So this dude was lingering around the gas station after work yesterday.

He walks up to me with a card and a bucket, and says he's from a ministry for recovering drug addicts, celebrating an anniversary, and they were out witnessing and collecting donations.

I said I'm sorry, I don't have any cash on me. He said ok and just walked off.

So I said... that's it? No witnessing, just asking for money? He said, oh yeah, you have a point.

I told him that this wasn't a good look, because it gives the impression that the ministry angle is just a ruse for the money.

I said I'm an atheist, but I was once a Christian for nearly twenty years, and while I’m not actually interested in hearing about the ministry itself, if this is what he’s trying to live by, he’s got to do better because he’s leaving a poor impression of that ministry.


So he says I’ll believe again someday. I said no, I won’t. He said I need to devote myself more, pray more, read more bible, seek him more, etc.

So I explained that I’ve been there, done that, and dipped into a couple examples of how christianity and religion as a whole don’t really hold up to very basic scrutiny. I let him know that if this ministry is helping him stay clean, by all means, keep at it. And if that belief is what he thinks he needs to hold onto to stay the course, so be it.

I then told him that he’s a man with a mind and if he wakes up and decides not to use, it’s because he made that choice for himself, and he can make that same choice every day if he so chooses.

He just said to have a nice life.
And that was that.

Naturally I’ve replayed the interaction and there are certain things I’d have said differently or with greater clarity. It was an interesting exchange, having had so many from his side of the coin way back when.