From: mhanson.humanist@gmail.com

Greetings:

I am currently houseless, self-employed, dependent on some charities to be
comfortably fed. Many of the meals available are at Christian churches to whom
I am grateful, and I take my hat off and keep quiet during their grace.

At one such community meal there was a discussion about "God" and there were
disagreements among the main three participants. I choose to remain silent and
let them do as they will, and I was glad I was not invited. Had they insisted
I would have excused 
myself, stating that I would not like to have such a topic at a table I'm
about to eat at. If they insisted I would suggest waiting until after dessert.
If they continued asking most likely I would just keep silent until they were,
unless they say I'm 
bring rude to which I imagine I would give slight chuckle.

It bothers some people greatly having to participate in sermons and prayers
and such to have a basic need meet, but I figure it is just a courtesy to the
providers. My only objection is when they get too personal, especially when
I'm trying to eat. I was 
served a breakfast plate and started eating when a woman came up and asked if
I needed prayer. I said, "No, thank you."

To which she responded, "So you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal
savior?"

My breakfast was getting cold. "Yes, I had." - which is true, I did in the
past, but had since recanted. I had no desire to explain the details; cold
potatoes and eggs I have to force myself to swallow.

There are other religious groups that offer food: Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh,...
no other group put us through all this just to get a meal.

To those who may accuse me of being unappreciative, I answer that my grace is
a lot longer than most. While most thank their god exclusively, I thank all
the people responsible, which is a lot more than most people realize. Of
course there are the 
servers and the cooks, but there are those also who bought the food, provided
the funds to make the purchases, transported the items to the place of the
meal. There are the farms and factories and all the workers who worked to
prepare each and every 
ingredient,  as well as the transportation between all the necessary points.
And let's not forget the fueling and maintenance of the vehicles involved. The
makers of the plates and silverware, the cooking utensils, the building
itself. Every meal has 
thousands if not millions of fellow humans responsible for another few hours
of comfort for ourselves.

Thank you.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)