My old boss once was a devout Catholic and tried to push her beliefs on everyone…she hated my best friend cause he was Pagan…when she found out I was Athiest she literally whipped out her bible and tried to convert me…I just told her that I never bought into the whole heaven/hell thing…she didn’t talk to me too much after that…
Some of my classmates gave me weird looks and thought i was evil. They they think im some lost soul. Some people have tried to get me to see “the light” ie convert.One gets used to it after awhile, but i never tell my religious beliefs, unless someone asks.
I don’t get it.
Same here, it’s not like I go around screaming “There is no God!!!” but if someone’s curious, I’m gunna be straight w/them
The idea is that I would convert into some hideously evil creature in the middle of a normal conversation. No other meaning intended.
My mother refuses to believe that I’m an athiest. She says I must be an agnostic, because I’m too open-minded to be an athiest. I’ve tried to explain to her that I am quite clear on the difference, and that I am in fact an athiest. It’s amusing, but vexing, when believers accuse me of being narrow-minded because I’m a non-believer.
Once, a man accosted me in the street mumbling something about how Jesus wanted me to buy him a sandwhich, and the guy tried to talk me into following him into a shady area under an awning to talk. I had no interest in following him anywhere, or listening to what he had to say. I told him, “I don’t believe in God.” He looked at me, puzzled, and said, “What do you mean? You’re a Mormon?”
Not too long after a car accident, my co-workers took me to lunch to cheer me up (leg in a cast, among other injuries). While we were chatting, some woman sat herself down at the table and asked how I was and have I prayed to Jesus to make my leg better, because prayer helps, blah, blah, blah, pray to Jesus.
I was speechless [surprisingly] at her chutzpah, barging in uninvited, but one of my co-workers shot back, “No but we already made the proper sacrifices that it wasn’t worse” and started toying with the butter knife. The woman left very quickly.
Wish I could think that fast. My usual response to people who offer to pray for me is “Go ahead if it’ll make you feel better.”
My lord. I can’t believe this stuff. I’m not an atheist, and never have been, really, but for years I was an agnostic, and no one ever gave me the slightest bit of trouble. I can’t remember anyone even asking! Even my (few) religious friends (who were pretty much all Mormons) were cool with the fact that I didn’t go to church, and they sure didn’t spit on me!
I don’t want to seem too rude, but I have not travelled extensively in the US, and am wondering if there is a geographic area where this sort of narrowminded viewpoint is common. You know, so I can avoid that place.
I don’t think so, Kyla. Some areas may be worse then others, but I’m in Maryland, not exactly the heart of the Bible belt, and I still get the awkward silence if I don’t just avoid the subject when religion comes up. Or the brow-beating, or, in one really awkward case, tears (Theology major friend who had made a special visit to try n convert me).
Try as an experiment in the next situation where God comes up to say you’re an atheist (I know you aren’t, but will some harm come of saying you are?).
I think it amusing that the part of the population that has the biggest persecution complex seems to be the most intolerant. Not just negative, but through sheer incomprehension.
I can vouch that she probably won’t get a reaction. She lives, like me, in Nor Cal. And up here we’re all heathens and atheists and pagans and satan worshipers, and john coltrane worshipers and the like.
Well, I had an interesting day at Bob Jones University (very, very Christian school in South Carolina) this week. I went with my debate team for a competition. As soon as we walked in, we noticed quite a few signs saying things such as “Who is your LORD?” (which by the end of the day began to look more like “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”). Before the competition begins, we have to be sworn in by some local politian. Before he swears us in, he gives a speech. He starts off with talking about why he wants Bush for president. Okay, so far no real problem. Then he decides to shift the topic about our duty as Christians (because everybody is Christian, right?) and rant about how the church will save us all. Then, during the awards presentation, they announced that we all had to get up and say a prayer. A number of my teammates and I abstained from the prayer, as did a number of students from other teams. Some guy behind us then felt it necessary to demand to know our religion and to let us all know we were going to Hell. Afterwards, we got to look at our scores on the speeches we gave. One of my teammates got an absurdly low score (everyone who heard it said it was a very good speech). It turns out the speech was about how she felt that school vouchers could cause a lack of separation of church and state, and the school had given some notice to the judges that any speech that they considered sacreligious should be given a very low score. Very creepy school. I spent most of the 10 hours I was there looking over my shoulder for angry mobs :).
I’m certain that they were Wesleyan, yes. To give you an idea of the religious mentality where I live: this is a college town. It’s a big college, around 20-25,0000 students, more in some years. The city itself is probably around 250,000 people in size. And yet, it’s a dry county. You cannot buy package liquor ANYWHERE in the city; you have to drive past the county line to The Strip, where you’ll find a whole mess of liquor stores. Periodically, the issue of in-town liquor sales comes up for vote. Every time, Baptist ministers encourage their congregations to vote against it; every time, liquor sales are rejected. (What’s the difference between Baptists and Methodists? Methodists wave to each other in liquor stores!)
It’s been quite a few years since the “intervention”, but I do recall the fella mentioning something about it being, like, his “good deed for the month” (not at all in those words, but that was the impression I got). Whether periodically saving lost souls was something encouraged by “the brotherhood” or if it was something he and his buddies took upon themselves, I have no idea.
If asked, I’ll just say that I was ‘raised Catholic’. That’s usually the end of the conversation. 
Rose
The weirdest response I got was not even because I said something - I have a bumper sticker on my car that says:
from his “Redemption Song.” Yes, this echoes my atheism but I can’t believe it would offend anyone.
Well, one day I was on Route 40 just driving along when the car behind me started honking wildly. Next thing I know he swerved beside me, gave me the finger, screamed some nasty stuff about my genitals, then cut me off. I noticed this bumper sticker on his car:
I wonder what religion taught him that?
Kyla - the spitting incident was an isolated incident (Thank …oh, nevermind). It was an extreme reaction.
I do not walk around announcing, “Hey, I’m not sure what to believe in!”, nor do I walk about with a large question mark on a necklace. However, I have found some people very aggressive in foisting their beliefs on me, often in the oddest ways. Case in point - I worked for a large mega-bookstore chain and consider myself friendly to customers, chatting with them in the process of finding the books, etc. they need. In the time I worked there, I had been invited to Bible Study classes in the various guises of a Super-Bowl party, an anti-Halloween party (no witches or evil costumes, dress as your favorite angel perhaps), and an Adopt-a-Road cleanup and party afterwards (sponsored by a local church - picking up litter on the side of a busy road, you betcha I’d be praying…not to get hit), among other ploys. Some people just do not take “no” for an answer, or consider me their challenge.
Actually, I like the question mark necklace idea. Hematite, maybe?
Funny; as being a Christian I am bothered by this too, well, not when I tell people what religion I am of course, but when I mention that my dad isn’t doing good. Except for Pastor Doug, I have to wonder how many of those people really pray for my dad. :rolleyes:
That’s how I would explain my boyfriend’s religion (well, before he started coming to my church). People would nod understandingly and sympathetically, then change the subject.
OK, here’s the wierd one for me. I was at a “state fair”, you know, the kind where they parade around cows and everyone is supposed to “ooh” and “aah.” Well, anyways, I was walking through one of the display buildings for new technology and other things, and I walked past a booth on abortion. A woman comes tearing out of the booth, and starts shoving a pamphlet in my face saying, “Have you seen this?” I said “Yes” and “No thank you” then continued to walk. At this point a man, stepped out of the booth, and said, “Ma’am, I really think it is your Christian duty to see this booth. It’s important to you.” I said, once again, “No thank you.” and proceeded to walk. He said, “What’s wrong with you?” at which point, I being insulted that they were harrassing me and irritated by the subject matter of the booth to begin with said, “Look, I’m athiest. No. Thank. You.” at which point the woman rushed up to me, grabbed my arm, and said, “No one is really athiest! You need help!” I at this point wrenched my arm from her and turned to walk away, with her shouting behind me, “You are not an athiest! You are sick!”
I was 13 at the time.
The thing I find most interesting is that ppl think, as previously noted, that if you are athiest that you have no morals, or beliefs, or feelings. I find that ridiculous. I tolerate other religions and other beliefs, altho I find it offensive that it seems only acceptable to promote certain religious beliefs more than others. I also follow the more “standard” mores, beliefs, and social constructs (don’t steal, don’t kill, etc) that most society follows. I don’t worship any “evil” deity. I don’t have some sinister purpose. The big difference is I believe in myself and that I don’t need to believe in “something else”.
Darn. I don’t have a single clever story about this. The strongest reaction I’ve ever gotten is disbelief. And polite disbelief at that. I feel so deprived.
And, screech-owl? I think the question-mark necklace is an excellent idea. The definative fashion statement for the Teeming Millions. I want one!
Mr. Blue Sky said:
FYI, this woman has things totally upside-down (as if you couldn’t tell that from the other things she said). Religious Jews would never get cremated. (If you want to know why, I suggest you start a different thread, probably in GQ.)