Unfiltered Story #201376

(I and a friend run a small sewing shop. Next door to us is a small church. While the church has a name that suggests it is nondenominational, it does clearly have “Christian” in the name, as well as having a logo on their sign out front that includes such Christian imagery as a Bible, a cross, and a dove, which you have to drive right past to get to our shop. One day we have an older gentleman come into our shop to pick something up. He has been polite thus far, if particular in that ‘old man set in his ways who knows what he likes’ kind of way. As he is leaving, this interaction occurs:)

Customer: Is that a church next door to y’all?

Business Partner: Yeah it is. We’ve done some work for the pastor; they’re really nice people,

Customer, smiling, with that joking-but-not-really tone: They’re not Muslims, are they?

(Pause.)

Me: I…I don’t think so. Pretty sure it’s a Christian church.

Customer: Alright. You ladies have a nice day. (He leaves. My business partner and I just stare at each other.)

Me: What…what just happened? I mean, what does…their sign says…

Business Partner: You know I’ve heard a conspiracy theory that there are fake churches that are secretly run by Muslims in order to sneakily convert Christians, but I’ve never met anyone who actually believed it!