Most of the advice has already been given. If consequences would be severe, stay quiet and vent here. Keep your head down, get good grades, and get into a good university on scholarship so they can't hold your tuition hostage.
As far as challenging their views, I haven't seen anyone mention the Socratic Method - basically you have a conversation with your parents by asking them questions that challenge their preconceived ideas with the idea being that through answering your questions they think more deeply about their position and, if done strategically, talk themselves out of bad ideas. A quick example of this kind of thing would be:
Parent: "Evolution is just a theory!"
You: "What do you think in the meaning of the word "theory"?"
P: "Just some idea someone has that isn't proven."
Y: "Isn't gravity also a theory?"
P: "... No, it's a fact."
Y: "But isn't it called the Universal Theory of Gravitation?"
P: "... Well... I guess."
Y: "So if gravity is also a theory, does that mean it's just an idea that hasn't been proven?"
P: "... I think it's time for dinner."
Yeah, okay, stereotypical and probably not indicative of exactly the way a conversation like this would go with your parents, but you should get the idea. This would be a way to feel like you're not lying to your parents about not believing what they believe since you're just asking questions, and, if done in a slick-enough manner, not raising their hackles too much. This could also be a good information gathering technique for you to learn about which topics they've considered deeply and which they haven't, and which topics they're touchy about and which you can push them a little bit on.
Do you have a kindle or tablet or some other device you can download books on? I'd recommend A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian as a reference for employing the Socratic method, but just googling "Using the Socratic Method" these results were the first two results:
How to Argue Using the Socratic Method
http://www.wikihow.com/Argue-Using-the-Socratic-Method
Use the Socratic Method to Easily Win Arguments
http://lifehacker.com/5976891/use-the-so...-arguments
(The benefit of Boghossian's book is that he gives examples of instances where he's used the SM, both in longer discussions and in short "micro-innoculations" as he calls them.)
As far as challenging their views, I haven't seen anyone mention the Socratic Method - basically you have a conversation with your parents by asking them questions that challenge their preconceived ideas with the idea being that through answering your questions they think more deeply about their position and, if done strategically, talk themselves out of bad ideas. A quick example of this kind of thing would be:
Parent: "Evolution is just a theory!"
You: "What do you think in the meaning of the word "theory"?"
P: "Just some idea someone has that isn't proven."
Y: "Isn't gravity also a theory?"
P: "... No, it's a fact."
Y: "But isn't it called the Universal Theory of Gravitation?"
P: "... Well... I guess."
Y: "So if gravity is also a theory, does that mean it's just an idea that hasn't been proven?"
P: "... I think it's time for dinner."
Yeah, okay, stereotypical and probably not indicative of exactly the way a conversation like this would go with your parents, but you should get the idea. This would be a way to feel like you're not lying to your parents about not believing what they believe since you're just asking questions, and, if done in a slick-enough manner, not raising their hackles too much. This could also be a good information gathering technique for you to learn about which topics they've considered deeply and which they haven't, and which topics they're touchy about and which you can push them a little bit on.
Do you have a kindle or tablet or some other device you can download books on? I'd recommend A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian as a reference for employing the Socratic method, but just googling "Using the Socratic Method" these results were the first two results:
How to Argue Using the Socratic Method
http://www.wikihow.com/Argue-Using-the-Socratic-Method
Use the Socratic Method to Easily Win Arguments
http://lifehacker.com/5976891/use-the-so...-arguments
(The benefit of Boghossian's book is that he gives examples of instances where he's used the SM, both in longer discussions and in short "micro-innoculations" as he calls them.)
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
