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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 12, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 12, 2010 at 7:45 pm
(April 12, 2010 at 7:36 pm)Saerules Wrote: You didn't know this...? I can certainly see fr0d0, and my GOD synakaon: Take a BATH! You 
B.b.but I showered this morning 
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 13, 2010 at 5:54 am
And I'll take a bath next Easter like every year. Whether its nessesary or not.
Best regards,
Leo van Miert
Horsepower is how hard you hit the wall --Torque is how far you take the wall with you
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 13, 2010 at 5:59 am
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 13, 2010 at 3:59 pm
(April 13, 2010 at 5:59 am)Saerules Wrote: (April 12, 2010 at 7:45 pm)Synackaon Wrote: B.b.but I showered this morning
Some shit even soap and water just can't seem to wash away 
*Synackaon smokes to relieve pressure
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 20, 2010 at 12:02 am
No one should ever hide how they feel or believe. I think personally just being who you are, whether it's popular or not, makes you a better person by default. When you pretend what you are really doing is conning everyone you speak to, hiding behind masks merely gives you the appearance of something you are not. But my advice would be to ask yourself why you want to hide what you believe, if you are attempting to delay hurting someone's feelings, or if you are afraid of how you will be seen afterwards, well, that's understandable, but it doesn't negate the fact that who you are pretending to be isn't really who you are, so you are already lying. Personally I think the world would be a much better place if we would all just be honest with each other.
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 20, 2010 at 12:58 pm
(April 20, 2010 at 12:02 am)SleepingDemon Wrote: No one should ever hide how they feel or believe. I think personally just being who you are, whether it's popular or not, makes you a better person by default. When you pretend what you are really doing is conning everyone you speak to, hiding behind masks merely gives you the appearance of something you are not. But my advice would be to ask yourself why you want to hide what you believe, if you are attempting to delay hurting someone's feelings, or if you are afraid of how you will be seen afterwards, well, that's understandable, but it doesn't negate the fact that who you are pretending to be isn't really who you are, so you are already lying. Personally I think the world would be a much better place if we would all just be honest with each other.
A nice ideal but the reality is that we all must hide much of our inner monologue from others to maintain relationships with them. If I were to leak every feeling or thought I have out to the general public I would come off as very weird indeed. If I were to pipe up every time my mother praises God we would become estranged quite quickly. So, for the sake of our relationship, I have decided to avoid such things.
Rhizo
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 20, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I'm not talking about the monologue, i'm talking about disguising the fact that you are an athiest. If you know that constantly berrating your mother every time she mentions god would harm your relationship, which i'm sure it would, then don't, but she should know that you are an athiest. It's the fact that people live for years pretending to be something they are not, not being an ass about it, but putting on a mask of sorts when in public that bothers me. Everyone has inner monologue, but out of respect I let my family speak their minds most of the time without jumping in. However if they say something I feel is wrong, I've no problems jumping on them for it, an attribute which my mother says she admires.
"In our youth, we lacked the maturity, the decency to create gods better than ourselves so that we might have something to aspire to. Instead we are left with a host of deities who were violent, narcissistic, vengeful bullies who reflected our own values. Our gods could have been anything we could imagine, and all we were capable of manifesting were gods who shared the worst of our natures."-Me
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 20, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I agree that it is better to be 'out' as an atheist than to pretend otherwise, but there are even times when that alone would be enough to ruin a relationship. My wife admits that she is an atheist to our friends, but she has never told her family. Most of her family live far from us and are quite religious. If she told them she was atheist, it would severely damage her relationship (however long distance) with them, so she chooses not to tell them and I understand that. It took her a long time to tell them she was a Democrat! Haha! Thankfully, she doesn't hide it (either one) with anyone else.
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RE: Should I hide my atheism?
April 20, 2010 at 4:26 pm
(This post was last modified: April 20, 2010 at 4:31 pm by Rhizomorph13.)
(April 20, 2010 at 3:27 pm)SleepingDemon Wrote: I'm not talking about the monologue, i'm talking about disguising the fact that you are an athiest. If you know that constantly berrating your mother every time she mentions god would harm your relationship, which i'm sure it would, then don't, but she should know that you are an athiest. It's the fact that people live for years pretending to be something they are not, not being an ass about it, but putting on a mask of sorts when in public that bothers me. Everyone has inner monologue, but out of respect I let my family speak their minds most of the time without jumping in. However if they say something I feel is wrong, I've no problems jumping on them for it, an attribute which my mother says she admires.
Wait, so you are saying that you hide how you feel and believe sometimes? But, I thought, "No one should ever hide how they feel or believe." That was what I was speaking to.
I have a good relationship with my mother and know that the relationship can weather the storm of coming out as an atheist to her (And storm it was!). I have a friend who should probably hide it because it will only drive a wedge between her and her mother. I'm all for honesty but the older I get the more I realize the need for discretion.
Rhizo
quick edit - What I find humorous is that there are two threads in "atheism" one titled "Should I hide my atheism?" and one titled "Should i tell my family that I am atheist?" and in both threads the answer is mostly a clear NO. So it seems philosophically everyone thinks we should NOT hide our atheism. When presented with a real life situation though, it seems everyone thinks we should hide our atheism. Hmm, interesting stuff!
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