I recently discovered that the majority of my FB friends did not appreciate the Anti-theism memes I blasted for every time somebody made a God reference. Seemed fair to me...

I was talking about something that someone said in a post on this board, while doing aerobics at the gym, and when asked what board I read it from I went ahead and said it was an atheist forum. Fortunately none of the group had a big reaction to it. I'm glad I didn't spark some heated argument, since that wasn't really what I was talking about anyway.

(January 22, 2014 at 7:08 pm)The Reality Salesman Wrote: I recently discovered that the majority of my FB friends did not appreciate the Anti-theism memes I blasted for every time somebody made a God reference. Seemed fair to me...

I've been told that I come across as "matter of fact" on FB. Umm... yeah, that's the point, I replied.

It always reminds me of this awesome slam poet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4

"It's not enough to question authority. You must speak with it too."

NO. In fact I speak and act as a believer since knowing you are atheist in my hyper-religious society makes you in danger. You will lose your family, friends and other social relationships, not to mention all genius people who would come to proselytize you. They, as you should guess, have an answer for every question and have the ability to show all the world that you are a deluded idiot. Too much shit to be borne. Another thing is that I really don't care a lot about my atheism (I care only about money) , it isn't the main aspect of mine but the problem is that religion here is not just a belief but a way of living which you should conform to, especially in rural communities and popular and tribal areas in the middle east. Anyway I don't talk about my atheism and I am not interested in that, but I just raise questions about everything including religion since the direct enemy of religious authority is not atheism but questioning and thinking. I also talk about secularism and developed secular countries and I find a comfortably good acceptance from people here. My main issue is not to make individual atheists but to make a thoughtful fruitful society and to build a secular country.

With friends, yes. With strangers, NO (unless they hint that they are also a nonbeliever). Like I said in my introduction to the forum, I would rather not explain my non-belief to someone who is going to tell me I'm wrong or going to a fiery pit of death. In my experiences, believers have been extremely condescending.

(January 18, 2014 at 2:16 pm)Lemonvariable72 Wrote: Do talk openly about your atheism? I myself kind of take a middle road here. I have made feeling very clear to those that are close to me, but on the whole I try not to bring religion around people and I kind of take a live and let live policy unless somebody either tries to convert me or says says something incredibly stupid about evolution or atheists. On the whole Im not shy about but a lot of people wouldn't think I'm a atheist by meeting me. How arebyou about it?

I generally don't bring it up. Like others have said, if the topic comes up I'll speak openly about it. I don't try to hide it, but I don't throw it around either. I actually just had an argument at work about it with some ignorant religious dude who claimed we live in a Christian hating society, and that Obama is a Muslim simply because of his name. Also claimed that Tim Tebow is being kept out of the NFL because he's a Christian.

What actually lead to me being a more open Atheist was Facebook. I had tons of people posting religious pictures, bible verses, asking for prayers, etc. So I started posting Atheism pictures, quotes, etc. on my page and kept track of how many people unfriended me or sent me messages to knock it off. Looking for those pictures and quotes to put up really opened my eyes to what I actually thought, and made me angry that I felt like I needed to hide my lack of faith in god from my family and friends.

There's so much fear of persecution that many christians think not having all the power is surely the signs of horrible things to come. Of course the bible warns that christians may be persecuted. Nevermind the kinds of things the book demands you do to unbelievers and naysayers. When the one unforgivable sin is questioning the teachings of your religion, and you're commanded to kill heretics, it pretty much guarantees that people will push back against it.

http://www.rationalresponders.com/christian_oppression

(January 23, 2014 at 8:04 am)No_God Wrote: someone who is going to tell me I'm wrong or going to a fiery pit of death. In my experiences, believers have been extremely condescending.

I like using people's belief in fiery doom as an opportunity to invite them to a thought experiment.

They need not even know that I'm an Atheist right away either, and in my experience, people who believe in God love what they percieve to be "opportunities to share the word". The funny part is that most of them don't have a fucking clue what the word is, and if they do, it's not the same word as the next guy. But, I digress.

I ask, so who goes to hell?

They usually make a quick deductive inference and say something like "all the people that don't get saved". Which this doesn't really clarify what someone needs to do to get "saved", but it's enough for them to think for a second that some people most certainly will not, and this is according to their belief.

I find that it's helpful to make it perfectly clear with my smiles and tone of voice that I dont' take this idea seriously at all, and go straight into relating them to my mom. I always preface my next words by stating my love for my Mom, and my certainty that she loves me too. This makes it two against one, and doesn't make them feel as though they're being attacked, but at the same time, they will be forced to soon decide whether or not they include themselves with my mom's position.

I say: "My Mom is Christian...BIG time. We don't see eye to eye on her belief in God, and to be honest, I am at the opposite end of the belief spectrum. I don't believe any of it. She believes in Heaven and Hell as written in The Bible, and is probably pretty sure that she is doing all that is required to get to heaven. By believing this, she must also be aware that I have not met the same standards, and in fact, have qualified for a different destiny all together." I turn back to the person I'm talking to at this point, and act as though this was something that just occurred to me, and they just happened to be the SME I'd been waiting for to seek clarification. I aske them now "Do you think that my mom has thought about the idea of her son burning in Hell of eternity while she is in a different place that endures no suffering? Is it possible that you could enjoy yourself in Heaven, while thinking about your son being tortured during every passing moment? Hmm..." I usually have to end it with a "hmm..." because they never have a clue how to answer that. I then chuckle to myself and carry on about whatever I'm doing, or entertain further question about my beliefs. I have found that these situations start off with the Christian feeling like they have the answers, but they usually shift into a dialogue where they are asking more questions than providing answers. I keep a bible on my desk at work in case they need a reference.


I will never forget the look on this girl's face when I brought up the bible endorsing slavery. She's black, and is involved in a lot of African American Activist groups. She's also a self proclaimed Christian who had clearly never read her Bible. When I showed her a few of the scriptures, the awkward silence combined with her disgusting facial expressions was priceless. I could almost hear her planning an immediate phone call with her pasture for some serious questions...Hilarious.

What really is there to say about atheism? I'm no missionary. People are multidimensional. They can have interests in common with me or areas of expertise which interest me .. whether they believe in gods or not. I'm not looking to cleanse my social network of everyone except atheists.

I talked about it a little bit when I was first "de-converting" and undergoing a lot of cognitive dissonance. I told my best friend and girl friend that I was losing faith, slowly becoming agnostic/atheist/whatever.

After I realized I simply didn't believe anymore, man'd up, and declared myself an atheist, I told my mom.

Since then, if someone asks, I won't shy away from it. But I don't bring it up just for the hell of it.