How should I go about telling my parents that I'm atheist

[robvalue]

Hello Ghost, welcome to the forum Thank you for sharing your story.

I'm very sorry to hear what you've gone through. Everything you say about religion is bang on. It is primarily about control, and it's common to pile it on at every opportunity like salt in a wound. One big feature of Christianity in all forms is shame, to try and get people feeling really shitty about themselves so they feel they need "saving". It's a horrific tactic. Things that are true do not need such underhand methods to get people to believe them. It's really big on sexual shaming, as you have found out. I hope you know that this is all more garbage, and that there is nothing wrong with masturbation or other sexual activities. This kind of mind set is very harmful, and leads people to be repressed, causing all sorts of problems.

Others have given great advice already. I particularly like the "atheist friend" one. Since you're talking to us, you wouldn't even be lying (assuming you find us pleasant ) If there is still doubt that they may flip out and make things really hard for you, then I agree waiting until you are independent is a wise move. It sucks that anyone has to make this decisions, parents should love and respect their children no matter their religious choices. Sadly, often religion is so beaten into the parents that they view lack of it as having something wrong with you. By showing them that you haven't changed, you are still you and are a good person, hopefully they will see that it's not important.

I hope you stick around on the forum, I look forward to chatting more If you want any resources for arguments or anything else, let us know!