Atheists; Your encounters with people who disapprove with your non-beliefs.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

Regarding the trees, I think it was generally, “Nature is so majestic, doesn’t it inspire awe in you,” or perhaps “How did all these amazing things get here if they weren’t poofed into existence by Jesus?”

I do have one acquaintance that I think is definitely going to keep her distance due to the religious gulf between us, but it’s more my faux pas than hers that sparked it. I knew she was planning on switching to homeschooling, and in a phone conversation, I asked how the preparations were going. She said, “I’m having trouble finding a science curriculum, because a lot of them teach the Big Bang, and we don’t believe in that.” I was just completely nonplussed, and I couldn’t think of a thing to say, so there was like 45 seconds of silence on the line. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but in the end maybe I’m not too unhappy if she took offense and doesn’t want to be friends.

62

I have three quick religion/atheism stories: two good, one bad.

The Good: I used to work as a character performer at Disney World. On one particular day while I was portraying Tigger, a group of Muslim women came up to have photos taken and whatnot. When we were finished, one of them came right up to my nose and quietly said “You make people happy every day. God bless you for what you do.” Easily the kindest and most powerful words I ever heard while working there, despite the fact that I was and am an atheist.

The Good: Also while working at Disney World, I was cast as a toy soldier in the Christmas Parade. There was quite a bit of downtime between shows, so I would bring a chess set to the parade center. I befriended one of the reindeer (we’ll call him JMan) when it became apparent that we were the two most skilled chess players in the cast. I don’t remember how it came up that I was an atheist, and I don’t remember why JMan had developed such a high opinion of me, but he pulled me aside after a show and tried to convince me that I should be using my gifts for the service of the lord or some such. This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill “Let’s all love Jesus” speeches, he specifically wanted me to worship God. At one point he said something like “I would be happy to leave my kid with you for an hour because I know he would be smarter than me afterwards.”

From that point onwards, the vast majority of our conversations were heated but good-natured arguments about Christianity/atheism and faith/reason. Some of them were actually quite thought-provoking, particularly because JMan had not been brainwashed since birth like so many devout worshipers. His entire life had been gang warfare and drug abuse, and he somehow found God on his own. At some point, he convinced me to read ''The Purpose-Driven Life", his favorite Christian book. I tried my best to get through it, but I just couldn’t stomach it, particular when the author started discussing the “fact” that the only true motivation was the Lord, similar to what some of the other posts here mentioned. I was repulsed, though it make me stop and think: if I don’t believe in an afterlife of any kind, why do I bother trying to live a “good” life? Why don’t I just do whatever I feel like doing and not give a fuck? I’m not necessarily talking about good/evil, but more generally about easy self-serving actions versus harder selfless actions. After some contemplation, the reasoning I came up with was that without an afterlife, the only way to have any sort of purpose in life is to live in such a way that your positive actions continue to filter outward even after you’ve died. I also realized that I had believed this subconsciously for some time, which explains why I enjoy editing Wikipedia so much. Overall, I’m definitely glad I spent time with JMan.

The Bad: For much of high school as well as my first year of college, I had a girlfriend who shall be referred to as Shortstack. She was raised by Jewish parents, but she didn’t care about her religion in the slightest. There were some traditions that she maintained just out of habit, such as not mixing meat with dairy, but the belief was just not there. Her parents were not very comfortable about us being together, particularly with the idea of us being alone together for more than 30 seconds, let alone any kind of horizontal playtime. Her father was the main douche, though the subject of religion (or lack thereof) never came up.

Shortstack and I have since parted ways, but continued to be good friends for quite some time. She recently started a relationship with a Jewish guy, and her parents were automatically crazy about him before they even met him. They even went so far as to allow him to sleep over for a weekend visit, something they would have never allowed with me, even after I had sat through literally dozens of Shabbat dinners with them and helped out with countless household projects. Shortstack herself has readily admitted that the abrupt change in disposition is due to the boyfriend being Jewish. I’m happy that she found someone she cares about, but it really bothers me that her parents’ opinions of her boyfriends is based almost entirely on religion. It’s especially frustrating since he father converted to Judaism so he could marry the mother! I can understand how people get caught up on religion when it has been jammed down their throats from day one, but this guy has the nerve to favor members of a belief system that he arbitrarily switched to? I just don’t get it. I really don’t get it at all.

63

I think it’s only come up in a work setting once or twice. The only time I really remember talking about it was with a former boss who insisted that I wasn’t actually an atheist, that they didn’t exist. We shut down that conversation pretty quickly.

That’s pretty much my pattern, if someone brings up religion, especially in a work setting, I just ask “Is this really the subject you want to talk about? Here at the office?” and that usually shuts things down. My friends know my lack of belief and generally leave me alone about it.

64

I can see that. He’s thinking, “I was dating a Jewish girl, so I converted (with all the fun-bits-chopping that that implies) to get to be with her; Now this clown is in the same situation as I was in and not doing that; Why won’t he do the right thing?”

It’s not entirely rational, but not entirely off the wall either.

65

I’ve never known anyone evangelical (in the actual evangelical sense, rather than the denomination) long enough that my atheism has ever come up. I’ve had people hand me religious tracts and invitations to religious ceremonies (other than the cultural ones - I mean ones where conversion was more the aim), and I’ve had students question me about religion and the lack of it, but it’s always been friendly and non-hostile.

66

I get where you’re coming from, but why should it be something that can be discussed? As long as everyone is doing it in a way that makes clear that the people involved are respected (note I didn’t say the beliefs) then I think it’s fine. Religion as a topic has come up a few times in my office, like recently between myself and three colleagues, two atheists, an agnostic and a muslim. It was a perfectly amicable discussion, and none of us felt the need to prove that our views were the right ones, we were just talking about a subject that affects a lot of people.

67

[utter hijack]That sounds like a fascinating job. Could we impose on you for a few stories, or a “Ask the former character performer at Disney World” thread? [/utter hijack]

68

The fact that it’s never come up isn’t equivalant to it never being addressed! All my life I’ve pretty much been assumed to be Christian, and it’s genuinely a shock sometimes when people find out I’m not any flavor of Christian.

In the past 5-10 years I have been freely admitting I’m atheist when people ask me. Mostly I get a polite “Oh?” Sometimes I answer “atheist Hindu” to head off further commentary at the pass. They usually ask “Really?” at which point I can say Hinduism is a religion that can be followed without believeing in God, and it’s my cultural identity, rather like Judaism - atheist Jews abound.

Occasionally I get people trying to convert me or who stop talking to me. Really, things have changed a lot since I gained confidence; now the way I say it seems to make it pretty clear i neither want nor need evangelism. I can’t remember the last time someone has said anything to my face, although a few years ago a coworker did send me an e-mail stating she hoped I’d find the light (Jesus).

69

You should have replied and said “I did, thanks! The switch was on the wall the whole time”.

70

So sayeth the man named Illuminatiprimus!

71

I second that motion.

72

It’s a reference to my position in a world-wide conspiracy and you know it!

:smiley:

73

Yup. Not done here.

74

My favorite was the woman (stranger in the checkout line) who got after me when I said “Bless you,” rather than “God bless you” after she sneezed, and then informed me that I must be “Satan’s playtoy” because I was wearing a short-ish skirt. Unfortunately, I was so shocked at that point, I could only stand there with my jaw on the ground.

My in-laws are just fun to mess with. I’m 99% sure that most of them can’t read, so I’m about 100% sure they haven’t read the bible they’re so fond of thumping. Let’s see, they informed me that not changing my name upon marriage was “against the bible,” and when I pointed out that surnames as we know them weren’t really in play in biblical times, pointed to Mary Magdalen as an example. Good times.

My mom just tries to ignore it, as any good WASP does for anything unpleasant.

75

In high school, I was the only known atheist in a school of southern baptists. Occasionally, people would give me crap about it. I was a lot more interested in fighting about it back then. At one point a kid asked me “Well, where do you think you came from?” I asked him “Where did God come from?” and he answered, as if I were the dumbass, “From God’s mother.”

Once I was walking along and was accosted by a homeless man who was giving me a pitch about Jesus wanting me to buy him a sandwhich. He wanted me to follow him into an alley to talk about it. I simply said that I didn’t believe in God, to which he replied, “What are you, a Mormon?” He walked away, stunned.

76

It’s pretty common here in the South. They love em some Jesus around here, and they aren’t shy about mentioning it. Religion, and particularly Christian religion is pretty much the default assumption.

77

For the record, I have no problem playing along when I’m in the company of Christians. If someone says, ‘‘God bless you,’’ I say thank you. Sometimes I even say, ‘‘You too.’’ I don’t care if some person I rarely talk to thinks I’m a Christian.

78

This is true. “Where do you go to church?” is a very common ice-breaker in Memphis.

79

I go to the Church of the Poisoned Mind!

80

That’s how I got thrown out of Sunday School. :smiley:

(OK, maybe not technically thrown out, but it was around that time that my parents grudgingly agreed that perhaps Sunday School and I weren’t a good fit).