Hi, my name is "withheld" and I am an atheist

[RationalAtheist]

Hello!

That's quite a story. I am deeply sorry about your brother. That is terrible. I hope you've found peace with that, if that's even possible.

I would caution you about "coming out" as it were at a large family gathering. Things can get pretty terrible pretty fast. My advice is to do it one on one, individually, to the people who need to know. Mom & Dad together, maybe, then siblings, then extended family, etc. In my experience when you have your whole hyper-religious family all in one room, everyone has a tendency to come at you with bullshit overload, and it is very difficult to defend yourself properly. Just a thought, in any case.

Seriously, I hope you stick around!

I appreciate this advice, it does appear sound, the only issue i have is, if i speak with mother and father first about this, when I'm done, they will immediately call my siblings and spread the word, by the time i get to discuss it with my sister and her husband, then later my other sister and her husband, then my other sister, they will all have had the opportunity to load up on ammunition & I may not be prepared enough to help them understand how I came to this conclusion. (you know how you start to explain something, and one part of what you said came from something you misunderstood and the person you're speaking with jumps on that and derails your entire point which had nothing to do with the incorrect information you provided?) these are the things i'm concerned with, I mean, i know they are aware i've been questioning things lately, but i think that's a long jump to claiming yourself an atheist, and i believe i will catch them off guard, and will get the opportunity to explain my whole position without these derailing "but what about..." questions. while i know there are parts of my explanation that are debatable, i don't want the main point to be lost.

i'm also concerned that i will properly explain how I arrived at the conclusion i've come to to one group, (maybe my sister/her husband) but not to my parents or another group. and that would be the worst feeling, I'd rather do it where everyone can hear everything i'm saying and try my best not to allow the conversation to be derailed. (at least that's my line of thinking for now)

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If it's any help, I have collected together ideas from all over the place to help people who are "coming out", click here to see it.

thanks