(January 24, 2018 at 12:05 pm)Die Atheistin Wrote: Some religious parents have atheist kids. I was wondering if some of those parents feel that they themselves will be rejected by their religious friends or family members for having an atheist kid. Like they could be criticised for not raising their kid right.
I'm sure not all religious parents are like that.
Reactions very from individual family to family. I got lucky with my Catholic mom. She sent me to Church growing up thinking it would be good for me. But when I got into my mid to late teens, I lost interest and she never pushed it. I was not an atheist at the time I stopped going to church. I still believed till my mid to late 20s, but was more of a generic deist at that point. She did think my laxness was a phase at that time, but she never got shit from her friends about it.
Her complaints about me is that I was messy and couldn't save a dime to save my life and we made lousy roommates as much as we loved each other.
My younger biological sister caught alot of shit from our biological family as AN ADULT when she and her husband left their religion. I was adopted and so was she when we were kids. We met in the mid 90s and at that time she was still in her religion. But about 6 or 7 years ago I got a call out of the blue from our older biological sister that my younger sister wanted to talk to me. Back when I first met my younger sister it seemed we had nothing in common so we fell out of touch until that call. My younger sister told me over the phone that evening that she and her husband had given up on religion and God belief. But she spent a deal of time that call telling me about all the shit she was getting on line from our biological family. That has subsided quite a bit since. I know they still don't like it, but they no longer speak in terms of fire and brimstone to either of us, even though I am sure they might think it.
It is far worse in any conservative part of the world, of any religion. Most humans get sold the social norms of their parents at birth so when that child grows up to buck what they were sold even if the parent doesn't beat the fuck out of them or murder them, or kick them out of the house, they do feel they can feel they failed as a parent.
If you still want a relationship with your parents, DON'T worry so much what they do or think in the short term. Once you are out on your own paying your own bills, you can still SHOW them by your actions that you love them, by showing them you are keeping your nose clean. Over time, they may never accept the fact you left the religion they were sold. BUT if you keep your nose clean and live well, they wont see it as doomsday or a failure on their part.
It does get better, especially when you are on your own, and don't make it a war.
