The Atheist Blogger

For those who aren’t already aware, I’m a first year Computer Science student at Royal Holloway, University of London. I live in halls, in a flat with 7 other people. Most, if not all of them are from a Christian background and would call themselves Christians, however the fact that I am openly atheist has never discouraged them in any way. Of course the same could not be said for other inhabitants of the halls, as I would find out within the first few weeks of term.

I’d met a fellow atheist in the neighbouring flat, and we had both decided that the university needed an “Atheist Union” of sorts to oppose the active Christian Union. We drafted up some posters explaining our cause and purpose, and began sticking them up around campus, mainly in the vicinity of our halls. After a few days, 3 of them had been torn off the wall and ripped into pieces. Evidently, I thought, there were some people who really didn’t like atheists. So I reprinted them with a message that tried to get through to their sense of reason. I wasn’t imposing on their beliefs, so why should they impose on mine?

The posters stayed up a few more days…before being ripped down again. I gathered up the pieces, stuck them back together, and decided to display them on my door, as a kind of “shrine” dedicated to my futile efforts to reason with these people. One of the posters I found still intact, but with the words “Pricks” and “Nobs” (British slang for the word “penis”) written across it.

Nevertheless, I managed to build up a small gathering of atheist and agnostic students after we changed our name from “Atheist Union” to “Atheist & Agnostic Alliance” (for an awesome alliteration). Things were going well, until a few weeks ago, when the vandals struck again…only this time they attacked my door.

I have stuck many posters to my door during the year, the vast majority of them atheist in nature. For instance, I have a poster depicting the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and a copy of an advert supposedly taken from some fundamentalist publication. I don’t really mind if it is real or fake, I just find it funny every time I look at it:

Now I should point out at this point that these posters are on my property, and not in the way of anyone (unless you are entering my room), so they shouldn’t cause a fuss. Of course as soon as the fundamentalists found my room this all changed. The first vandalism was the writing of the word “douchebag” on one of my posters, which I promptly reprinted. The second vandalism was much more serious, and happened just over a week ago. The word “douchebag” was written on the same poster again, and the word “gay” next to another. A load of breakfast cereal was poured on the floor as well.

I have since asked my flatmates to keep the interconnecting door closed and the vandalism has stopped for now, though I doubt it will cease completely. For what is supposedly one of the most secular universities in one of the most secular nations on Earth, it is surprising to see how vile some people can be.