It's well known where I work that I don't believe in God.  (I'd say about half the 100 or so people I encounter on a daily basis know.)  Among most of the people it's hardly an issue.  Among a handful it's become a regular topic of conversation in an enjoyable, bantery kind of way that occasionally spirals into extended exchanges about the nature of belief in general.  I enjoy these conversations (as much for the distraction they provide as for the points raised by all sides).

Among a couple of people, my atheism is obviously an "issue."  We’re pleasant enough toward each other (in that obnoxious, sickly-sweet kind of way that perfunctory politeness invites), but frankly, I think they're nuts.  I won't go into specifics, but believe me when I say these people (from different Christian sects) jettisoned from reality too long ago. 

Occasionally during a department meeting (anywhere from 4 to 20 of us in a room at any given time) a situation will present itself for me to insert some jokey (hopefully witty) atheistic comment (usually under the guise of political correctness or grammatical accuracy), or one of the more rational believers will jab me a little (verbally that is) and there will be a chuckle among those who get it.  

The other day someone said to me, "When you see the light..." in a tone that implied, well, that I'm an idiot.  I saw him later and told him, politely, that I was insulted by his comment (one I've heard dozens of times before).  He immediately and profusely apologized, though not because he understood why I was insulted, but simply because I had pointed out his indiscretion.  (To his credit, his apology seemed sincere.)

I asked him if he understood why I was insulted.  (Again) to his credit, he was honest, and said, "frankly, no." 

And there's the problem.  I'm not an angsty teenager nor am I a curmudgeon.  I’m a grown man with a wife, son, and a friendly (relatively) well-trained dog.  I had a bar mitzvah at the appropriate age after 5 years of religious education.  I'm also (if I may say so) relatively well educated about the major faiths.  I often find myself having to explain to self-titled Christians way too much about their own religion, a "faith" they've obviously inherited and could no more discuss than why they are right handed...it's just what they are, and they never really think about it.  They are "Christian" in the same way they breathe - autonomically.   The irony is that he was born into his belief system, while I developed mine. (Not that I invented atheism, but I had to come to it on my own.)  As Richard Dawkins says, there are no Christian children, only children of Christian parents. 

When my colleague said, "When you see the light..." what he was actually doing was dismissing every thought, feeling and experience I've ever had in my 41 years as pointless, or at best, shallow.   As if I had not (intellectually or emotionally) earned the mantle of atheist, rationalist, humanist.  He was telling me that my belief system was so unconsidered (by me) as to be nothing more than a whim.   Good thing he pointed it out to me, or I might have gone through the rest of my life reading books about science, philosophy, history and religion and continuing to make my own decisions about what I believe instead of being dictated to by the clergy.