One of the many things, one of the main stereotypes which atheists have to overcome is that one of being evil. Yeah, I know, I've been there and done that on both sides of the issue. When I met my first atheist, my first thought was the guy just had to have some sort of pentagram tattooed on his forehead or something. Having never even met anyone who had met an atheist, I just didn't know what to expect. All in all, the only thing I really remember about the guy is that he played a mean game of Risk.
 

There are a lot of people out there who don't know what to expect from atheists. Their main source of information of us has been from the same people who have told them that the bible is true.  Some of them aren't going to believe we aren't evil no matter how much we reason with them; they will believe because the truth scares them. The truth is evil doesn't exist. And if evil doesn't exist, then they have a lot of thinking to do about why they act the way they do and what they are going to tell their kids.

The ones I'm worried about are those who haven't made the break from religion yet but who are beginning to ask questions.  I'm worried about those who might have some confusion about what sort of people we are, if you can group us together as a group, and why we're putting up web sites and screwing with silly people's minds.
 

The image the EAC presents is one a lot of people are going to point to and say,
" See! I told you so!"  And that's the image they'll take away from a site, regardless of what else might be there. Ok, so it's people like that who I personally hope never become an atheist, but I think they at least deserve a shot. And we might well be shooting ourselves in the foot with this.
 

I met a guy named Steven who truly thought I was a satanist because I was an atheist. I have no idea how I might have explained the EAC to him. As it happens, he's still a christian so I guess it didn't make a difference anyway but at least he has seen the truth about what I am, and what I'm not.
 

Do I think this will have any affect on those who are members of the EAC? Who knows? Most will honestly believe anyone who takes it seriously is too stupid to figure out the truth anyway. I disagree.  I think we do ourselves a disservice by taking up the label a lot of people have tried to stick on us for a long time.
 

I do find it interesting how many different graphics have popped up and how many people have put them on their pages. The art work is solid and a lot of people I know have told me to lighten up on this one.  I don't, and won't condemn anyone who thinks it's a good time and good clean fun, nor will I tell you I don't get a kick out of all those people out there who it freaks out because they're just too stupid to read what it is about. It does come with a history of what it is and the guy running it clearly is making fun of those who take it too seriously.
 

I still think it's a bad idea. I think it gives the wrong impression of us and I think it's just plain mean to mess with their minds like that. Well, I think it gives the wrong impression, that would be closer to the truth. ;-)