RE: Question for Atheists: Is coming out as an atheist as hard as coming out as gay?
October 1, 2014 at 8:38 am
(October 1, 2014 at 2:44 am)Blackrook Wrote: Do you believe this "coming out" process to be as difficult and stressful as coming out as a homosexual?I suppose it depends on how the family approaches the issue. By my understanding, for many Christians homosexuality is as much a conscious decision as atheism is, and both are as simple to "fix" as the other: convince the person to accept his or her "true nature" and he/she will reject that sinful path.
The difference may come when the issue is discussed. A gay person is going to point out that s/he did not choose his orientation and is going to focus on how s/he feels and whatever emotions s/he is wrestling with. An atheist will, at the very least, profess doubt or certainty about whether or not god exists, which may be interpreted as a direct challenge to the beliefs of the Christian. For some denominations this either borders on apostasy or IS apostasy, and therefore claiming to be an atheist may not be seen as "reversible" the way homosexuality would be.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
