Atheism

Cause preachers can talk about Jihads against atheists on talk shows, but somebody says god isn't real and everything they are connected to gets examined for not complying with the first amendment.

I see no more need to announce I don't believe in the Christian god than there I see need to announce I don't believe in Zeus. Both questions are completely irrelevant to my life

The US is a wild wild place. So backwards in many ways.

Just not even really worth 'coming out'. Why deal with all the arguments that are likely to crop up from it? When I was the angsty teenage atheist I got off on that shit. Now...im over it.

I used to be more forward about it, just to make sure people were aware to try to avoid awkwardness down the road. Turns out, some folks just hyper focused on it and only defined me by the one thing.

• I had one person break down crying. That was the single most awkward as I got dirty looks from other people in the room who had no idea about the conversation.
• I've had multiple people tell me I'm unworthy of love and commitment. And while not said, by their actions might as well, unworthy of basic respect.
• I've had multiple people try "converting" me.
• I've had some people send people to my homes and stalk me. Primary reason I have a Nest doorbell and want to know exactly when someone is going to show up to visit.
• I've had multiple people try various intimidation tactics to try to "convince" me to join their church.
• I had one person bust out laughing at me when I said I more closely line up with secular humanism.
• I was questioned multiple times why I'd show up to someone's wedding... (not a wedding crasher, they basically assume only religious people get married, and that atheists cannot support others in their life paths)

I've since stopped telling people or making it even known at all.

We're not afraid to come out, we just don't talk about it because religion isn't important to us and we don't feel compelled to have everyone believe in the same thing as us.

Now may you be touched by thy noodley appendage

When i lived in big cities on the West coast i was open in my Atheism. Now that i live in rural Michigan... I keep it to myself

America as a whole needs to ensure following secular ideals for its public policies and laws.

I don’t mind people using religion in their personal lives for whatever reason, but it does seem like there’s a delusion driven community level effect that leaks out from temples, churches, mosques etc. It seems most of these people “mean well” but they don’t realize how much unintentional harm they’re doing. The Satanic temple type people adding fuel to the fire of religious zealots are making things worse.

In general, I hope it becomes taboo and outlawed to base rules or laws around mythology-based scripture. Where is this social movement? I get fuck cars and all, but secular humanism is seriously needed as a mainstream social movement everywhere, locally and globally.

I mean in the US at least, it could become VERY dangerous to not be an evangelical Christian cultist. (Much less a atheist)

If the Orange Man becomes dictator in November, shit is going to get bad quickly.

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/in-2021-atheists-made-up-only-0-1-of-the-federal-prison-population/

A 2017 study found that people believe atheists are more likely to be serial killers than believers, even though federal data suggests they are far less likely to commit crimes than religious people.

While I was in the angry atheist online camp when I was the only atheist I knew and needed a community, I've since evolved into an apathetic view of individual belief.

Screaming at the thumpers won't do any good. Eye-rolls are more effective. And explaining religion to the young is as simple as saying it's just something some people do, like sports.

The boldest claim to make when it comes to the existence of a "god" is that we don't know. No one fucking knows. One thing I do know is that the fundamentals of physics are beautiful no matter how it came to be. People hate not being able to explain things so they made shit up as they went, such that the idea of "god" was created.

Because theres nothing to fucking evangelize lol. "Excuse me ma'am, do you have time to discuss our lord and savior, nobody?"

I have the opposite problem. I'm a complete atheist, but having been a devout Christian for 35 years I don't want to explain it to anyone, or Cthulhu forbid, present them an opportunity to get that free toaster by advertising my availability for conversion, so I just don't.

But I can't stop the horrified sneer. I've tried. But what they talk about, what they preach, what they insist is Christianity, is anything but. I mean, I know this distinction is just mythology vs. mythology to a number of folks here (and with exceptionally good reason, lol) but having been an actual scholar of it, it's literally revolting.

It's not just that the Christians of antiquity would be horrified and repulsed, it's also that the Christians of just forty years ago would be repulsed. I don't even give a shit anymore, it's not real, but jesus fucking christ get your lies straight, people.

So whether I'm an atheist or I'm a Christian, they all hate me: if I speak in Christian I end up poking holes in the bullshit without even meaning to just by referring to the classic belief system once known as Christianity, but if I don't speak then I'm not openly agreeing with them (they sure as fuck know Matthew 12:30/Luke 11:23) and they take that shit very personally: either way I'm automatically outgrouped.

Which may not actually be a problem, now that I think about it: they're self-selecting out. Okay, never mind. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, lol.

I was raised religious and walked away from my faith the day it became my choice, 18. I haven’t been in a church since – that was nearly 20 years ago.

Still to this day I’ll have to gently remind my family I’m atheist about twice a year, and they’re still equally shocked and horrified every time.

Saying 'i don't believe in any of the mainstream man made higher.powers' is coming out? Strange times we live in.

I'm a bit surprised with the number of religious people I know irl tbh. I've only met maybe one other atheist at school. These people realized that their ancestors believed in another religion and were probably killed and forced to convert right? Probably about half are actually just agnostic and the remaining full believers.

I mean I'm not trying to convert anybody I'm just tryna understand why.

poor default country problem.

I stopped mentioning my atheism because it's so common among my sociodemographic environment that it's not anything interesting.

If anything, when casually cracking another "religion bad" joke at work, I'd better check if someone is maybe religious, and I really don't want to insult them.

-- millennial yurobro