Grace.

Obviously, since I'd be more likely to pray that this guy got "crotch-rot" than pay for his groceries, I don't belong in the company of the Christians who helped to convert this atheist by communicating God's grace to him through corporeal works of mercy.

This is one of those stories that seems too good to be true. Last month, we told you about Patrick Greene, an atheist activist who threatened to sue over the presence of a nativity scene in Athens, Texas.

Despite his actions against the religious symbol, Christians came together to raise funds for him and his wife to purchase groceries after he fell ill. Now, as a result of the kind gesture, Greene has reportedly announced that he has become a Christian — and that he wants to enter ministry.
(Related: Christians Raise Funds to Help Atheist Who Threatened to Sue Over TX Nativity Scene)

It’s only been two months since the atheist was threatening to wage a legal war against the nativity scene in Henderson County. But something changed over the past 60 days. After residents found out that Greene was suffering from a serious eye condition that could lead to blindness and he was forced to retire, Christians‘ kindness transformed Greene’s worldview.

In the end, they offered him $400 for groceries and other needs (atheists raised additional funds). This simple gift, which was given despite ideological and theological differences, apparently caused Greene to re-think his atheistic inclinations. The Christian Post recaps his transformation from non-belief to an adherence to Jesus Christ:

“There’s been one lingering thought in the back of my head my entire life, and it‘s one thought that I’ve never been able to reconcile, and that is the vast difference between all the animals and us,” Greene told The Christian Post on Tuesday, as he began to explain his recent transformation from atheist to Christian. The theory of evolution didn’t answer his questions, he says, so he just set those questions aside and didn’t think about them anymore.

That last part made me think of the X-Files episode, Die Hand die Verletzt, where Satan decides to "terminate with extreme prejudice" a Parent-Teachers Association in a town founded by Satan-worshippers.  It seems that like true believers everywhere, the Satanist have "secularized" and started treating the dark arts like boring rituals that have to be gotten through out of tradition.  For me, though, one of the more arresting scenes of the show was the confession of one Satan worshipper who described the crisis of faith he suffered because after a lifetime of being taught that he was a mere animal, he realized in the form of his young daughter that he had to be more than an animal.

Atheist becomes Christian becomes Atheist.

That atheist who became a Christian after being shown Christian love has decided that he's really an atheist:

Patrick Greene, an atheist activist in Texas who said last month he had become a believer in Christ after a Christian woman showed compassion to him, now says his conversion was merely out of excitement.

"I got all caught up in the excitement," Greene, a retired cab driver who lives in East Texas since 2005, told San Antonio Express-News.

In an apparent attempt to play a victim, the 63-year-old resident of San Antonio said, "It's easy to do when you get ostracized and treated like garbage. When you're an atheist, you're public enemy No. 1."

Having gone back to atheism, Greene is opposing Christians once again. He fought against Mayor Julián Castro's participation in the National Day of Prayer event on City Hall Thursday. In a lawsuit, he argued that the event was organized by evangelical Christians, was sectarian and therefore unconstitutional for a mayor to engage in.

It looks like my original instinct of being "more likely to pray that this guy got "crotch-rot" than pay for his groceries" was spot-on.

It also looks like Greene still has a problem of squaring his sense that humans are something more than mere animals with the atheist dogma that humans merely are animals.

Atheism - Who could ever love joy-killing fundamentalist puritanical pimples on the collective ass of humanity?

Apparently, the answer is: real Christians.

On the one hand you have a group that believes in caritas; on the other you have a professional toothache.

Sometimes life can take a turn that makes you see things in a different light.

A few weeks ago, Patrick Greene of San Antonio, was known in Henderson County simply as a professed atheist who threatened to sue Henderson County about the courthouse manger scene. Greene’s experience with Christians was of narrow-minded individuals who had treated him unkindly throughout his life.

“My wife and I had never had a Christian do anything nice for us,” Greene said. “Just the opposite.”

The Christians raised $400 and climbing.