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Sorry - not a troll.
I don't follow the boards so I didnt know about any of the previous posters. I figured I'd put the feelers out to see if there were any other self-proclaimed atheist families around here since I obviously haven't met any in my everyday travels. Not sure why its such a suspicious topic though - is is out of the ordinary for people to seek out like-minded folk?
Yes, in this context it is since most of the people you meet will be nonreligious. As other respondants have suggested, it's pretty much the norm. Nobody goes around proclaiming their atheism or agnosticism. Why would they? It's not like you're searching for some exotic minority, like a little-known Baha'i community. Or are you looking for people that are more militant and in-your-face about their beliefs, such as vegans or Tea Partiers?
People generally don't self-proclaim about anything that's not particularly important to them. That's gonna be the way with most atheists - its no big deal. Not something to shout about.
Just like you'd find it hard to identify from the outside people who think Northern Ireland should be rejoined to the Republic of Ireland - no-one outside an Irish pub is likely to be talking out loud about it. You'd never know.
Totally disagree... For many atheists, seeing the way this country, fox news, evangelicals, republicans and many democrats embed their faith into the country's public life makes something that SHOULD be a non-issue a TOTAL issue. I am an atheist and lived many years in Texas; i frequently wondered whether there were many oher atheists there too... Turns out there were but the religious people seemed so mainstream and dominating the culture that it made us wonder whether we would fit in too...
I would say it is hard to find atheists because most don't feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in god any more than they feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in the Easter bunny or a flat Earth.
On the internet, you seem to run into these 'religious' atheists for whom atheism is the cultural cornerstone to their entire worldview and colors their outlook and interpretation of every detail of their daily lives, but most atheists just go about their business.
Anyway, in my experience, the most religious groups in Westchester are reform Jews (who are not especially religious, but definitely observant, observing high holidays, bar mitzah, etc.) and Irish and Italian Catholics, especially those less than a couple generations removed from the old country. Presumably Latin Americans can be added to this list as well.
Then you have your C&E Catholics and mainline protestants, but I suspect the majority of them are agnostic at the very least.
I would say it is hard to find atheists because most don't feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in god any more than they feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in the Easter bunny or a flat Earth.
On the internet, you seem to run into these 'religious' atheists for whom atheism is the cultural cornerstone to their entire worldview and colors their outlook and interpretation of every detail of their daily lives, but most atheists just go about their business.
Anyway, in my experience, the most religious groups in Westchester are reform Jews (who are not especially religious, but definitely observant, observing high holidays, bar mitzah, etc.) and Irish and Italian Catholics, especially those less than a couple generations removed from the old country. Presumably Latin Americans can be added to this list as well.
Then you have your C&E Catholics and mainline protestants, but I suspect the majority of them are agnostic at the very least.
^^^yes, this. And the analogy with TX would be to say "I'm Christian, how do i find other Christians?" The difference being that all they'd need to do is walk into a church.
I would say it is hard to find atheists because most don't feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in god any more than they feel the need to publicly proclaim their disbelief in the Easter bunny or a flat Earth.
On the internet, you seem to run into these 'religious' atheists for whom atheism is the cultural cornerstone to their entire worldview and colors their outlook and interpretation of every detail of their daily lives, but most atheists just go about their business.
Anyway, in my experience, the most religious groups in Westchester are reform Jews (who are not especially religious, but definitely observant, observing high holidays, bar mitzah, etc.) and Irish and Italian Catholics, especially those less than a couple generations removed from the old country. Presumably Latin Americans can be added to this list as well.
Then you have your C&E Catholics and mainline protestants, but I suspect the majority of them are agnostic at the very least.
Yes - these two points. Very well put.
Atheists, and agnostics, aren't going to feel under siege in the NY Metro area, and so it'll just not be so noticeable, it will barely if ever arise in conversation. But when you live in the kind of place where you get a new job and during the first coffee break on day #1 people casually ask you "Oh what church do you go to?" ... its going to be different. Culturally, its just not that way
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