Note 1: I decided to write this letter because of an interaction with a specific missionary, but this letter is addressed to any missionary in any religion. Some of the specific details may vary (“God”, “heaven”, “hell”, “soul”, “save”, etc.), but at the end of the day, all religions are fictional, and the core message applies to all of them.

Note 2: I have no hostility towards people of any religion. I’m happy to talk with you, support you, be friends with you, regardless of your beliefs. My emotion is sadness, not anger. I won’t try to lead you out of your religion, unless that’s something you want help with.

A letter to a missionary

I’m sorry for you. You want to help people. To save people. You’ve been brought up to believe that there’s a very straightforward way to help people. To save people. It’s what your community wants you to do. It’s what God wants you to do. Just go around and wear a tie and convert people to your religion and you’ll be a good person doing good things and helping people and saving people.

Unfortunately, it’s all a lie. Your God is a fictional character. Your traditional teachings were made up by a person, with no divine inspiration, just someone telling a story.

By converting people to your religion, you’re not helping them, not reliably. You’re just as likely to make their lives worse as better. You’re not helping them get into heaven, you’re not saving their souls from hell. Heaven’s not real, hell’s not real, souls arent’t real. When someone dies, they cease to exist. There’s nothing to save. Your work accomplishes nothing.

One day, maybe you’ll learn the truth. Or maybe you’ll encounter the truth, and flee from it, into the safety of the community you know, the stories you’re comfortable with, the stories that tell you that you’re a hero. Maybe you already have.

If one day you learn the truth, it’ll seem so much harder to help people. There’s no easy solution, no premade pathway. The real world isn’t a story. There’s things you can try, there’s things you can do. Often, what your community wants you to do won’t help anyone. You have to find a community that will support you in helping people, or you have to set out on your own.

But you’ll actually be helping people. Instead of now, where your positive impulses to help people are co-opted into spreading a fictional story.

One day, I hope I’ll be able to welcome you into reality. Into a world where you can help people.