Let me make sure I understand. You don’t like religious people but you’re willing to ‘grab coffee’ or ‘get pizza’ or ‘just hang out sometime’ with me? You’re open-minded enough to set aside your natural (and totally justified) loathing of me and have a conversation? You will condescend to engage with lowly, little ol’ me?

How flattering! By that I mean, how manipulative and creepy.

There are some Christians who would relish the opportunity to share a meal with you so they can try to win you to Jesus. They think you’re genuinely interested in a conversation. They assume you’re a person of integrity.

It is my belief that every occasion to eat pizza should be cherished and not frittered away in the company of narcissists. I have zero interest in your opinions of my character. I truly don’t care if you think I’m a good person. Anyone who denies that God exists is incapable of trustworthy judgment.

Thanks for the invitation but I do not want to eat pizza with you. A lengthy conversation with an self-absorbed poser is less appealing to me than sliding naked down a 30 foot cheese grater.

I’m too nice a person to lie to you. It is a courtesy that I tell you the plain truth right up front — I don’t trust you. It’s not personal. I’m suspicious of anyone who refuses to acknowledge an authority higher than themselves.

(Colossians 2:18) Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.