Do you talk about your atheism

[Angrboda]

I don't like being proselytized by strangers in public. It hasn't happened often, but it sure sours me. Beyond that, I spend a lot of time at discussion groups, events, and book clubs relating to atheism and secular humanism, so naturally the subject of religion comes up a lot. I'm very open with people about the fact that I'm Hindu, but don't end up talking about it much. My brother-in-law is an atheist, and my sisters are Christian. My sisters are twins, and you practically have to pry them apart with a crow bar. So, when the four of us are together, I talk to him a lot, and we frequently laugh and joke about religious stupidity. I'm solitary, so aside from groups, I have nobody to talk to about such things. Up until winter a year ago, I had a friend who was Christian. We were talking about something on a TV show, and I illustrated my point with some stories from the bible. She mistakenly thought I was attacking Christianity, and she knows I hang out with atheists, so she starts trashing me over it. I pointed out that I was Hindu, not atheist, and she said she couldn't acknowledge my beliefs because her god said she was to have no other god before Him. In the car on the way home, she gloated about "sticking up for herself." I broke off our friendship the very next day and never looked back. I don't need to be treated that way by someone who calls themselves my friend. I say I'm a loner, but I suppose that's only half true. I'm well known and well liked, I just don't form social relationships with my friends from the groups. But we have a lot of camaraderie at meetups.