Angry and disappointed because you can't convert/deconvert people around you.

I'd say get used to being angry and disappointed. Changing beliefs is up to them, not you. 

And guard against victim mentality.

(November 3, 2019 at 10:24 am)I believe in Harry Potter Wrote: In fact the bullying happened because they thought i was gay

Yes, and it's shameful what they did. But the problem to blame in this case isn't religion perse. It's the tradition/culture in which people are brought up thinking there's something wrong with someone appearing to be effeminate.

Look, all I'm suggesting is perhaps the way you're going about this isn't productive, and you'd serve your time better to focus on yourself and learn and study well in the meantime (anything that interests you basically). You'll have more peace later when you realize you can just shrug off what other people believe and not have to follow in the footsteps of people like Dawkins.

(November 3, 2019 at 5:08 am)I believe in Harry Potter Wrote: What? Oh wow thanks for enlightening me kiddo
I thought trying to convince my family to stop following their religion/faith would heal me from these traumatic memories.

What are you talking about?

On a planet of 7 billion, you are still talking about a majority of our species being sold the religions/rituals/social norms at youth prior to having adult critical thinking skills. You will never create a 100% perfect religion free world.  The best anyone can do is keep it at bay so that it does not infect politics or science.

Some people get lucky, like me, and grow out of it, and it did take someone questioning me to get that ball rolling. But I wouldn't try chasing utopias either. 

I left my religion in mid 20s. My late mother thought it would just be a phase. She raised me a Catholic and she died a Catholic. She never abandon me though, and she wasn't afraid of my questioning either. Sometimes that is the best you can get with a friend or loved one. 

It only becomes a problem, at least with me, when someone constantly sucks the life out of you with talk of hell and doomsday. I cut off my older brother over that. Not because I wanted to, but because he sucked the emotional life out of me. 

Outside that, it is still important to challenge your government to stay neutral on the issue and important to challenge your government to keep religion from bastardizing science. I never stopped loving my late mother though. I'd be homeless if it were not for her.

Point is, pick your battles. I'll take a liberal theist 7 days a week and twice on Friday, Saturday and Sunday over any fearful conservative.

So you're basically saying that..........drum rolls.........."to live a good life as an atheist, don't be an atheist" *(which is also an advice by an atheist *

(November 3, 2019 at 12:09 pm)I believe in Harry Potter Wrote: So you're basically saying that..........drum rolls.........."to live a good life as an atheist, don't be an atheist" *(which is also an advice by an atheist *

There is no one specific way to be an atheist. You're free to ignore what I say and just do what you want to do. Time to see myself out of this thread.

Okay then so how should i hide disagreement if i see everything wrong with most of the outrageous things and ideas that they have? Yeah i know avoid them , already do, and that's why i don't really have any real life friend

(November 3, 2019 at 12:21 pm)I believe in Harry Potter Wrote: Okay then so how should i hide disagreement if i see everything wrong with most of the outrageous things and ideas that they have? Yeah i know avoid them , already do, and that's why i don't really have any real life friend

The expression we use is "pick your battles", meaning, prioritize what you want to take a stand concerning. Some battles you simply can't win. Some you can afford to just walk away from and let go of your desire for people to be other than what they are.

I don't know how old you are but if you're under about 25 years old, you're still likely to be reactive just naturally around separating from your parents / family / elders and finding yourself as it is. You may see the differences in belief with your family as a bigger deal than it really needs to be.

My parents are dead, and I chose, for better or worse, never to reveal my apostasy to them. It was a decision that made sense because (1) they weren't meddlers or the controlling type and (2) most of my adult life, they were over 2,000 miles away and I didn't have to interact with them on a regular basis. I also understood that they would be very concerned and upset to know the truth, but I couldn't see what purpose it would serve to disturb their composure. Despite being totally convinced they would never abandon me for having different beliefs, I just didn't want to upset them. I'm not saying that's the conclusion everyone should reach, but it was my particular calculus.

As it turned out, there was literally no one in my family I felt I had to convince of anything. But I didn't have younger siblings, only older (much older). So the dynamic is a little different. If I had a younger sibling, I might have used up some capital putting freethinking ideas into their head, too.

I just spent a weekend with my two still-living older brothers. One of them is still quite devout in the faith. My thought after that visit was that I could stand it for a couple of days, but would be pretty vexed if I lived nearby and had to interact with him all the time. I would have to have strong boundaries and avoid religious and political topics and just agree to disagree. If he insisted on constant hint-dropping and proselytizing I would have to severely curtail the amount of time we'd spend together.

Bottom line, life is too short (and I'm too old) to be upset all the time, so you either have to choose not to care or avoid the provocations and where you end up with that decision is going to vary by individual personality and family dynamic.

The only thought I can offer is that your family members are responsible for their own beliefs and the consequences of them, and it's probably better on balance to offer opinions or advice only when asked for, and even then, to recognize that some people demand to know truths about what you think or feel that they simply can't handle.

Still waiting for the punch line, im not saying there has to be a religious free world, but there doesn't have to be a religiousness free world either


By 2070 we will all be Muslims, since Christianity has also hit a plateau in comparison to Islam, and we are all a part of the start of something big, we are at this era of time where humanity starts to move to something different, where when im talking about a shift of global change in everything because you already know how religion is connected to everything from politics to even everyday life and many many other things that you wouldn't even imagine they are influenced by such things. Whether you like it or not you are the last of your kind. 

Im not going to keep on with my atheistic arguments because i already know that you guys don't like atheistic arguments, you'd rather suggest me cooperate with the creeps . And it's really much different from what i expected before coming in this forum, but you guys are literally the opposite , i wouldn't be surprised if you guys actually convert me to a religion. 

I mean it makes sense that's why this is an atheist forum, maybe i should look for an antireligious forum instead.

Buddhism's good though.
You should at least give that a go.

I can see how a person in your position might very easily imagine that trying to talk their family down from ignorant superstitions with painful real world consequences would be some act of healing.

Now you know better, and can file that away as yet another example of those superstitions subverting our better nature and claiming undue deference for themselves.

You're never going to argue someone out of something that they didn't argue themselves into.