would you tell your parents one day that you are an atheist ?

[EgoRaptor]

My mother has been an atheist since she was a child. My father is a non-practising Catholic. I was raised an atheist.

[Crossless2.0]

It's been years (I'm 47), but yeah I told them. My mother is something of a cafeteria Lutheran who disdains fundamentalists and my dad is a non-practicing Catholic who I suspect is really a deist. No feathers were ruffled at the news of my atheism. My siblings too are non-believers but not as strident about it as I am.

If anything, I think my parents have accepted it with good grace. When I was about 18, a couple of JWs came to the door. I overheard my mom politely tell them she wasn't interested. When one of them nevertheless tried to make his pitch, she replied, "Look, I'm really not interested. And you should consider yourself lucky that it was me and not my son who answered the door. Good-bye." When she came back into the living room, she looked at me, chuckled, and said, "If they ever come back, they're all yours, Tiger."

[MitchBenn]

Well yeah, cos they are too...

[NoraBrimstone]

Well, my Mum was an apatheist, so she wouldn't have given a shit about my atheism. My father and his wife are both atheists anyway, and all of my siblings are atheists, so I have no reason to hide shit.

[Clueless Morgan]

I think my dad is a Catholic man who denies to himself that he knows there is something intrinsically wrong with his faith. He wouldn't judge me, but he would feel it necessary to at least cajole me should I ever tell him. More out of Irish family duty, I suspect.

I'm going to read everything you write with an Irish accent from now on.

[JuliaL]

Both my parents were Unitarians and more interested in being good to people than in what anybody believed.
OTOH, They're both dead so it won't ever be much of an issue.

[Rahul]

No. My mother is a very warm, loving, highly religious Southern Baptist. Out of my respect and love for her I will never antagonize her by saying it to her. But she knows I don't have hardly anything to do with religion any longer.

[Jackalope]

I haven't told either of them specifically, but I doubt it would matter.

Dad comes from a Catholic family, and as far as I can tell, he is not a believer. The only time I am aware he's seen the inside of a church in my lifetime is for weddings and funerals. His second wedding was not in a church.

My mother comes from a LDS family, and likewise, I have not known her to practice. I know she's been to a Unitarian church for Christmas at least once (Unitarian may be the wrong word for it - it was one of those nondenominational churches that welcomes all faiths and nonbelievers. Fairly secular.).

I never knew either of them to own a bible or be even remotely religious.

When I got involved with Christianity as a teenager, Mom did have a talk with me about indoctrination and the danger of cults (not that there was necessarily a concern that the church I was involved with was a cult - it was just prudence). That was about the only conversation about religion that I can recall up until the point where mom told me about some things my son said that concerned her - some fundamentalist stuff he picked up someplace.

I don't know if either of them have any spiritual beliefs at all. They've never said one way or another, and I never asked. I know my brother is what I would describe as an agnostic atheist, and as far as I know, so is my sister.

Now that I think about it, I'm a bit curious - perhaps I'll ask them sometime.

[Whateverist]

Both of my parents are dead. I never talked about my atheism directly with them. I knew my father would be disappointed but I did talk to him about what I thought were more enlightened interpretations of biblical stories. Not that I would read them mind you but just the ones he would bring up. I told him I was sure there was plenty of wisdom in the bible but that I'd have to argue with any man that told me he alone had the correct interpretation. He kind of agreed with that but was pretty stunted in his vision of so many things.

My mother sort of believed but was much less obsessed with the bible than my father. She also had much better social wherewithal and insight into human nature. But saying that, as a comparison with my father, is far from a compliment. He really was damaged goods.

[Dragonetti]

My family knows! They believe I will come to god's side soon.

I use the Bible against them all the time.