Fellow Atheists/Agnostic Atheists - Let's Chat: Do you feel it is risky being "out" these days?

Sounds good to me, Lupus.

Rallick wrote:
Robear wrote:
CheezePavilion wrote:

How about an Ayn Rand cite ; D

Fiction authors don't really apply here. :-)

So we can stop quoting the bible then?

Spoiler:

ZING!

I love all of this.

The internet exists for your amusement, Nicholaas. Never forget it.

McIrishJihad wrote:
Nicholaas wrote:
krev82 wrote:

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema Sworn Into Congress without a Bible.

She's the first one apparently, a shame she still can't do so as an open atheist and must do so as 'unaffiliated' but it's a start at least.

With Pete Stark out of Congress, at least we have some kind of non-theist representation. Whether or not she's an atheist is irrelevant; she won't be (implicitly) swearing to uphold the laws of a mythological tale filled with genocide, infanticide, slavery, misogyny, incest, and celestial rape presided over by a cruel, immoral, petty, infantile god.

Good on her.

But tell us how you really feel

Look, she's got Sin right in her name. How unfortunate.

Jumping back to the "is it risky to be out":

Me personally, I'm not an atheist for the same reason I'm not a theist...I'm more of a humanist and an empiricist. That said; I've learned not to say that out loud where I live; because it doesn't play well. My son has caught flack at school because he doesn't go to church. We have neighbors who don't let their kids play at our house because I have philosophy books in the living room that might contradict their young earth weirdness, and because I have a Qur'an next to the Bible, next to the Bhagavad Gita, next to the Torah, next to the...you get the idea. (To be fair, those people are also Teahadists, so there's a whole lot of reasons they don't want their kids at the house of the token leftist- intelligentsia.)

My point is; it would not be ok, where I live, to admit agnosticism, much less atheism.

duckideva wrote:

Jumping back to the "is it risky to be out":

Me personally, I'm not an atheist for the same reason I'm not a theist...I'm more of a humanist and an empiricist. That said; I've learned not to say that out loud where I live; because it doesn't play well. My son has caught flack at school because he doesn't go to church. We have neighbors who don't let their kids play at our house because I have philosophy books in the living room that might contradict their young earth weirdness, and because I have a Qur'an next to the Bible, next to the Bhagavad Gita, next to the Torah, next to the...you get the idea. (To be fair, those people are also Teahadists, so there's a whole lot of reasons they don't want their kids at the house of the token leftist- intelligentsia.)

My point is; it would not be ok, where I live, to admit agnosticism, much less atheism.

Sorry to hear that you cannot speak freely. I myself live in what is considered a bible belt in Canada with so many indo-Canadian temples and christian churches per capita that the first question that is asked by people is "what church do you go to?" My wife and I have been having a hard time meeting new friends with kids, becuase as soon as they find out my wife sometimes attends church and that I do not they are put off. We would not hear from them again. I found myself saying once or twice that I went to such and such church, but after felt dirty for lying to them and presenting a falsehood. We now have a couple parent friends and I find I do not care anymore if a parent asks me what church I attend. I tell the truth. It is crazy that my desire to make friends out weighed my moral compass and it is not something I hope to revist soon.

As with duckideva, it is sometimes unwise to mention your beliefs. Luckily areas of town are changing and I hope by the time my daughter goes to school it will not be such a big deal.

Do you all remember when you made friends based on the alphabet, math class, and zoning laws or which action figures/dolls you had?

KingGorilla wrote:

Do you all remember when you made friends based on the alphabet, math class, and zoning laws or which action figures/dolls you had?

And video game systems. All through middle school and high school, my friend had a Mac and Nintendo systems. I had a PC and Sega, then Sony systems.

KingGorilla wrote:

Do you all remember when you made friends based on the alphabet, math class, and zoning laws or which action figures/dolls you had?

My best friend for years was named Landon, and we became friends becuase my real is Brandon...

Some of my best friends I still hang out with from high-school were devout Christians. They didn't catch the dreaded atheism off me, and they never won me over to the holy side despite a few attempts. Atheists and religious people can certainly mix, religion doesn't even need to be conversation topic.

Admittedly they are the cool "Ska Music and Skateboarding" kind of Christians. The best sort!

Redwing wrote:

Some of my best friends I still hang out with from high-school were devout Christians. They didn't catch the dreaded atheism off me, and they never won me over to the holy side despite a few attempts. Atheists and religious people can certainly mix, religion doesn't even need to be conversation topic.

Admittedly they are the cool "Ska Music and Skateboarding" kind of Christians. The best sort!

My one friend once said I was the most honest non-christian person he knows... in the city where I live the divide is quite large and your are part of the community or not. That being said you do have a large majority of the middle ground of religious types. I agree that atheists and religious people can mix, but I have found over time my relationships with the more heavily involved of my Christian friends being eroded by their annoyance at my lack of faith. In some cases it got to the point where I was not invited to certain events because the events were only for his or her Christian friends. As the title says I find it risky being "out" these days due to an non understanding in the community where we live.

My wife isn't a theist, but she doesn't really label herself atheist, either. She just doesn't really care about religion. It's a non-issue.
My wife's former best friend, however, was a fairly involved Christian but religion was never an issue between them... Until the friend got engaged to another evangelical a little over two years ago. It must have created some weird feedback Jesus circuit, because the friend started relentless hounding my wife about her apathy-ism until it destroyed their friendship.

I am really surprised by how much proselytizing you guys seem to encounter. I have a 2-year-old and we use a day care which is run by a Methodist church. We sometimes hang out with parents of other kids there, and not once has religion ever been any kind of topic.

Anybody who is so ready to lecture you about why you don't have the proper religion (or the proper anything really) is probably just a jerk. It's one thing to just mention it casually, or respond if questioned, but anybody actively trying to drill their beliefs home (or actively avoiding you because you don't share those beliefs) is not somebody worth dealing with to begin with.

I have Christian friends and it's just a complete non-issue. They don't badger me, I don't badger them. That's just how non-jerks behave.

Yeah, I mean, to be fair, one of my bestest friends in the whole world is a Pentecostal Christian; but she would no more evangelize at me than I would try to make her learn Catholic catechism. (I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools, and eventually shipped off to a convent when my parents realized I was developing hormones...and they wanted no part of that, thanks. Heh.)

I actually think that being raised by nuns probably set my feminist ideology in stone when I was pretty young; nuns are tough old birds, most of 'em, and there's nothing a nun can't/won't do if she sets her mind at it. But I also think, because they taught world religions as well as Catholic religion, that it set me on a path of questioning all religion...or at least the part about hairy sky thunderers. (To be honest; in times of great stress, I still say the rosary, because it's like a worry stone; it's just a calming zen koan kind of thing. I'm not really thinking about the words, so much as the familiar sounds comfort me. And I count one of my biggest losses the fact that I don't have my grandmother's rosary, which was made of roses in Biblos, Lebanon. An ex-boyfriend took/destroyed/disappeared it decades ago, and I've been heartbroken about it since.)

Evangelists will very rarely get into a debate with me; because I know the bible way better than they do, most of the time. And I know it in Latin and Aramaic and can argue the Gnostics as well as the KJV mis-translations. (Witch/poisoner for example). I love a good debate, and am willing to have a completely unemotional debate about biblical theory, but evangelists get all weird when you start questioning their understanding of something that most of them have never read.

All that said; now that Boy is 10, I'll soon start taking him to various churches and temples; because I think exposure is important. If he finds something that resonates as true for him, I will make the effort to provide him with opportunities to experience it. I suspect that he will end up more like me, however, in having a "live and let live" ideology where it regards faith.

Bonnonon wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Some of my best friends I still hang out with from high-school were devout Christians. They didn't catch the dreaded atheism off me, and they never won me over to the holy side despite a few attempts. Atheists and religious people can certainly mix, religion doesn't even need to be conversation topic.

Admittedly they are the cool "Ska Music and Skateboarding" kind of Christians. The best sort!

My one friend once said I was the most honest non-christian person he knows... in the city where I live the divide is quite large and your are part of the community or not. That being said you do have a large majority of the middle ground of religious types. I agree that atheists and religious people can mix, but I have found over time my relationships with the more heavily involved of my Christian friends being eroded by their annoyance at my lack of faith. In some cases it got to the point where I was not invited to certain events because the events were only for his or her Christian friends. As the title says I find it risky being "out" these days due to an non understanding in the community where we live.

Please tell me you're in some hole in the Interior, like Midway or PG, and not the Lower Mainland or the island where I may someday go if I retire.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Bonnonon wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Some of my best friends I still hang out with from high-school were devout Christians. They didn't catch the dreaded atheism off me, and they never won me over to the holy side despite a few attempts. Atheists and religious people can certainly mix, religion doesn't even need to be conversation topic.

Admittedly they are the cool "Ska Music and Skateboarding" kind of Christians. The best sort!

My one friend once said I was the most honest non-christian person he knows... in the city where I live the divide is quite large and your are part of the community or not. That being said you do have a large majority of the middle ground of religious types. I agree that atheists and religious people can mix, but I have found over time my relationships with the more heavily involved of my Christian friends being eroded by their annoyance at my lack of faith. In some cases it got to the point where I was not invited to certain events because the events were only for his or her Christian friends. As the title says I find it risky being "out" these days due to an non understanding in the community where we live.

Please tell me you're in some hole in the Interior, like Midway or PG, and not the Lower Mainland or the island where I may someday go if I retire.

I will give you some hints and if you know BC at all you will know where I live... It is considered the bible belt and we were also the murder capital of Canada for some time. To be honest you can live in my area, live your lifestyle and not experience what I have experienced to a degree, but at some point or another you will encounter the fanatical push my religion on you. You may also have friends/acquaintances that throw away all non Christian CD's, and stop dancing due to religion, which is fine by me until the sermon starts. I think it is hard to live in my community and not have some connection to one of the main religious groups. I paint a gloomy picture, but keep in mind that it is only my point of view and others in the area may have not experience what I have depending on what part of the city they grew up in. Also keep in mind that the times are changing in my city and the days of the bible belt are diminishing, due to the decrease in chruch attendance around the city.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Bonnonon wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Some of my best friends I still hang out with from high-school were devout Christians. They didn't catch the dreaded atheism off me, and they never won me over to the holy side despite a few attempts. Atheists and religious people can certainly mix, religion doesn't even need to be conversation topic.

Admittedly they are the cool "Ska Music and Skateboarding" kind of Christians. The best sort!

My one friend once said I was the most honest non-christian person he knows... in the city where I live the divide is quite large and your are part of the community or not. That being said you do have a large majority of the middle ground of religious types. I agree that atheists and religious people can mix, but I have found over time my relationships with the more heavily involved of my Christian friends being eroded by their annoyance at my lack of faith. In some cases it got to the point where I was not invited to certain events because the events were only for his or her Christian friends. As the title says I find it risky being "out" these days due to an non understanding in the community where we live.

Please tell me you're in some hole in the Interior, like Midway or PG, and not the Lower Mainland or the island where I may someday go if I retire.

oops double post.

When you hear "X excludes me from activities and treats me as inferior because I'm Y", if you put just about anything besides religion positions in the X/Y positions ... well, there's an "-ism" word for that.

I'm happy to live and let live, as my post above more than indicates, but the sort of stories I'm hearing above actually disgust me a fair bit. What happened to love thy neighbour?

Redwing wrote:

I'm happy to live and let live, as my post above more than indicates, but the sort of stories I'm hearing above actually disgust me a fair bit. What happened to love thy neighbour?

That's just pillow talk, baby.

Any of you who are still on the Facebooks might be interested in a group/page/thing called Sexy Atheists. It's a hoot.

Unrelated, but I just found this.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/zebGGtz.png)
It's a bit ironic considering how after HPL's death, his friend and contemporary August Derleth took the mythology Lovecraft created and tried to alter it to fit into Derleth's Christian worldview.

EDIT: found the text from which the quotememe originated:

HPL wrote:

"We all know that any emotional bias -- irrespective of truth or falsity -- can be implanted by suggestion in the emotions of the young, hence the inherited traditions of an orthodox community are absolutely without evidential value.... If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences. With such an honest and inflexible openness to evidence, they could not fail to receive any real truth which might be manifesting itself around them. The fact that religionists do not follow this honourable course, but cheat at their game by invoking juvenile quasi-hypnosis, is enough to destroy their pretensions in my eyes even if their absurdity were not manifest in every other direction."

ruhk wrote:

Unrelated, but I just found this.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/zebGGtz.png)
It's a bit ironic considering how after HPL's death, his friend and contemporary August Derleth took the mythology Lovecraft created and tried to alter it to fit into Derleth's Christian worldview.

EDIT: found the text from which the quotememe originated:

HPL wrote:

"We all know that any emotional bias -- irrespective of truth or falsity -- can be implanted by suggestion in the emotions of the young, hence the inherited traditions of an orthodox community are absolutely without evidential value.... If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences. With such an honest and inflexible openness to evidence, they could not fail to receive any real truth which might be manifesting itself around them. The fact that religionists do not follow this honourable course, but cheat at their game by invoking juvenile quasi-hypnosis, is enough to destroy their pretensions in my eyes even if their absurdity were not manifest in every other direction."

Mind you this is from the same man who, according to Wikipedia, argued for a strong "colour line, and has an undeniably racist perspective". Although as an atheist I certainly agree with this particular sentiment. And given that all of his work is in the public domain, I don't see any problems with enjoying his work now (Though I can't imagine that whatever is left of the Lovecraft family nowadays would still feel that same way he did about race relations, which makes the whole public domain thing something of a moot point).

I'm fully aware of HPL's ol' timey racism. He was also misogynist as all get out, too. Still one of my favorite writers, though.

ruhk wrote:

I'm fully aware of HPL's ol' timey racism. He was also misogynist as all get out, too. Still one of my favorite writers, though.

Fair enough, Just wanted to make sure everyone had some more context on his political beliefs before anyone held him up as a great atheist writer, he was certainly both of those things, but I feel there may be less ol' timey racist authors we could represent are selves with. Not that we should feel the need to represent are selves with one particular writer, but you know what I mean (I hope).

I wouldn't classify him as an atheist writer, just a writer who happened to be atheist. The point of his writings weren't inherently atheistic, but rather about the insignificance of man and fear of the unknown, and were crammed to the gills with supernatural and psuedoscientific overtones. The quote itself isn't even from one of his mythos works, it's from a personal correspondence with one of his friends. I just thought it was neat and wanted to share.

ruhk wrote:

I wouldn't classify him as an atheist writer, just a writer who happened to be atheist. The point of his writings weren't inherently atheistic, but rather about the insignificance of man and fear of the unknown, and were crammed to the gills with supernatural and psuedoscientific overtones. The quote itself isn't even from one of his mythos works, it's from a personal correspondence with one of his friends. I just thought it was neat and wanted to share. :P

It's very neat, I appreciate the share. Mind if I repost the image elsewhere?

It's not mine, I just found it.

Bonnonon wrote:

I will give you some hints and if you know BC at all you will know where I live... It is considered the bible belt and we were also the murder capital of Canada for some time. To be honest you can live in my area, live your lifestyle and not experience what I have experienced to a degree, but at some point or another you will encounter the fanatical push my religion on you. You may also have friends/acquaintances that throw away all non Christian CD's, and stop dancing due to religion, which is fine by me until the sermon starts. I think it is hard to live in my community and not have some connection to one of the main religious groups. I paint a gloomy picture, but keep in mind that it is only my point of view and others in the area may have not experience what I have depending on what part of the city they grew up in. Also keep in mind that the times are changing in my city and the days of the bible belt are diminishing, due to the decrease in chruch attendance around the city.

Holy crap, you live in Bomont?

As a Christian I have to say that I actually loved that lovecraft quote. I think truth doesn't need much of a defense if it it indeed true. It reminds me of a bible verse in judges.

"When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down… And after they had made search and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.” (6:28-31)

Basically this verse says to me if God can't do something as basic as smite someone who defiles their alter, then there probably not a reall God. This can also be said that if a god you grew up in church with cant answer harder philosophical questions openly then he must not be a God

...that sounds like Biblical encouragement to burn down churches to me.

Seth wrote:

...that sounds like Biblical encouragement to burn down churches to me.

That's Old Testament. That stuff doesn't count anymore.