As I was walking to the weekly peace vigil in downtown Saratoga Springs, carrying my sign that reads, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?,” a passing motorist yelled to me, “Jesus isn't real!”

I was livid.

I went to my fellow “vigilers” and demanded to know what they hadn't told me. “Thanks a lot,” I fumed, “I've been standing out here for the better part of five years with my signs about Jesus being anit-war and not one of you tells me that he isn't real?! That 's like letting me stand out here with my fly open and not saying anything!”

But seriously, we all had a good laugh.

I really don't mind it when people tell me that Jesus or God isn't real. What I do mind are the Christians who come up to me and tell me that Jesus is pro-war. With the former I feel like we're at least having an honest conversation. With the latter I feel like someone has hijacked the “Prince of Peace” for the ends of the empire.

Interestingly enough, I get more flak from Christians than I do from atheists. I shudder to think what that means.

OK, the young man who took it upon himself to inform me that Jesus is not real could be right. Even with that remote possibility, I prefer to cast my meager allotment of bread upon the same waters as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Joan Ludewig, Martin Luther King, Jr., Art Laffin, Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Walt Chura, Matt & Amanda Delioisio. Carmen Trotta and Frida Berrigan, just to name a few.

If Jesus (or God) turns out not to be real -- I'm still in good company.