Atheism and disrespect

[brewer]

My response is typically "no thanks, atheist". But it never hurts to keep this handy if they persist. 

[Joods]

This is a good topic. I struggle with not wanting to be disrespectful with one area of my life. I belong to the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion. Monthly meetings open with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer from the LA chaplain. Those are the only two times when I keep silent. I keep my atheism to myself at all times while I am at the hall. Sometimes it's just better to let sleeping dogs lie because I really love volunteering and helping out our service men and women and this isn't an area of my life I want to mess up.

Other than that I am very open about my atheism. I don't have an issue if someone wants to believe, but the second they start preaching at me or they make the assumption that I believe god, we have a talk.

[Seraphina]

There's nothing disrespectful about not wanting religion stuffed down your throat. But you're 16 so I'm going to put on my mom hat here. You're likely being simply viewed as a petulant child in the situation you described, rather than a "disrespectful atheist". If you had said "no, not wasting my time" to anything else that had nothing to do with religion, the end reaction from your family would likely be the same - "petulant child", which has little to do with religious beliefs or lack thereof.

-Teresa

[Silver]

The bigger the divide, the better.

[Gwaithmir]

My whole family knows I'm an atheist. I speak about my atheist activities about as often as they speak about what's going on in the Catholic community. We all respect each others views. The only person to have a conniption when I came out as a non-believer was my mother. It took about a year, but she eventually got over it.

[AFTT47]

I'm drunk now so please take this with a grain of salt.

I really think it is necessary to make some room for those people who do not hurt you but you disagree with.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves in highly polarized times now so that it is easy to look at somebody who disagrees with you as an enemy.

We seem to be at a fork in the road point where one is right and the other is wrong. So how do you look at someone who chooses the "wrong" path?

We got past this same sort of thing in the 1960s and I'm sure we will do so now.

The transition will be awkward but it will happen.

Stand your ground.

[DodosAreDead]

There's nothing disrespectful about not wanting religion stuffed down your throat. But you're 16 so I'm going to put on my mom hat here. You're likely being simply viewed as a petulant child in the situation you described, rather than a "disrespectful atheist". If you had said "no, not wasting my time" to anything else that had nothing to do with religion, the end reaction from your family would likely be the same - "petulant child", which has little to do with religious beliefs or lack thereof.

-Teresa

The incident I wrote about was an example that involved much older people, so I see where you're coming from. But I find myself in similar situations many times with people my age or just a bit older, as most people I know and hang out with are theists. It's not like anyone preaches or anything, it's just that there are certain things that I refuse to do or say, because there's simply no need to do or say those things if you don't believe in god and religion. An example being excessively long prayers. In those instances I'm certainly not being viewed as a petulant child, being as old as the people around me or just a bit younger. Sometimes it's just challenging to walk the line between being respectful and standing your ground, that's all I'm saying. So i'm trying to see how others on here do it.

[robvalue]

I generally try to be tactful but clear. It depends who I’m talking to, who else is there, what their attitude is, and so on. I leave no doubt I’m not interested in [whatever stupid superstitious thing], but I won’t go into details unless I’m pressed. If they don't want to know, they shouldn't ask. If someone gets arsey with me, I’ll just stop talking to them if possible.

[KevinM1]

It's not like she was gonna call me a month later and ask if I'd memorized the stupid prayer.

Be glad you're not in my family. My mother and aunt both keep tabs on this kind of shit.

[Silver]

Theists can be disrespectful under the false guise of godly love, but one atheist speaks up truthfully and everyone loses their minds.