Has being gay become more socially acceptable than being an atheist?

[Mr. Moncrieff]

The UK will be majority atheist with 25 years I reckon.

[Jacob(smooth)]

I reckon we're already there! Certainly if you don't count those who turn up for baptisms weddings and funerals and never give it another thought through the rest of the year! They may not be atheist but they surely ain't Christian...

[Mr. Moncrieff]

I enquired about officially leaving the Catholic Church the other day and the hoops I will have to jump through, coupled with the time it will take, is truly phenomenal.

I have never known the process of leaving a group to be so convoluted.

I would surmise that many millions of ex-Catholics who think they have left the Church officially, haven't left the Church at all and are therefore counted in with the numbers.

I would go further and suggest that those people maybe account for 20% - 30% of the Catholic community.

They changed the ruling in about 2009 if I recall as they had experienced a rapid and significant drop in numbers. This was largely down to the backlash as regards the abuse scandals. Since then, to combat this, the Church has increasingly made the process complicated and very confusing.

Simply to save face and point to numbers - how very petty and vain.

I'd be amazed if maybe 20% of Catholics were actually practising regularly anymore.

However, with the increasing opposition to the Church and the generations of children who are not being baptised, those numbers might well fall off a cliff quite soon.

[horrido]

The gay community has done a great marketing job the last couple of decades. People are starting to realize that being LGBT isn't a choice, that people are born that way, and that they aren't hurting anyone else by being that way.

On the other hand, atheism is a choice, and a lot of religious people (mostly Christians) think that moral behavior has to come from religion, so anyone who rejects it is a felon waiting to happen.

So we need a good marketing push like the LGBT community has had. We need to not only "come out" as atheist more, but also be out there demonstrating that we participate in charity events, etc without needing any gods to force us into those good and moral behaviors.

I disagree with the bolded part.

What you believe can be influenced and changed but is not in itself a choice.

I could not choose to believe in god thinking what I do. I could act like I did but that is all.

I understand what you are saying (and agree), but when a Christian says 'Will you accept god', they are asking if you will accept the brainwash. They know in many cases the brainwash will lead to belief. Therefore atheist are atheist by choice.

[Fromper]

So apparently, most of you disagree with my statement that atheism is a choice. Well, I'm standing by that statement.

Most people are born into a religion (or lack thereof) and stick with it, whether they deeply believe it or not. There are a lot of people who claim to be a member of a religion just to go along with family and friends, even though they're just going through the motions. I used to be one of them. That's their choice.

Some people examine their religions in detail and become even more religious. They do deeply believe. They were actively seeking something from their religion, and they found it. But again, they chose to become very active in their belief, rather than just going through the motions like the other group. So again, it's a choice.

Yet others examine their religions and find them unsatisfactory. They realize they can't honestly believe the supernatural stuff. They become agnostic or atheist. And again, it's a choice to take the harder path of rejecting what you were born into, rather than just playing along.

I didn't choose to be born Jewish, but I did choose to play along with it for more than 20 years after I originally questioned whether God was real as a kid. And later, I chose to stop playing along and declare myself an atheist.

[*Deidre*]

So, my boyfriend was hanging out with an old school friend of his the other day. She was planning her wedding and had a few of her other friends over. He was planning on helping by teaching her to sew and he's planning on helping with photography (my man is an art geek).

Here's the strange thing, though; at least to him. The friends she brought over were two girls and a guy and the guy was pretty gay. They were totally cool with the guy being gay. Lee (my bf) talked about being trans and they were totally cool with that, too. They even had a playful thing where the two of them grabbed at each others breasts.

But then, talk turned a bit towards religious beliefs. Lee isn't sure what he calls himself and he stated that he isn't sure he believes in god anymore. That was what upset them. They started telling him about how god is the only thing keeping them from killing and robbing people and they can't imagine not living life for god and how can you not see the beauty of god in the world and all that garbage. Then they dug into his friend, too, who isn't an atheist, but got the same treatment for being pagan.

Is it just me, or is it a little strange that being gay/trans seems to be more acceptable than being an atheist?

Think I'd stop hanging out with people who proclaim with pride no less, that the "only" thing keeping them from killing and robbing people is an entity they've concocted in their minds.

Hope they never become atheists. Yikes.