So would you let an atheist join your church?

And I am not talking about attending your church. Would you let him become a full voting member? I found an interesting article about an atheist who became a member of a Presbyterian church. Although this article was written on April Fool's day, it is not a joke. I found a link to it on StreetProphets.

While I believe in the importance of dialog (which involves listening and learning on our part), I would have difficulty giving full membership to an atheist. However at the same time I find it disturbing how often Christians demonize the atheist. Frequently atheism is a reaction to an abhorrent or inadequate God. Sometimes that reaction comes about because they were taught about a hateful God, who will strike people dead if they look cross-eyed. Sometimes its because the God they read about in the Bible is evil, condoning slavery, ordering genocide, and slaughtering millions of people. The truth is atheists are not bad or evil people. They are just trying to make sense of their world just like us.