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Troop, your co worker has opened the discussion of religion..You are one of the best debaters here..Your coworker may be open to hearing your side..maybe he is curious...it may be possible that you two could discuss rationally and agree to disagree..I would not bring the subject up, but if he asks you a question, answer it honestly in your opinion., and go on..I just don't understand why so many christians feel it is their duty to ask people what their beliefs are...It is like "Wait a minute, before this friendship goes any farther I want to know what church you go to?" I have learned from all my atheist friends here that it is very, very hard to be accepted as an unbeliever in this country that guarantees your freedom to believe.... or not..I guess it is the same principle that all christians are not "fundies" and all atheists are not immoral
But take heart Troop... if you were Catholic or Mormon you would have gotten the same treatement. You probably would have been told you were wrong about that too.
Next time you see him tell him you've had a change or heart. You don't know what you were thinking and you want to thank him for changing your mind. Tell him you are now a converted Muslim.
See how that plays out. And for the benefit of the rest of us could you please videotape the next interaction? I would be a Youtube hit!
Troop, your co worker has opened the discussion of religion..You are one of the best debaters here..Your coworker may be open to hearing your side..maybe he is curious...it may be possible that you two could discuss rationally and agree to disagree..I would not bring the subject up, but if he asks you a question, answer it honestly in your opinion., and go on..I just don't understand why so many christians feel it is their duty to ask people what their beliefs are...It is like "Wait a minute, before this friendship goes any farther I want to know what church you go to?" I have learned from all my atheist friends here that it is very, very hard to be accepted as an unbeliever in this country that guarantees your freedom to believe.... or not..I guess it is the same principle that all christians are not "fundies" and all atheists are not immoral
Thanks, Blue. I am not scared of the debate. If anything, I felt bad because I left him speechless the other night and groveling for words. I didn't do it with venom or even a rise in my voice. I just explained to him with ice cold ration and logic what my non-belief was and I think it left him a bit at a loss for words. Come on, let's face it. I've been doing this for over a year now. This was probably the guy's first time at ever approaching an Atheist and he seemed to have been given "hints" or "ideas" from his church members as to how to do it. The poor guy didn't know what hit him. So, it's not the debate I'm worried about...
I'm just worried that now the guy might feel the need to stock up on more ammunition and continue onwards which is why I posed the question to the forum that I did. I love to debate this stuff. I really do. But, if it's merely a means for him to proselytize to me rather than just ask an opinion than I am going to take offense. He seems like an otherwise rational man. He really does. And, I'm hoping that he recognizes the fact that as long as he would like to debate that I can certainly debate. But, if he's trying to deadpan preach to me than I will go Christopher Hitchens on him. And, no believer likes to hear Hitchens' venomous tongue.
From what I read in your post, the other guy probably enjoy(ed?) working with you just as much as you enjoyed working with him. He saw you, and probably still sees you, as a friend.
I know that before I came on this forum I would have had a certain preconceived notion about what "atheists" are.. but after being on this forum for over a year, I've come to realize that, altho I completely disagree with their belief that there is no God, atheists as people are no different than anyone else. This may have been your coworker's first meeting with a "wicked atheist" (his mental picture?) and no doubt, it was quite a shock.. not only because of the term "atheist" being attached to you, but also because you seemed like such a nice guy (just trying to get his mental view).
I'm guessing finding out you were atheist created more of a "shock and sadness" feeling rather than "shock and disgust" if you know what I mean.
Now, God to him (and to me) is very real... and he probably doesn't understand why you don't believe in God. But I hope you can keep your friendship, and I hope he can understand when he's overstepping the bounds. It'll all work out if both sides can give and take and communicate.
From what I read in your post, the other guy probably enjoy(ed?) working with you just as much as you enjoyed working with him. He saw you, and probably still sees you, as a friend.
I know that before I came on this forum I would have had a certain preconceived notion about what "atheists" are.. but after being on this forum for over a year, I've come to realize that, altho I completely disagree with their belief that there is no God, atheists as people are no different than anyone else. This may have been your coworker's first meeting with a "wicked atheist" (his mental picture?) and no doubt, it was quite a shock.. not only because of the term "atheist" being attached to you, but also because you seemed like such a nice guy (just trying to get his mental view).
I'm guessing finding out you were atheist created more of a "shock and sadness" feeling rather than "shock and disgust" if you know what I mean.
Now, God to him (and to me) is very real... and he probably doesn't understand why you don't believe in God. But I hope you can keep your friendship, and I hope he can understand when he's overstepping the bounds. It'll all work out if both sides can give and take and communicate.
Good point, cg81. And, I have to admit, I did think a bit about this as well. Like I said before, I don't want people to look at me any differently. I don't even mind friendly debate. I just hope that he doesn't feel like I'm some sort of disgusting human being in need of "saving" and that he'll stop at nothing to do it. I am not yet under that impression but it is a little bit frightening because it has happened to me before. Although, the situation was a little different. I just want to go to work, fix my airplanes, with a good working partner, and go back home. That's all I want to do. For the love of Odin, is that so much to ask?!
I'm guessing finding out you were atheist created more of a "shock and sadness" feeling rather than "shock and disgust" if you know what I mean.
Now, God to him (and to me) is very real... and he probably doesn't understand why you don't believe in God. But I hope you can keep your friendship, and I hope he can understand when he's overstepping the bounds. It'll all work out if both sides can give and take and communicate.
I wanted to expand on this a little... you have asked, "why does religion even have to be brought up in the workplace?" I can see where, as an atheist, you would wonder this. However, as a Christian, there are times in our lives when we are just on fire for the Lord. It sounds to me that he thought of you as a friend and was just sharing his life experiences with you in the beginning. And it is also possible if, as you said, you shared some of your thoughts on homosexuality that did not line up with his belief, he just truly wondered what 'religion' you practiced. I am not saying that he did not overstep his boundaries, but I also wanted to share that a Christian's faith is not just something they "do", it is "who they are" (did that make sense?) and if something special has happened or we are feeling particularly filled with the Spirit, then sometimes we just can't help but want to shout it from the mountain tops. We do not mean to offend people. I would liken it to me having experienced a new and especially delicious dessert at a local restaurant and then coming into work and not telling you about it. Follow?
Good point, cg81. And, I have to admit, I did think a bit about this as well. Like I said before, I don't want people to look at me any differently. I don't even mind friendly debate. I just hope that he doesn't feel like I'm some sort of disgusting human being in need of "saving" and that he'll stop at nothing to do it. I am not yet under that impression but it is a little bit frightening because it has happened to me before. Although, the situation was a little different. I just want to go to work, fix my airplanes, with a good working partner, and go back home. That's all I want to do. For the love of Odin, is that so much to ask?!
I think that "debate", at this point, is going to do more harm than good. You will both have to come to terms that you have totally different worldviews, and realize that you value your friendship above this, before any debate, IMO, is going to be healthy and beneficial. Maybe you just need to "agree to disagree" for now...
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