Hi, I'm new to the forums.  I was born Jewish but never been religious.  I'm an Atheist and literally 80% of my friends are evangelical Christians.  I believe that every religion serves a purpose to those who believe and I support their freedom of choice.   None of them know my true beliefs and they treat me as "the chosen one" since I was born Jewish. My current problem is that I clearly see their shortsightedness on almost every possible topic. They are all extremely closed minded, they don't believe in any type of science (including medicine), they believe in a uniparty conspiracy to take over the world and they think that anyone who disagrees is going to hell.  Additionally, they pray constantly and believe that only God can make things better.   I participate in their prayers because I want to be a good friend and not insult their beliefs but I also feel ridiculous praying to a deity that doesn't exist.  They've never pushed their beliefs on me but they assume I agree with their points of view (and I'm also the chosen one).  I agree with most of their politics except for inserting religion into government and schools.  That said, I joined this forum because I wanted to vent my frustrations and also learn about other Atheists' points of view.   I don't talk about Atheism with anyone just as I don't discuss fairytales and goblins with people; there's really no point.   Please don't get me wrong.  I like these people and benefit from their friendships in many ways.  Thanks for listening.

So you are an atheist whom everyone thinks is a Jew so that's why you participate in Christian rituals. That sounds complicated if not socky.

If they don't believe in medicine, what do they do if they break a leg?

Why do you capitalize the 'A' in atheists and atheism?

(July 10, 2024 at 10:40 am)Angrboda Wrote: Why do you capitalize the 'A' in atheists and atheism?

A lot of American Atheist members do that. Madalyn Murray-O'Hair insisted on it.

Hiyas and welcome. You should not be afraid to live openly as yourself; you should not have to camouflage your true identity.

If your friends don't accept you as an atheist then they are not real friends.

Welcome. It must be stressful to hide your true self from those you're closest to. It may help that you're a Jew, Jewish atheists are fairtly common. Good luck with all that.

(July 10, 2024 at 11:15 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Hiyas and welcome. You should not be afraid to live openly as yourself; you should not have to camouflage your true identity.

I get your point but it's not important to me.   When I'm with them and they choose to pray before a meal or pray for a person who is sick I participate out of respect.  There's noting I can do or say to change their beliefs nor do I want to.  So, I put my head down and wait for them to finish their prayers and life goes on.  No harm is being done to me or my ego.  In my mind it's no different than when I play with my 4 year old niece and her imaginary friends.  I'm not camouflaging my identity because it's more important to me to show respect to others unless it's doing harm to myself or someone else.  My identity is that of someone who doesn't do or say things to unnecessarily hurt or discredit others and being an Athiest simply means that I don't believe in God.  I'm not sure what I expected from posting this but thank you for your feedback and for the welcome.

Bowing your head isn't really participating, I do the same thing, unless I feel like looking around to see if there's anyone else looking around.