Parents forcing a christian convention on me - how to keep sane?

[Anomalocaris]

I don't want to show any lack of belief, because they will enforce it on me harder.

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Yes.  At 16 you should be ready to become independent enough to brush off any "consequences" from telling your parents about your atheistic outlook.

You obviously haven't met my parents

It's about you, not your parents. Either you are your own man, or woman, in which case you stand up for your own views, or you remain your parent's pet.

[coolfunkDJ]

So when I say forcing I mean they think I want to go, I havent told them about my athiesm as I don't want to face the consequences
With that out of the way I am going to a christian convention on Monday! The time where I have to take a break from my exams Im getting preached about how fucking amazing JC is!

So how do I keep sane? What should I do to keep my ass out of a mental asylum!

Thank you

It's very simple. If you can't beat them (or in this case, escape them) then JOIN THEM!!!!!

AND BE SURE TO PRACTICE YOUR ABUSE OF THE ALL CAPS BUTTON AND NEEDLESS EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! 

You learn to be a True Christian ™. You study the Wholly Babble and commit yourself to believing every word of it, including all the parts that make no sense and all the parts that contradict each other! 

After all, if Jesus can be both 100% human and 100% divine, then he can also be born before 4 BCE (Matthew) and after 6 CE (Luke) all at the same time. It's a miracle! Praise the sweet name of Jay-zus. 

And don't worry about those exams. Unsaved heathen trash (atheists) are always the ones who actually know what's in the Wholly Babble where Christians usually don't have a clue. 

[out of character]

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A good healthy role-playing exercise might be your ticket. It's how I keep my sanity. Often, I'll read something stupid by an apologist, my head hits the desk and then I excitedly start typing "AMEN!" (or I school the "dumb ass phony Christian" what the Wholly Babble really says) 

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[/out of character]

Glory to Jebus. 
Amen.

Ahahahaha, sure will! Thank you for the helpful advice! I now know what to do!

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You obviously haven't met my parents

It's about you, not your parents. Either you are your own man, or woman, in which case you stand up for your own views, or you remain your parent's pet.

You talk like its easy, like I said, you havent been around my parents, if I show any sign of turning away, thats how they shall force me to be their pet.

[Norman Humann]

It's about you, not your parents. Either you are your own man, or woman, in which case you stand up for your own views, or you remain your parent's pet.

I don't think it's a good idea. It's not that simple. I'm his age and if I came out as an atheist, half of my family would disown me and the rest of them would forcefully try to convert me. While I'm still dependent on them for shelter, I'm not doing that. It's not about being their pet, but about weighing up the risks and perks. I don't know his exact situation, but in many cases, coming out is not a good idea.

[Anomalocaris]

This is a battle that has to be fought. Fight it or remain a pet forever.

[Norman Humann]

This is a battle that has to be fought.  Fight it or remain a pet forever.

Would you give a gay teenager the same advice about coming out to homophobic parents? Because while not identical, it's very similar.

[Anomalocaris]

Y

This is a battle that has to be fought.  Fight it or remain a pet forever.

Would you give a gay teenager the same advice about coming out to homophobic parents? Because while not identical, it's very similar.

Exactly the same.

In fact, I would give the same to a Christian teenager who fears coming out to domineering atheistic parents.

[Norman Humann]

Exactly the same.

In fact, I would the same to a Christian teenager who fears coming out to domineering atheistic parents.

Were your parents religious? Were you an atheist teenager? Because it sounds to me like you don't know how aggresive people can get in these terms and how many problems can arise. It wouldn't be worth it to live with people who despise you for who you are.

[SteelCurtain]

damn, good advice, but I'm not really the 'rebellious' type, and Ive been once, lets just say its hard to meet friends and people there...

Not rebelling, I'm just saying when the parents aren't around, be subversive. But you gotta be confident about it. People will gravitate towards you. I was in your exact shoes as a 14 year old. I was forced to go to Youth Retreats for a cult called "Campus Crusades for Christ" and "Student Venture" here in America. I would be at these retreats where we were influenced to do things like destroying all our secular music, and preached to about the dangers of homosexuality. I didn't rebel, but when we were away from the seminars, I would just say things like "I'm not getting rid of my secular music, I paid a lot for that" and made the typical non-judgmental arguments against gay-bashing, and lo and behold before long there were people gravitating towards me who weren't buying into the whole fundy thing as well. I still am friends with one of the guys I met to this day. He is still a Christian, but we had typical teenage fun on those retreats. (Being from Florida they were usually at the beach!) What I'm saying is not necessarily to be an outspoken atheist, but to be a subversive skeptic who has his own opinions.

This is a battle that has to be fought. Fight it or remain a pet forever.

Not as a 14 year old. It's too early. You can not be a pet when you're 18 and independent. It's the wonderful part of being a freethinker. You can be rational about things and pretend to buy into it as little as possible until you feel the time is right. Just like coming out of the closet as gay, you have to be ready and you can't force it before you are ready.

[Anomalocaris]

if you are 16, you should be able to make it on your own until you reach college age. It's your call whether you chose to live a charade for handouts from those who, face it, you think really do despise you for who you really are - a fact not changed in the least by your pretending to be something you are not, or see if you have the resource and resolve to make it without their handout, and who knows, maybe you will find out they may in fact accept you for who you are if you make it clear enough who you really are?

[coolfunkDJ]

if you are 16, you should be able to make it on your own until you reach college age.   It's your call whether you chose to live a charade for handouts from those who, face it, you think really do despise you for who you really are - a fact not changed in the least by your pretending to be something you are not, or see if you have the resource and resolve to make it without their handout, and who knows, maybe you will find out they may in fact accept you for who you are if you make it clear enough who you really are?

Can we keep on topic anyway? I mean, they'd still make me go, athiest or not