Atheists as "Future Targets"

[NMMNG]

These are high school children.

Via Friendly Atheist

Sometimes, it pays to track online mentions of the organization you work for. The Secular Student Alliance’s Jesse Galef (who also contributes to this site) saw a Tweet this morning which included this image:

MY FUTURE TARGETS :)
I’ll pray for you.

Every indication is that the person tweeting was talking about converting them to Christianity, not shooting them. But, as JT Eberhard notes, if the tables were turned and an atheist called members of a Christian group “targets” and posted their picture, there’d be a *huge* outcry. (And rightfully so.)

So how do you handle this?

JT and Jesse figured out who made the tweet, what school she attended, and they alerted the principal to the Tweet along with a note indicating why they were taking precautions about this — more from a anti-bullying stance than a “call the cops” one. I think that was the right move — not ignoring the message and not overreacting to it by any means.

<snip>

if the tables were turned and an atheist called members of a Christian group “targets” and posted their picture, there’d be a *huge* outcry.

Indeed there would. But there are probably people out there who wonder why anybody's offended that some sweet Christian wants to pray for and try to bring a group of atheists to Jesus (if that is all the person wants to do). They just can't see why it's offensive, and even frightening, to be "targeted" like that. Just because you're different. Just because you don't believe in gods.