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Mooseketeer, it's hard to explain why we are like that. I would venture to say that there is a wide variation in the degree of acceptance depending on the community.
Small communities quite often have a social life that revolves around the nearby church and it's members. Everyone is included in everything. The atheist, then has the choice of going along with the crowd, or standing outside of the group. I suspect that many go along simply because it's easier and more friendly. It's difficult to be neighborly to someone that has interests that are totally opposite from your own.
Wow. I hadn't realised it was that bad. I mean I have heard some nutters before but this is incredible. I feel so sorry for you. It does sound as though intolerance comes from the quarters of those who preach religion ( one of love, peace and tolerance at that) the most. What happened to all these values ?
If it really is that bad then I think the US really has a serious problem of gigantic proportion and maybe it is time to have the same kind of human rights campaigns we had in the 60s. Being ostracised for not believing in God is something which is primitive beyond belief ( no pun intended). it sounds silly I know but not being able to worship or NOT as your conscience dictates is intolerable.
Who are all those fundie freaks anyway ? Whatever happened to following in Jesus' foot steps and showing love to your neighbour ? If that is what religion means to some then maybe it is time to ban it altogether. We ban drugs because they are dangerous and yet this kind of behaviour is allowed ?
Maybe you should come across the pond and move to a country out of the dark ages.
And please promise me if anyone with tar and feathers or groups with torches approach you, just run and claim sanctuary somewhere safe. You're always welcome here !
Nobody will treat you any differently because of your atheism ( and that includes Christians). Land of the Free indeed.
I think that perhaps I painted a picture of dismal hatred towards where I live. That wasn't the intent. It's just that I have had a lot of bad experiences in my life in regards to religion. One of the reasons (but certainly not the only reason) I joined the military was to just get away. I had been inundated with one experience after the other over the course of a very short time so my picture of how things are may be slightly biased because of my own bad experiences. I'm just afraid now to mention anything about it. Heck, I wasn't really even a full blown atheist before I joined the military, I just didn't believe in the Christian God and I guess you could say I was an agnostic leaning towards atheism. But, anyway, due to certain circumstances, I had to move back "home" after I got out of the military. The company I work for is based in my home town and there weren't many other choices. When I got back here, this kind of thing really was the furthest thing from my mind. However, when we finally moved in, our neighbors were very welcoming towards us and often asked what church we attended. I assume that it was well intentioned and more of a 'get to know you' sort of thing. I basically lied and said we hadn't found anything yet because we were new to the area. So far, they've left it alone, but I'm afraid of the invitations and I'm afraid of the holiday season because there are always invites to worship around these times. I don't want to live a lie to people that have been so welcoming towards us and made us feel comfortable, but I am also afraid that if I "come out" about my atheism that I will be seen as the deceiving one and/or not feel so welcome in our neighborhood. It's no fault of their own and I'm sure they were well intentioned, but it's that fear of rejection and isolation that I'm afraid of. It would be a thousand times easier to just live a lie and attend church functions for the sake of fitting in. However, I am not that kind of person, and I'm not going to dedicate my time to something that I have no interest in. On the other hand, perhaps I should be PROUD of it and engage in discussions such as these with my neighbors?? But, hey, you never know, maybe we are the meek, and you know what the Bible says about the meek?
Mooseketeer, it's hard to explain why we are like that. I would venture to say that there is a wide variation in the degree of acceptance depending on the community.
Small communities quite often have a social life that revolves around the nearby church and it's members. Everyone is included in everything. The atheist, then has the choice of going along with the crowd, or standing outside of the group. I suspect that many go along simply because it's easier and more friendly. It's difficult to be neighborly to someone that has interests that are totally opposite from your own.
Surely because you are a Christian does not necessarily mean you have nothing in common with an Athiest or a Buddhist etc.. Aren't we all human beings ?
I assume we all have some points of commonality , some of us will collect stamps, like dancing,ride bikes or be Trekkies etc.. regardless of ideology ?
I actually LIKE people who stand from the crowd and are different than myself. That's what makes our world more interesting.
I know most Christians are actually nice tolerant people ( most of my friends are Christians and we have plenty in common) , but there seems to be a group which only wants to socialise with Christians and have a tendency to judge and ostracise others. I am not sure how that squares up with following Jesus...
I think that perhaps I painted a picture of dismal hatred towards where I live. That wasn't the intent. It's just that I have had a lot of bad experiences in my life in regards to religion. One of the reasons (but certainly not the only reason) I joined the military was to just get away. I had been inundated with one experience after the other over the course of a very short time so my picture of how things are may be slightly biased because of my own bad experiences. I'm just afraid now to mention anything about it. Heck, I wasn't really even a full blown atheist before I joined the military, I just didn't believe in the Christian God and I guess you could say I was an agnostic leaning towards atheism. But, anyway, due to certain circumstances, I had to move back "home" after I got out of the military. The company I work for is based in my home town and there weren't many other choices. When I got back here, this kind of thing really was the furthest thing from my mind. However, when we finally moved in, our neighbors were very welcoming towards us and often asked what church we attended. I assume that it was well intentioned and more of a 'get to know you' sort of thing. I basically lied and said we hadn't found anything yet because we were new to the area. So far, they've left it alone, but I'm afraid of the invitations and I'm afraid of the holiday season because there are always invites to worship around these times. I don't want to live a lie to people that have been so welcoming towards us and made us feel comfortable, but I am also afraid that if I "come out" about my atheism that I will be seen as the deceiving one and/or not feel so welcome in our neighborhood. It's no fault of their own and I'm sure they were well intentioned, but it's that fear of rejection and isolation that I'm afraid of. It would be a thousand times easier to just live a lie and attend church functions for the sake of fitting in. However, I am not that kind of person, and I'm not going to dedicate my time to something that I have no interest in. On the other hand, perhaps I should be PROUD of it and engage in discussions such as these with my neighbors?? But, hey, you never know, maybe we are the meek, and you know what the Bible says about the meek?
I think you should be proud of it but if you are made to feel unwelcome or awkward after "coming out" so to speak , maybe that area isn't for you ...
When we inherit the Earth, we'll have a giant BBQ ( all invited) and we can contribute even more to global warming !
I think you should be proud of it but if you are made to feel unwelcome or awkward after "coming out" so to speak , maybe that area isn't for you ...
When we inherit the Earth, we'll have a giant BBQ ( all invited) and we can contribute even more to global warming !
One quick note. I know I sound harsh, but I really don't want to make Christians out to be the bad guys. I'm fine with whatever someone chooses to believe as long as they don't see me any differently because of what I believe. Sadly, there's something about religion that seems to almost require this.
An atheist is very different than an agnostic. I love how we all like to group people who dont believe in a diety and people who basically havent made up their mind. I once thought that atheism was inclined to not preach like religion does. So wrong. Atheism has turned into a cult of sorts where members try to convert people....Just like a religion. Lets not kid ourselves. Humans will always live in a state of confusion. Too many constant scientific changes in history for anyone to truly hang their hat on anything.
Coming from Oklahoma I get the best of both worlds from nontheists and theists. Its hilarious. Both try to convert using different interesting tactics. Christians put the fear of God in you and Atheists use the bible as a tool, breaking down every sentence as if it were to be taken completely literally.
Most people need to come back down to earth and realize that all of our tiny pea brains will never reach the knowledge we need to make a decision. It should be all science and ZERO philosophy. Give me scientific evidence that a supernatural power exists or not. Whoops! Currently there is not a single scientist that can give absolute proof of either. That is why I am an agnostic. That is also why an agnostic is completely different from an atheist!
Im a retard to both parties since I am a TRUE agnostic. Could an atheist please help me BELIEVE differently or should I say convert me.
If it really is that bad then I think the US really has a serious problem of gigantic proportion and maybe it is time to have the same kind of human rights campaigns we had in the 60s. Being ostracised for not believing in God is something which is primitive beyond belief ( no pun intended). it sounds silly I know but not being able to worship or NOT as your conscience dictates is intolerable.
It is important to remember where Troop lives, too, which may not be all that apparent if you're not very familiar with the latitudinal social values gradient that runs, more or less, throughout most of the country. I doubt you would have any trouble being a proclaimed non-believer in most parts of New England or the mid-Atlantic, which has become even more secular than NE it seems as of late. Similarly, I doubt you'd find all that much rejection in many parts of Washington/Oregon/Cali, nor in liberal pockets like Austin or Asheville (though you still would probably have to careful in Asheville with regards to employment...).
Heck, even here where I live, I encounter no problems with being an Atheist as far as life opportunities or personal safety are concerned. A few ultrareligious members of my family continue to see me as a blight on the surname, but that's their problem, not mine. And I imagine that it has more to do with being gay and less with being an Atheist -- though the latter has probably increased the shame of the former exponentially for them.
An atheist is very different than an agnostic. I love how we all like to group people who dont believe in a diety and people who basically havent made up their mind. I once thought that atheism was inclined to not preach like religion does. So wrong. Atheism has turned into a cult of sorts where members try to convert people....Just like a religion. Lets not kid ourselves. Humans will always live in a state of confusion. Too many constant scientific changes in history for anyone to truly hang their hat on anything.
Coming from Oklahoma I get the best of both worlds from nontheists and theists. Its hilarious. Both try to convert using different interesting tactics. Christians put the fear of God in you and Atheists use the bible as a tool, breaking down every sentence as if it were to be taken completely literally.
Most people need to come back down to earth and realize that all of our tiny pea brains will never reach the knowledge we need. It should be all science and ZERO philosophy. Give me scientific evidence that a supernatural power exists or not. Whoops! Currently there is not a single scientist that can give absolute proof of either. That is why I am an agnostic. That is also why an agnostic is completely different from an atheist!
Im a retard to both parties since I am a TRUE agnostic. Could an atheist please help me BELIEVE differently or should I say convert me.
I've never met an atheist looking for a conversion. What good would it do him/her? It's not like you're going to be rejoicing with the person in heaven after you both die. The only thing atheists really ask for is to not be misrepresented because we are atheists. As far as the rest of your post, from one atheist to an agnostic, I am inclined to agree with you. However, I must note, that although I claim to be an atheist, I'm more like an agnostic who is 99.999999% sure that God doesn't exist. That's fine, I'll take those odds.
Could an atheist please help me BELIEVE differently or should I say convert me.
Hmm, rigidity of thought? Not all Christians or Atheists want to convert you, though many do. They're called fundamentalists, evangelists and antitheists, and are all subfactions within their groups.
But, I'm sure that some converters exist outside those boundaries, as well. The simple fact is that you can't, to borrow your words, "group people."
Would I prefer that you didn't believe? Of course. Do I really care if you do or not, or don't know? Not really.
You might think you're taking the high road by proclaiming neither can be proven, and technically this is true. But I always think that if religion had never grown out of mysticism, then we'd have no need to disprove or prove anything. After all, a child who is born and reared with no mention or concept of higher powers or deities is probably not going to formulate these religious thoughts. There will undoubtedly be questions throughout his or her life, like "Where did I come from?" But a simple "Ultimately, we don't know," is much better than "Well, these texts say......"
It is important to remember where Troop lives, too, which may not be all that apparent if you're not very familiar with the latitudinal social values gradient that runs, more or less, throughout most of the country. I doubt you would have any trouble being a proclaimed non-believer in most parts of New England or the mid-Atlantic, which has become even more secular than NE it seems as of late. Similarly, I doubt you'd find all that much rejection in many parts of Washington/Oregon/Cali, nor in liberal pockets like Austin or Asheville (though you still would probably have to careful in Asheville with regards to employment...).
Heck, even here where I live, I encounter no problems with being an Atheist as far as life opportunities or personal safety are concerned. A few ultrareligious members of my family continue to see me as a blight on the surname, but that's their problem, not mine. And I imagine that it has more to do with being gay and less with being an Atheist -- though the latter has probably increased the shame of the former exponentially for them.
No, I'm familiar with these parts of the country, but I don't think I'll be heading out of town any time soon. So, partly, it is my fault that I'm around, but why does it have to be this way? Anyway, as I said, I may tell my neighbors I am an Atheist and they may say "That's great! We still like you anyway!" It's just been my experience that this is not the typical reaction in this part of the country. So I guess I'll just discuss it on here where I feel comfortable with a certain level of anonymity.
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Please no one freak out.....
And I imagine that it has more to do with being gay and less with being an Atheist -- though the latter has probably increased the shame of the former exponentially for them. 
