Parents freak out when their child announces he's an atheist

[kılıç_mehmet]

Ahem; I'm Australian.

Say, don't they occasionally execute apostates in some Muslim countries? Talk about an overreaction.

Just sayin'.

Well, depends on whom you call an apostate. Here, it's generally too difficult to differentiate a non-believer from a believer.
A non believer here simply does not go to prayers or fasts during ramazan.
But equally, a believer might not do these. Yes, he/she believes in God, but does not follow the rules of the religion she believes in. Like, I know people that come to friday prayers, but do not do daily prayers.
Really, how do you tell that someone is an atheist unless he tells you that he is one?
People don't really care unless you start being disrespectful. But converting to another religion is really something here. For you become "something else" from the rest of the people here. An atheist, is just like the moslem here. But a convert has completely alianated himself from his culture. If he were something of a native kind of christian, nobody would probably care, but converts...Well, they are truly something else here.