Alabamian Atheist in Need of Advice

[Brian37]

I do not envy you. Alabama, where the religious are religious and the sheep are nervous.

Only you can judge as to when and how because only you can see your environment. and there will be a degree of backlash when you do. You will find however, that no matter what, there is a huge community of online support.

I would recommend that you stay in school, educate yourself every day, even if it is online. LEARN LEARN LEARN.

Books I recomend.

"The New Atheism" Victor Stenger
"The God Delusion" Richard Dawkins
"God Is Not Great" Christopher Hitchens
"Letter To A Christian Nation" Sam Harris
"End of Faith" Sam Harris
"Infidel" Ayaan Hersi Ali

Terms if you dont know,

The problem with infinite regress.
The problem with Pascal's Wager.
Occham's Razor

Useful websites

http://www.atheistforums.org (this one)

http://www.atheistforums.com (completely separate but good)

http://www.rationalresponders.com

http://www.positiveatheism.com (skeptical quotes from famous deists and skeptics)

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com

http://www.atheists.org (american atheists)

http://www.ffrf.org (Freedom From Religion Foundation)

But my best advice is to always remember that any believer of any religion has the starting point of a naked assertion that a disembodied brian with magical super powers exists.

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Okay, there's something I've been dancing around here, and I don't know why. I should just say it: I'm a transgender lesbian. A 16-year-old translesbian currently living as a guy. In Alabama. With Christian parents. Yeah.

So that's partly why I'm so nervous about this. While I want to come out as atheist, more importantly I want to come out as trans, which would probably earn me even more harassment than atheism. I guess I could come out as both. That would at least make my life interesting .

Really, I'm at a loss as to what I should do. My parents know about the trans part, but one of them flatly thinks I'm wrong and the other, when pressed, repeatedly claims he needs more time to think about it (they've known for something like 8 months). They won't let me get hormones. I'm tired of keeping all these things secret, but I don't know how or when or what I should come out as. And I'm not sure that I'm brave enough to actually go through with it anyway.

Sorry for all that. I know this is the most teenager-y post I've made, and that's something I'd rather avoid. I just really needed to get that out, and maybe get some advice. I really, really don't know what to do.

Well, just know that whatever you do, there are people who know what it is like to feel isolated. Labels don't matter. I think a Christian or non Shiite living in Iran can identify with you, or an atheist living in Iran.

Just be you and be happy with your life. Learn every day and stay out of trouble. You do that long term, you'll be fine.