# Atheists; Your encounters with people who disapprove with your non-beliefs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670 "2011-09-26T17:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/181 "2012-09-02T15:34:34Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > I was at long john silvers with in-laws and they all joined hands to pray. I declined, so they asked me to leave the table until they were finished. I started eating and said, “Pray all you want, it doesn’t bother me.” I ate, they prayed, and it was never discussed…at least with me. If, in the unlikely liklihood that would happen to me, I’d have left the twisted little group of bead-throwers and gone home. It would be even better if we had all gone to the restaurant in my car. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/182 "2012-09-02T16:22:41Z")
The last couple of times it has come up: 1. Get the usual “you’re not really an atheist…” nonsense. 2. Got invited to go to their church and just see it. They seem to think I’ll have a Jake Blues moment and see the light if I attend. I declined. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/183 "2012-09-02T17:05:10Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > I was at long john silvers with in-laws and they all joined hands to pray. I declined, so they asked me to leave the table until they were finished. I started eating and said, “Pray all you want, it doesn’t bother me.” I ate, they prayed, and it was never discussed…at least with me. I probably would have just joined hands out of respect. It’s no big deal to me. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/184 "2012-09-02T17:52:29Z")
About the prayer thing, my wife and I were reflecting on the double standard- if youre the only atheist (my wife isnt, but shes not the whole praying in public type) you’re kind of obligated to participate. But if there’s one churchy person in the group, they probably will pray, and ask others to participate. I’d like to see the one atheist who is so crass as to pull this on a bunch of churchy folks- try to obligate everyone to NOT pray. In my experience, nonreligious people tend to be more considerate about it. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/185 "2012-09-02T20:24:32Z")
> [@Sekigahara](#): > > We’re going to have to start using the churches for storage I think. They take up a lot of space for nothing. Copenhagen, where I live, has that problem. They’ve started closing plenty of empty, unused churches – and now the question is what to use 'em for instead. The empty buildings, I mean. The general consensus amongst the Danes seems to be: Supermarkets OK, mosques no no no no no. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/186 "2012-09-03T06:58:42Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Copenhagen, where I live, has that problem. They’ve started closing plenty of empty, unused churches – and now the question is what to use 'em for instead. The empty buildings, I mean. The general consensus amongst the Danes seems to be: Supermarkets OK, mosques no no no no no. In the UK they’ve been put to great use as cool apartment conversions. I lived in one for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/187 "2012-09-03T12:38:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I probably would have just joined hands out of respect. It’s no big deal to me. That’s a different dilemma for me. I don’t mind sitting silently during grace, but everybody holding hands around the table right before eating is too germy for me. Kind of awkward to get up and go wash. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/188 "2012-09-03T20:08:43Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I probably would have just joined hands out of respect. It’s no big deal to me. And I thought out of respect for me they could have just skipped it. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/189 "2012-09-05T15:56:45Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > And I should be worried about an unholy thing? 😃 Serious, though, I don’t entirely approve of the practice of raising trees just to cut them down every year and stick them in your living room. I swear to you however, I’ve never ever said anything to anybody, I just enjoy them in other people’s house. I made my old tree last at least six years. Last year I bought a plastic pre-lighted Christmas tree and will probably make that last the same amount. I can’t stand cleaning up pine needles everywhere and it’s bloody cold when it comes time to get rid of it. Not to mention that lovely smell of cat pee when the tree warms up. Not all of us can get Balsam Firs… ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/190 "2012-11-16T21:30:14Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You nailed it! “Awful flat out here, eh?” “You mean topographically?” ---
**Author:** ![Lalosantillana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@Lalosantillana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lalosantillana)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/191 "2012-11-16T21:50:48Z")
Interesting subject. im not atheists because i believe some unknow force sparked the big bang that force is God. i dont know how he looks, or what is our porpuse in its eyes. i can relate to this threat, because i do not believe in any religion that were created thousands of years ago by a bunch of ignorant and fanatic people. anyways. all my best friends are Catholics and we talked about this often, but they accept my believes. i also have a christian friend whose family use to talked to me about god and how we are supposed to devote our lives to serve him. after i told them what i believed, lets just say that was the last time i ever hang out with them. my friend does not invite me to their house anymore. we do not speak of the reason why, but it is not hard to guess. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/192 "2012-11-16T23:26:54Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > We have an opportunity for a full on experiment. I just went to my Facebook page for the first time in a couple of weeks, and this woman who I worked with a decade ago, who truthfully, I can’t even remember, left a message on my wall: > > “Are you really an atheist?” > > I took a peek at her page and the first entry is: “THE GREATEST THREAT TO MEDICARE IS OBAMA CARE” followed by the whole fucking litany of right-wing glurge and catch phrases – god not allowed in schools – don’t tax the working man and give it to deadbeats – drooling over Christy, Romney, Ryan, the holy trinity, a picture of Charlton Fucking Heston, ferchrissakes … ad nauseum. > > My first inclination is to defriend this freakshow immediately, but I’m wondering what will happen if I respond simply with, “yes.” You need to hit meme generator. Buddy Jesus saying “Denying healthcare to the poor? That totally sounds like my kind of shit!” should go down a treat. ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/193 "2012-11-16T23:47:58Z")
Living as an atheist in a predominantly Muslim country, I don’t even want to begin with. I never dare to admit the fact that I don’t believe it. My third-world-country nationality, stuttering, and poorness just reminds me of the fact that how fucked-up my life is. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/194 "2012-11-17T00:14:24Z")
I got my first Chick Tracts yesterday, whoohooo! One was dorky, something about how every revolution is just a way for someone new to take power. Which is true, to a point. Not even sure just how they squished religion into that. The other was very adamant that ‘good works will not get you into heaven, only the belief in JC’, and then proceeded to spend the entire tract saying all these religions are bad. I mean, they all believe in JC, so…wtf? That one made no sense at all. Are they supposed to? Oh, and I got lucky growing up, and had mild Christian influences, but church wasn’t oppressing and we were allowed to decline going at age 13, so no biggie. My folks stopped going the day we did. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/195 "2012-11-17T03:44:23Z")
I’m going to chime in and agree that it’s a non-issue in Canada. I think the only time I’ve ever met disapproval with regards to religion was years and years ago when I was talking to a classmate who’d moved from the States. I don’t remember how it started but she asked me what religion I was and I shrugged and told her I didn’t have one. I still remember her clutching her cross necklace and looking at me like I was crazy. At some point, she came over to my house and saw the ancestral alter my grandmother had set up and there was a “Ah ha! Your family’s Buddhist!” gotcha moment, but I still shrugged and said it was more a cultural thing than a spiritual thing that my grandmother liked to have around. I’m still not sure whether grandma understands the difference between Buddha and Guanyin. The friend has mellowed out a lot since then about people having to belong to a religion, no doubt after meeting a lot of apathetic Canadians, but I think it’s still a struggle for her to understand that a lot of Canadians don’t tie their identity to religion or politics. _shrug_ That’s just how it is here. In fact, I was shocked (shocked!!!) to learn that my mother went to a Catholic school. I never heard a peep about Jesus’s teachings growing up. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/196 "2012-11-17T04:12:54Z")
My religiosity very rarely comes up in normal conversation, but whenever it does and some rude bastard asks me how I could possibly be an atheist, I tell them “I’m terrified of worshiping the wrong god! How do you know you’ve picked the right one?” ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/197 "2012-11-17T05:00:43Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Silly, everyone knows that Satan holds Catholic churches up. My SIL insists that the Catholic Church is, in fact, the Whore of Babylon. ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/198 "2012-11-17T06:29:10Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > Living as an atheist in a predominantly Muslim country, I don’t even want to begin with. I never dare to admit the fact that I don’t believe it. > > My third-world-country nationality, stuttering, and poorness just reminds me of the fact that how fucked-up my life is. Everyone’s life is fucked up, at least in their own head. Try to find whatever pleasure you can anyway. If your culture is intensely religious to the point where you can be bodily harmed by claiming there is no god, then it’s only self-preservation to not bring it up. Hopefully you find common souls somewhere in your life to share time with. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/199 "2012-11-17T08:36:53Z")
As an atheist, I don’t believe in souls either. ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670/200 "2012-11-17T13:01:35Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > As an atheist, I don’t believe in souls either. please. the was the use of the term “common soul” meaning “people who think alike” obviously, not the spiritual “soul.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-your-encounters-with-people-who-disapprove-with-your-non-beliefs/597670.md?page=9)