Dealing with beliver friends on Facebook

[KnockEmOuttt]

I find that the way reality tends to be rejected so vehemently, the idea and the person start to become one and the same.

Or could it be that people just like to be bullies and attacking the person gives them an undeserved sense of satisfaction?

I can't speak for everyone, but in my case when people renounce all reason, they become just as asinine as the idea.

[C.W. Sims]

I myself have actually been through this. I had a person, more of an acquaintance than a friend, who added me on facebook. She found my postings offensive because she was a "deeply religious" person. I stopped posting for a little while, and then one day I just realized that I was being untrue to myself. I have a sense of humor, I love to laugh and share the laughs. I had other friends on facebook who were atheists and felt that my postings were quite humorous. I then went back to posting the funny things and the things mocking religions and the person again had a problem with it.

I told her frankly and honestly that I had every right to post anything I wanted that did not violate the rules of facebook and that should she dislike something I posted she could delete me as a friend, but that asking me to stop posting something that simply made her feel uncomfortable or mocked was not right. She disagreed, and defriended me. I felt no great loss. When it comes down to it, someone who is easily offended by such things as something making a joke out of something that is already a joke in and of itself, well that person is just a little too easily offended. I also have to agree with the other people on here who point out that this person blatantly contradicted himself many times and is simply trying to censor you and change your thought patterns or beliefs.

Oh and one last thing, he is right, there is a huge difference between the bible and Spiderman comics. Several actually. One is a completely fictitious account of a hero figure, the other is a book about a teenager who was bitten by a radio active spider and became Spiderman. Also one is a wildly entertaining story and the other is a book that is thousands of years old and so culturally irrelevant that it can't even be consider quaintly amusing anymore. And lastly I can't remember ever hearing a story about mass murder or hatred being caused by reading Spiderman comics, but I can honestly remember thousands being caused by reading the Bible, one of which is a church right here in Topeka called Westboro Baptist. So frankly, this person can be offended by your funny posts all they want. What they need to realize is how deeply offensive their religion is to thousands of people on a daily basis without their even posting anything at all on a facebook wall.

[anthropomorphicgoddess]

I also have the same problems recently. I finally came out as an atheist and my parents are aware of this - and I'm thankful that they respected my views and still loved me the same. I don't normally put stuffs that are offensive to others in facebook, but sometimes when I come across God's or Global Secular Humanist Movement's page, I get carried away and like their posts.. because honestly, I find them humorous. And these activities are showing up on my friends' newsfeed and now my relatives and other people are blaming my parents for my 'disrespectful conduct.' It's sad because I feel like I have to behave in a certain way just so I can be accepted by others or just so people will not see my parents differently. I want to post a shoutout in facebook to let my 'exasperation' out but I don't even know where to start. These people are so stupid and narrow-minded that I'm at loss for words.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

cheme; I'm afraid you lost me with the oxymoron "Facebook friends" . I refer to people you know ONLY though social network sites.

One's friends accept one as one is.

A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body (Alexei Sale)

[Angrboda]

I hadn't really thought about it before because, a) I don't do much with facebook, and b) I apologize to no one about who I am.

However, I see a potential solution. You only need an email address for facebook, so you could have separate facebook personas for each of your social worlds, the one where you are openly atheist, and the one where you aren't. This would probably work best if you just used two separate browser softwares and remained logged in to each. (I notice that there's an IE plugin for a chrome browser tab, I don't know whether something like that would yield the necessary data separation to be simultaneously logged in as two different accounts.)

Oh, and I should also point out that Facebook has reasonably fine grained controls for who can see what, per item or whatever. It's not as good as google circles, but don't overlook managing your exposure using the given privacy tools.

[NoraBrimstone]

You haven't posted anything on anyone else's wall, have you?

All I can say, is if they don't like what you post on your wall/timeline they can go fuck themselves.
I regularly share images and posts that are "anti-faith" every day and if someone had the cheek to write me an essay of a PM in which they attempt to guilt-trip and "woe is me!" and lie about "I was honestly a non-believer once" shit, I'd e-punch them in the face in my reply.

This pillock no longer deserves your respect or friendship, basically.

[Ace Otana]

So what can I post that won't offend him is the question I think. How would you deal with this situation?

Well for someone to take offence to something that wasn't meant to offend makes him a bit of a drama queen/prat in my opinion.

"Oh don't say things like that cus I don't like it, itz offensive!".

For me, I'd be blunt. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, to express your opinion on religion can't really be taken as an offence unless it's directed to the believer. I'd tell him to either accept that I don't believe in the things he does and also to acknowledge that none of what I post is directed at him or unsubscribe from my posts.
Friend or not, he can't tell you what to believe and what to post and not post. And to take offence to something that isn't directed at him and wasn't intended to offend tells me he's very sensitive. Insecure about his beliefs. And so in short, I'd tell him to grow some balls.

But that's just me.

[System of Solace]

I tried to argue with somebody who was attacking science and they responded "Ha, love ya xxxx, how's your mom doing? and btw, get a haircut.". Left me quite dumbfounded. I was tired of their constant religious posts, but I never said anything until she tried to laugh at Evolution and the Big Bang and claim that God was the one true creator. She also made the common mistake of assuming the Big Bang was the theory as to how time began and the universe was created and so on.