How to tell parents I'm an atheist

[Alex K]

Oh but I didn't complain at all! But it's good to know that you go around killing people for telling you things you don't like. I hope I live far away from you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

Dont strawman my position. you said that you would force me to be a muslim. so i would kill you if you did that and would have every right to. Iam disapointed with pathetically childish and dishonest you are being.you started firing insults at me for no reason.Second the point iam making is that its a slippery slope.at what point will stand up for yourself, and how far are will you go to maintain your cover.You should also think about how will the world recongnize atheists if they allow themselves to be pushed around.

Of course we should stand up for atheism publicly, as I've very clearly stated in this very thread. And I'm as vocal an atheist as it gets IRL. However, unlike you, I'm not asking for this fight to be fought on my behalf by random 15 year olds who depend on their parents' support for their livelihood, which you ask them to jeopardize so carelessly just to make a stupid point.

However, what really earns you my disdain is that you trivialize the holocaust in this way.

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Lots of good advice in this thread, and some much better than I can give. Just wanted to give you some encouragement and support. Telling your parents may or may not be a great idea, and really only you can decide that for yourself. If it is something that is really burning you to get out then think hard on it before you tell them otherwise maybe just let it be an unspoken understanding between the three of you. When you're really young it's easy to feel the need to flaunt everything about yourself (if you're religious you're super religious, if your atheist your mega atheist etc etc). Part of developing our identities, but in reality the rest of the world doesn't really care all that much about your identity. The only person that should matter to is yourself really. As you age you become less likely to feel the need to force your views on others, or to even tell them things about yourself. My experience at least. You don't want to say something now in your youthful enthusiasm that may come back and haunt you in your adulthood (in the form of a broken relationship with your parents etc...so many of the people we see in psychotherapy are there because of parental issues so if you can avoid these do so..although maybe them forcing you to go to church will cause issues of control at a later date...time to stop, bad habit lol) So if you think telling them will cause problems don't. As far as going to church is concerned if it doesn't bother you completely then I'd recommend you continue to go until you are capable of supporting yourself simply for self preservation (economic etc). If you can though maybe do it out of respect for them. They may be silly and deluded by this whole god thing, but they are still the people who raised you.

Back on topic - partly very well put. However, I have some disagreements. Shutting up about your views in order to avoid psychotherapy because of
broken relationships... that sounds just wrong...
In any case, it's everyone's individual judgement whether they think it's a good idea or not, whether they feel the need to proclaim their views or not.
However, you seem to belittle atheist activism as some kind of juvenile phase, something that you just don't do anymore once you're grown up, and boy that really annoys me. Atheists are the most mistrusted group in the US, and speaking out against prejudice and bullying is not a phase of youthful enthusiasm, to be dismissed like this.