Family is always asking me to come to religious celebrations

[Secular Elf]

@Gawdzilla Sama Gotcha, I should clarify, it's just a get together, I wouldn't go to a church or anything.

@arewethereyet I gotcha, that sounds chill, with no religious pressure. I'm not sure if your familiar with the former Tom Flynn? He was the publisher of 'Free Inquiry' an atheist magazine through the Center for Inquiry. He always believed to be more of a firm atheist, we shouldn't like participate in 'religious holidays' as it gives the holiday even more strength kind of thing. I did like jis idea of getting those out of society, but it is hard.

No, nothing else religious, just kind of the celebration of it, for me it's more against my principles. I would prefer maybe the 4th of July more, Idk, I still have time to decide.

I think similar to you about attending religious events with family, I just don't do it. Most of my family are both Conservative in politics and religion. When I was a kid, yeah they were fun to be with, as most of us were both comedians and musically inclined; but as I grew older their homophobic jokes, use of the n-word, ignorant attitudes and fundamentalism rubbed me the wrong way, especially after I stopped being religious and became an atheist and secular humanist. By the time I made it to my early 40s I stopped going to family reunions. I just don't want to hang around them anymore. In a few short years, most of my uncles and aunts died, my father died, and my brother died. The last time I saw any of my cousins on my father's side was at the memorial service of my niece. After that, I stopped going to funerals, because in the South, the tradition of funerals is not to celebrate the life of the deceased. It's an excuse for pastors to preach to you to "get saved." I still talk to my sister, but not often. I avoid bringing up religion or politics, and for the most part she doesn't either. We get along better that way.