Should I hide my atheism?

[Rhizomorph13]

I'm not talking about the monologue, i'm talking about disguising the fact that you are an athiest. If you know that constantly berrating your mother every time she mentions god would harm your relationship, which i'm sure it would, then don't, but she should know that you are an athiest. It's the fact that people live for years pretending to be something they are not, not being an ass about it, but putting on a mask of sorts when in public that bothers me. Everyone has inner monologue, but out of respect I let my family speak their minds most of the time without jumping in. However if they say something I feel is wrong, I've no problems jumping on them for it, an attribute which my mother says she admires.

Wait, so you are saying that you hide how you feel and believe sometimes? But, I thought, "No one should ever hide how they feel or believe." That was what I was speaking to.

I have a good relationship with my mother and know that the relationship can weather the storm of coming out as an atheist to her (And storm it was!). I have a friend who should probably hide it because it will only drive a wedge between her and her mother. I'm all for honesty but the older I get the more I realize the need for discretion.

Rhizo

quick edit - What I find humorous is that there are two threads in "atheism" one titled "Should I hide my atheism?" and one titled "Should i tell my family that I am atheist?" and in both threads the answer is mostly a clear NO. So it seems philosophically everyone thinks we should NOT hide our atheism. When presented with a real life situation though, it seems everyone thinks we should hide our atheism. Hmm, interesting stuff!