I'm Fasting for Ramadan

It's the blessed month of Ramadan and we all know what that means: we godless atheists get to enjoy steaks while the Muslims go hungry. I'll be joining the Muslims this year, though, or at least joining them for one day.

Some members from my atheist group were conducting an Ask-An-Atheist booth from 11am-1pm today. While I was out, I decided to drop by. Two Muslim girls wearing hijabs were walking around passing some things out and apparently getting people to sign up for something.

They come up to us, smiling, and greet us. They begin to speak when they see our "Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists" sign behind us. They both stop talking and one of them exclaims:

Oh no! You guys are atheists.

It was a bit of a humorous comment. It was said in the tone of some environmental activists trying to get people to commit to using less gasoline and then run into some oil executives:

Oh no! You guys are oil executives. The enemy!

Ha ha. Just what were these two Muslim girls passing out and getting people to sign up for? A pledge to fast from sunrise to sunset on Monday:

For every non-Muslim who fasts with us, local-area businesses have pledged to donate a certain amount of money towards the 2008 Ramadan Orphan Drive, conducted by Islamic Relief, who currently sponsor over 20,000 orphans in 21 countries.

There was something very telling in her tone and exclamation about her exposure and conception of atheists. I think she was particularly surprised when we didn't laugh at all the hungry orphans in the world and instead all signed a pledge to fast.