Atheism and my girlfriend

[Ace Otana]

I have, time and time again, said, and I quote: "I need you to understand where I'm coming from, and accept that this may be who I am." Her respone is always something to the extent of, "I can't accept that, and I won't give up on you." It's almost as if I'm some special case to her. The moment I admitted to my Atheist beliefs I went from her boyfriend to her charity case. As harsh as that seems, it's what I feel. In a few weeks she will be off to "Winterfest," where she will be saved, and repent her sins. I am not okay with that for the very reason my beliefs lie in Atheism. But I do not attempt to stop her. She pulled me aside one night and told me, "Kyle, this is something I have to do for myself. You might not approve, but this is just something I need to do," and I agreed. I wasn't going to try and stop her. I respect her and Christianity with everything in me, much like all other religions. But when the time came that I felt it was time I do something for myself (That something being opening up about my Atheism) she shunned the idea, and has since then repeatedly told me of my fate in Hell if I do not repent and devote myself to God's glory. So maybe she didn't call it, "God's glory," but that definately sums it up. None of my friends will agree to this either, I even had one tell me he'd never talk to me again.

Ouch.

I must admit, that's a toughy. Debating against religion is too easy but to debate against someone you love is terrible and hard.
I think she has got to understand your point of view. If you can accept her beliefs then she should be able to accept your dis-beliefs. It's called mutual respect.

I think it's a failer of understanding. My uncle is an atheist and yet he is married to a christian. It's because they have mutual respect for eachothers views. They both understand and accept the other persons view points. She goes to church, he mocks the religion.

I was flirting with a lovely lass online, till she became all religious on me. The relationship vanished there and then.

Now, don't let her go but see if you can try to get her to understand your point of view. You could use other religions as examples for why you are an atheist. You can ask why she believes in christianity instead of islam or hindu. This would be a religious debate but with luck, she might start to understand why your an atheist.

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I feel lucky that most of the town that I live in is atheistic/agnostic.

I'm guessing your in the states?