An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the evolution had created.
“What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!”, he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing.

He ran even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out “Oh my God!….”
Time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky,
“You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don’t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?”

The atheist looked directly into the light,
“It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?”

“Very well,” said the voice.
The light went out.
The river ran again.
And the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear dropped his right paw … made the sign of the cross … brought both paws together…bowed his head and said:

“Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts…”

Another good line.

And more to the point you’ve given me a handle on why I’m so bothered by all the 4 letter words atheists toss around- its ugly.

Hard to explain to an atheist that truth is beautiful.