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When I first said I was an atheist, at 15, my mum said "oh, it's just a phase- he'll get over it" to my sisters, and it really pissed me off. I explained the meaning of the word atheist and she calmed down: she thought it was some sort of hatred directed at god or something.

People misunderstand way too often what atheism actually is.

She probably thought I was going to be listening to heavy metal and doing drugs through my eyeballs in my room all day, or some shit, just living in a completely amoral world. Women, hey?

I'm Deist, and i have almost no problems with my family about Christianity, in fact, we almost never talk about it, they never force me to go to the church and they forget everytime to say grace at dinner.

I'm Greek so we are kind of neo-pagans.

Opposite. My dad is an atheist, my mom is agnostic, my sister is agnostic.

Up until i reached about 19 i kinda drifted around spiritually, then finally embraced the Abrahamic religions. I respect all three of them and I take them all with a grain of salt, but yea, I put faith in the idea of a western theory about god.

It was good though, cuz I got to come to this completely on my own instead of being raised and bred into it.

At 12/17/12 04:43 PM, BizzarroPMP wrote:

Up until i reached about 19 i kinda drifted around spiritually, then finally embraced the Abrahamic religions. I respect all three of them and I take them all with a grain of salt, but yea, I put faith in the idea of a western theory about god.

So how many abortion clinics have you blown up?

Best thing to do is to play along and keep quiet. If your family is more important to you than religion, then making your lack of beliefs known will only hurt them. I've known families that have ostracized their own kids for not believing in their faith, which is pretty sad.

My atheist friend got asked to say a dinner prayer once by a Christian family. He just kind of rolled with it, said something cliche with his eyes closed, and they bought it. Pretty noble if you ask me; I mean, even though he didn't agree with their views he had the heart to respect their customs.

At 12/17/12 05:42 PM, Prinzy2 wrote: Best thing to do is to play along and keep quiet. If your family is more important to you than religion, then making your lack of beliefs known will only hurt them. I've known families that have ostracized their own kids for not believing in their faith, which is pretty sad.

That is if you have strongly religious family members who don't seem to be open minded enough to accept a dissenting stance on religion from you. But if you're not going to be disowned or constantly ridiculed over it then it might be better to not hide it, as hiding it may cause you to feel uncomfortable or guilty that you're not being honest with your family, and afterall it's not something that you should have to keep a secret.

At 12/17/12 05:48 PM, T3XT wrote: My atheist friend got asked to say a dinner prayer once by a Christian family. He just kind of rolled with it, said something cliche with his eyes closed, and they bought it. Pretty noble if you ask me; I mean, even though he didn't agree with their views he had the heart to respect their customs.

Although, if he would have politely declined it wouldn't have been disrespectful of their customs. But I'm guessing they didn't know he was an atheist and he wasn't comfortable revealing it or raising suspicions right then and there.

Yea i'm in the same position. It's a pretty awkward family life.

Well, I am not religious myself, but most of my friends are and I can even discuss religion with them without getting into a verbal fight, but I come from Spain, it seems to me that in other countries is easier to talk about this matter than in The US

Then I moved..., Americans seem to become a little bit nervous about religion and politics, it is really easy to have a friendship ended here because a religious discussion. I have learned to avoid that matter, I just avoid the radical freaks.

My family is not religious neither, uncommon, in a religious environment, but blasphemy is looked down; not because of that god itself in whom they do not believe, but because is considered a lack of respect of other people's beliefs. Religion maintains some people busy, and as long as nobody tries to force this to me, I am fine with it

At 12/15/12 09:41 PM, Sequenced wrote: Are any of you in this situation?

For me, I am the -ONLY- agnostic in my entire Christian family. Whenever I am around my family I got nothing to say.

Also, does anybody feel that when they're having a conversation with a Christian, does it seem some what 'fake' to you? i.e., awkward laughs, restricted to what you should say, etc.

If you have ever experience this type of stuff, please feel free to share it.

NOTE: The purpose of this thread is NOT to change someone's opinion, but to discuss how to deal with situations like this. You get the drill.

I'll sleep happy knowing that all of you will go to hell when you die.

Yup. My mum, dad and brother are Christian but I'm atheist. Kinda sucks. At least I'm allowed to do Halloween.

I'm not religious but I go to a Catholic school. There are SO many misconceptions about the average school.

All I will say is that because of the way Catholic schools in my country work Catholic schools tend to have pretty high quality education and good budgets and the public schools at least in MY area are pretty shit so I'm glad I go to a Catholic school. That does not mean I think Catholic schools are a good thing but in my situation it is.

Nobody should care whether somebody believes in something or not.

Religion is a give or take in my family, I do have relatives who are devote though.

At 12/18/12 02:38 AM, Halberd wrote: I'm not religious but I go to a Catholic school. There are SO many misconceptions about the average school.

All I will say is that because of the way Catholic schools in my country work Catholic schools tend to have pretty high quality education and good budgets and the public schools at least in MY area are pretty shit so I'm glad I go to a Catholic school.

It's not just Catholic schools but private schools in general tend to receive better funding than public schools and in turn are able to provide a better education, at least in some countries.

I want to hang myself when people use the term Agnostic incorrectly.

No, no one is just 'agnostic'. It doesn't exist by itself.

At 12/18/12 08:07 AM, He-Who-Never-Was wrote: I want to hang myself when people use the term Agnostic incorrectly.

I've gotten tired of addressing this myself when I see it because it's not just ignorance but some people just aren't comfortable identifying themselves as atheists even if they know they technically are. They succumb to the negative stigma that the term "atheist" has undeservedly received and use a different term to label themselves with, even though said term doesn't address belief.

At 12/18/12 08:07 AM, He-Who-Never-Was wrote: I want to hang myself when people use the term Agnostic incorrectly.

No, no one is just 'agnostic'. It doesn't exist by itself.

How so?

if your family is full of believers and you've lost your way maybe you should listen to them. they're probably sensible people who want the best for you, so don't be so quick to rebuff them

--supergandhi64

At 12/15/12 09:41 PM, Sequenced wrote: Are any of you in this situation?

For me, I am the -ONLY- agnostic in my entire Christian family. Whenever I am around my family I got nothing to say.

Also, does anybody feel that when they're having a conversation with a Christian, does it seem some what 'fake' to you? i.e., awkward laughs, restricted to what you should say, etc.

If you have ever experience this type of stuff, please feel free to share it.

NOTE: The purpose of this thread is NOT to change someone's opinion, but to discuss how to deal with situations like this. You get the drill.

i know the exact feel, hell i would have taught you were me for a second there. one thing I've learned is that if you love your family it shouldn't matter, but if they disagree with you don't try to impress them just go with the flow. a true family member loves you for you not your religious backgrounds. i have a christian cousin who is like my older brother, we do everything together and we both know that when we hang out religion is the last thing on our minds. sure it comes up here and there but it happens, we get over it and move on.