Ooh, ooh, I’ve got a couple. Both of these come from when I was only small, living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My parents and I lived in a neighbourhood that was right next to a Christian college. We were the only non-religious family in the area.
The first one would’ve been when I was four or so. I don’t remember it myself, but my mother assures me that it really happened. It was my first day at a new daycare center. My parents had tried to make very certain that it was as non-religious as possible. So later that day, when I got home, the first thing I said to my mother was “Jesus loves you, mommy.” They must’ve spent all day teaching us kids to go home and say that.
Oh, and my name’s Nathaniel. That’s important for the next story.
This one happened when I was maybe a year or so older. All my friends were christian, but since we were all kids, it hardly mattered to them that I wasn’t. But it mattered to their parents. I remember going over to my friend Troy’s house to play one day, and ending up spending the whole day with his parents, being told various “bible stories for kids”, including one with a central character called ‘Nathaniel the Atheist’, and how he was going to hell, but then he accepted Jesus into his heart and was saved. At the time, it was just another afternoon’s entertainment for me, but when I think back on it, it seems really creepy. I’m glad I got out of that part of the world.
I was talking with two Jehovah’s Witnesses on the street, and I said I didn’t support the Judeo-Christian religion because of its history of oppressing women and one said “Oh, you are a lesbian.” My punch line was “No, that’s my sister. The one whose daughter is a Jehovah’s Witness.” Funny and true.
Maybe we are paranoid or wrongfully feel persecuted, but Mrs. D. and I feel we have often been the object of, oh, shall I say exclusion or disapproval, in certain neighborhood/community settings, because of our freely expressed atheism. The most offensive episode I’ve recounted before on these boards, when we let the little Dinsdales go to a neighborhood vacation bible school, and the loving teachers tell my little sweeties that their parents are going to burn in hell as will they if they don’t accept Jesus as their personal savior.
Christians seem oblivious to the frequency and vehemence with which they present their views. I used to feel, if they are so comfortable expressing their views on this subject, I will feel similarly free. Like I said, I feel this exercise on my part was at least in part responsible for our family being not included in certain community cliques, other kids being discouraged from playing with my kids, that sort of thing.
Over this past summer I was expressing my frustration about this to someone, and he asked why I felt the need to “lead” with my atheism? That struck a chord. Since then, I have been much more hesitant about expressing my views. And my life has been pleasanter for it.
Now if only my 11 year old would learn that he doen’t need to respond to every reference to creation with a loudly exclaimed, “Bullshit!”
I might assume the role of a religious person just to avoid the preaching. After I’m pegged as an atheist, the preaching starts.
I can usually end it by saying this: “If there was a god, I would like the opportunity to bitch slap him.”
The looks I get are priceless. People are horrified FOR me. As if there is some wrath to pay to god. The I say, “And I believe that if there was a god to witness me saying that, he’d have more respect for me than you.”
I don’t make a lot of friends that way.
I pray everyday for the stength to remain an atheist.
I didn’t go to the prom and once I converted a kid.
I went to a Catholic HS and during Religion class I would frequently discuss the possibility that there was no God. This made me very unpopular with the students (well that and my lack of a cool car/clothes/hair) so this probably interfered with my getting dates at all in HS. (Some of the Nuns liked me for being able to intelligently discuss religion)
Much later I am visiting my (no longer) in-laws in a tiny town in Oklahoma and my brother-in-law brings me into his room to meet a friend of his. (they were both 15) His friend was kind of excited to meet me because he had never met an atheist. The boy was in fact the ministers son. (baptist I think) He then tried to convert me back into the loving arms of Jesus and I (being 25 and well…smart) converted him.
Most people are shocked that I would be nice to anybody if I wasn’t going to get a reward by going to Heaven or punished for bad things by going to Hell. It seems to me that their relationship to God is like the relationship a person has with a new puppy.
PS Don’t tell christians that. It gets them really mad.
Well, as many (most?) of you know I am not an Atheist but I still get as many strange reactions. Normally I don’t mind it when Christians want to pray for me as such as long as I don’t have to have any involvement in their prayers.
One day a nice young door-to-door prostheletizer came by a friend’s hosue whom I was visiting with a group of friends and they told me to answer the door. Those shadnefreude pigs must of known who it was. Anyway, this guy was pushy as anything and only talked about religion (of course). So anyway, me being relatively young at the time (14) and still maintaining a semblance of politeness let him talk out his religious dogma. When he asked me who I believed in and I said that I don’t believe in YOUR fascist sun-god it didn’t go over well. The better part was when my friends who were inside laughing at me decided to try to freak him out (you see, this particular set of friends ranged from devil-worshippers, Satanists (yes there is a difference), pagans (which included me), and some pretty hardcore atheists) by doing a mock “sacrifice.” The guy started praying for me and I was just standing there and they came out chanting, “Hail Satan, King of All!” and picked me up and dragged me back inside. I felt as if I had been saved. They even had the candles lit inside and an altar set up (Hank’s parents were pretty accepting of gothic ideas). They left the door slightly opened and this guy started crying outside that he had saved me. And then they smeared eachother with chicken blood (from a frozen pack of chicken) and did the mock ceremony thing in his view. He ran away crying it was so funny especially since he was in his early twenties. I couldn’t believe we shocked him so much.
There are other things that have happened but most of them aren’t quite as interesting. Usually when idiot Christians (as compared to the Actual Christians who think for themselves) find out I am a pagan they automatically think I am a Satanist not truly understanding that Satanism has nothing to do with Satan really (devil-worshipping deals with Satan) and I get the whole gamut of reactions after that.
I think the funniest thing that ever happened to me on this subject was when I was working for a small company with about 10 people in the office. There was a girl who worked there that I had recently started boinking, but we were both keeping it quiet because of office politics. Well, another guy who worked there, who I had known since childhood, found out that I was an atheist. So he starts a discussion about it with me in front of several people, including this girl. After a few minutes, she pipes up with, “I could NEVER be married to an atheist.” It took more self control than I am usually capable of not to say, “But you have no problem f**king one?”
damn, I’ve never gotten any cool reaction. The best I ever got was from a friends mom who would jokingly ask me every time I saw her if I was still an atheist. not that I go telling the world or anything though.
I’ve experienced reactions similar to those of you above, but it’s never gotten as bad as spitting.
'Sfunny…I know people who would never, ever jump into a hornet’s nest about politics, or about comparative religions. But if I say I’m an atheist (no religion, as opposed to a different one) or a vegetarian, it presses some kind of button inside them and they feel compelled to show me the wrongness of my beliefs or practices. I guess I’m lucky I’m not gay too, or my phone would never stop ringing.
The response that irritates me most is when they tell me I’m not really an atheist, following the we-all-know-God-in-our-hearts (il)logic. It’s so nauseatingly smug! And I’ve never thought of a suitable, all-purpose comeback for that one.
I can actually remember when I first decided religion just wasn’t for me. I went to Catholic school for 8th and 9th grade, because it was supposedly better than public school. In religion class, I asked questions. If they weren’t “acceptable” questions, such as “How exactly is God so wonderful?”, then the rote answer was “Because God made it so.” WTF? That’s not an answer, that’s a cop-out.
Now, I understand that not all schools are like that, and not all Christians are like that, but it was too much for me. I decided I didn’t want to have anything to do with this God of theirs who couldn’t even answer my questions.
Now, as for reactions, I’ve had everything from “devil-worshiper!”, to “I’ll pray for you. (Sob, sob.)”
Oh well. I’m not going to hide who I am just to make everyone else more comfortable with their own little view of the world.
Oh, and there was the devout Christian who dumped me because, in his own words, “I think my children should have two Christian parents.” Wait a minute, buddy, we’ve only been dating two weeks, I’m only 19, and I don’t even know if I want to have kids!
Where I come from (Denmark), religion is no big deal in any respect. Church attendance is extremely low, creationism is a joke (not even a joke - you’d have to tell most Danes what it is), abortion is completely tolerated - faith is a private matter, attempting to convert people is very bad manners and a gross invasion of privacy.
Darn, I’m sure I had a point ? Oh yes: Obviously I’ve been chuckling to read this thread - and then it dawned on me: This is how the “serious” Danish believers must feel. I’m beginning to regret the jokes I’ve played on Jehovah’s witnesses, really. Being in the minority sucks. Being in the minority on something this important must really suck. If you people don’t stop this, I’ll have to start improving my manners towards religious people - don’t put me through that! (But the stories are fun.)
I haven’t gotten any truly shocking reactions, mostly just aggrieving. At the workplace when the topic of religion came up and I answered that I was an atheist, I got “Oh, I completely understand, what with all the troubles in this world,” as the response. “No, it has nothing to do with the troubles in this world. I just don’t think God exists,” I replied. I then got a sympathetic pat on the back, as if being an atheist was so very horrible.
A friend of mine who I’d known for about seven years had no clue I was an atheist until fairly recently, when I dropped some casual comment about never having a church wedding (I was trying to laugh off a mocking-but-with-a-serious-undercurrent marriage proposal at the time). So of course I get jumped on and he conferences in at 3AM his devout, rather arrogant younger brother to argue why atheists can’t be really moral. :rolleyes: I also got periodic IMs from him for a while slyly intending to cast doubt on my beliefs:
Him: “So why don’t panthers drive cars?” (Presumably asking why we are the only intelligent creatures.)
Me: “The government is reluctant to issue driver’s licenses to large cats.” (Ask a stupid question…)
In the same IM I got asked “why are you anti-God?” and he sneered at an abiogenesis hypotheses–prior to even reading the link I had given him in response to his request–with “Oh, that’s SO much more probable than God.” ::sigh:: Fortunately, he’s quit doing this sort of stuff, although I still doubt he’s done any reading on atheism, as I requested he do before he jumped on me again.
The first time I met another open atheist in real life was pretty cool, though. He was a co-worker and somehow the subject came up. He asked “You know what the worst thing about God is?” and I replied, “Uh…that he doesn’t exist?” and we both started cracking up. The Christian watching was pretty wide-eyed at this.
If we’re going to throw out other religious reactions, I’ve got a scary one too. When I was 5, before I was anything really, I was sent up to visit my Grnadmother. Now my Grandmother is a Christian Scientist, and certified loony. My parents follow the teachings of Meher Baba. Basicly similar to Buddhism/Hinduism/Zoroastrianism. Well, they put me on the plane, and sent me off to Idaho where she was located. The plane landed, and my aunt picked me up. My grandmother wouldn’t let me in the house unless she could baptise me. Claimed she wouldn’t let someone going to hell into the house. Refused to even speak with me. My aunt, being sensible, wouldn’t let her do it. Gotta love family.
Hey! I thought that I was the only one who’s sick of those godamn (pardon the pun) bumper stickers. I actually live in the same town as neutron star, and the amount of militant Catholics here is ridiculous. If I get accosted one more time by one of those Bible-thumpers, I’m gonna lose my mind!
You avoided the baptism, eh, oldscratch? I would bet $500 that my grandmother baptised my brother and me as babies while my mom was out. Mother thinks so too.
that’s great Gaudere. Like it or not, you are going to heaven. My parents never left me unsuprivised with any of my grandparents. I’m really amazed at how well my parents turned out, and they didn’t fuck me up (well, anymore than normal).
Heh. When I was living there, I was told that Methodists were people who couldn’t decide if they were Catholics or Baptists!
MaxTorque
Heh heh. I like this one!
My Freshman year of college, I was harrassed by Fundamentalists who told me I was going to Hell because I didn’t go around being a pain-in-the-ass to everyone like they did.
Sometimes, a smarty-pants type will ask me, “So, if you’re an atheist, what happens when you die?” I usually say, “I am going to be cremated, but if I wasn’t, my body would rot, just like your’s will. As for the spiritual-judgement day thing, if I’m right and there’s nothing after death, no one will know. If you’re right and there is, we’ll ALL know.” They ask me to prove there is no God. I say to them that it’s their jobs as good Christians to convert ME. This usually shuts them up.
that’s great Gaudere. Like it or not, you are going to heaven. My parents never left me unsuprivised with any of my grandparents. I’m really amazed at how well my parents turned out, and they didn’t fuck me up (well, anymore than normal).