Christian...

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I know this doesn't fit the stereotypical 'shouting pastor on a college campus' or 'homophobic old lady frothing at the mouth in a checkout line because a magazine has two men holding hands on it'.

I don't personally know anyone like that (well I know one person kind of like the lady, but he doesn't froth at the mouth all the time), but I know they exist because I see them on the internets.

I wish people like that hadn't given proselytisation such unpleasant connotations, and I hope me and the people like me will go some distance towards making up for the rest.

/r/atheism Thread Parent Link - i.imgur.com