(October 25, 2016 at 6:38 am)Casca Wrote: At my full time job, I've mentioned my Atheism twice, in the last four years. Two different people I trusted, and knew that they wouldn't think it was a big deal. But my workplace is absolutely loaded with the religious. One of my part time employees works as a chaplain at a hospital. Another person whom I have to coordinate with everyday practices memorizing bible quotes on her lunch break. So I am under no illusion that for my own benefit, and to avoid conflict from a lot of people, I keep it close to the chest, and just don't join conversations that involve religion.
My personal life; my friends, family, and my wife know that I'm Atheist. Most of my friends couldn't care less. My dad has become more and more wildly religious as he ages (My wife is pregnant with our first child, and I'm becoming paranoid that he's going to try and baptize our daughter when we're not around). So he's not thrilled with it, but knows that if he pressures me on it too much, we'll probably lose contact, because he knows I won't put up with anyone's religious harassment.
My wife wasn't Atheist until we started dating- when I told her I was before our first date (I get it out there beforehand now, due to issues that came up in previous relationships), she actually didn't know what Atheism was. She was on the fence, and while I wasn't trying to recruit her or anything, she just accepted reality because of one conversation that involved me asking "where's the proof?" Ironically, she has a tattoo of a cross on her ankle that she got when she was 18, because in her words "I was young and dumb." I pretend it burns every time my hand touches it.
How open are you about Atheism in your life? Does it ever come up?
It does come up sometimes. Any political discussion will invariable bring in some form of discussion on social conservatism and values which are intrinsically linked to religion. This causes problems because religious conservatives do not accept "man made rules". I know it is a poor argument ( it is basically their own rules dressed up as a gift from an imaginary friend).
It comes up in pubs when I am out with colleagues. My social circle is quit liberal and young so most are atheist or religious-bit-only-in-name type of crowd. We normally just have a laugh talking about religion and its absurdity.
A friend of mine persuaded me to go on a Christian meet-up event in this new town we moved into. Interesting talk. It was genuinely interesting to listen to them talk about their beliefs as if they were iron-clad facts. I kept my views private, but I do know a bit about the Bible so I was able to say some relevant things and not look like a complete idiot. They are non-denominational but they do advocate some degree of creationism, opposition to same sex marriage, abortion and they also talk a lot about past conflicts in history of Christianity.
The bigger challenge for me is with family. I pretend to be religious when at home (go to Church, say nice things about religion when asked, validate the spirituality of other people etc), but they know I dont believe any of it. When asked if I go to Church when not at "home" I simply say that I live a moral life with as much consideration to others as possible... so I believe I will be rewarded for it (karma sort of thing). This logic works quite well with them.
