I have friends even now who are surprised when they find out I have religious beliefs. I grew up Catholic and abandoned that Church a long time ago, but I still have belief in a higher power and occasionally pray. I have, however, enough questions about my own beliefs and enough respect for the beliefs or non-beliefs of others that I never try to shove my opinion down anyone else’s throat. Almost all of my friends are either atheists or agnostic; the topic just doesn’t come up much.
But to answer the OP, I don’t feel I have any reason to hide my beliefs. Either you’re OK with my having my opinion, or you aren’t. I’m still the same person you knew before you found out. I don’t see it as being a big deal.
I don’t go around button-holing people and asking them if they’ve lost Jesus, but I don’t hide my (lack of) beliefs, either. Of course I openly engage in all sorts of discussions on this board. In real life, I also have some bumper stickers on my car; one says “Your friendly neighborhood atheist” and the other one says “One nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.
(Actually, while I feel no problem at all with being an atheist around here, I’m a little hesitant to discuss having bumper stickers on my car on this board. There seems to be a fairly vocal viewpoint here that bumper stickers and/or public expressions of religious belief–or the lack thereof–are stupid or shallow.)
I have those stickers on my car in response to the still too-widespread attitude that atheists are all America-hating Communists (I mean, OK, some of us are, but hardly all of us); that we’re immoral; or that we worship Satan :rolleyes:. I don’t expect to convert anyone into giving up their religion; I’m just trying to do my part to dispel the attitudes that lead too many Americans to tell pollsters that, sure, they’d vote for a Catholic or a Mormon or a Jew for President (or a black person, a woman, or a homosexual), but they’d never vote for an atheist…Atheists being presumptively un-American or abnormal (that is, defective, not merely different from the majority in their religious beliefs).
The bumper stickers have led to a tract or handwritten note on the windshield a couple of times; I’ve also had two or three polite discussions in parking lots about “well, what do atheists, believe in, anyway?”, which I think may have been genuinely productive of the above goals, at least with those individual people.
No one’s ever offered me violence over them, nor vandalized my car (and I’ve driven to all sorts of places in the “Bible belt”), although I’ve had more than one person say they liked my bumper stickers but would be afraid to have them on their car.
Except that he has to confess his sins and pledge to try to sin no more, and he’s already in a state of mortal sin by not going to Mass at all. He also doesn’t believe in most of the tenets of the religion. What truth is there behind any pledge he makes to follow the religion? Yeah, he can probably go through the motions and get a Catholic ceremony, but it’s hard to see why it’s meaningful to him.
I don’t discuss my atheism (what is there to discuss?), but I don’t hide it, either. There’s a good chance that if a discussion of religion comes up, it’s because I’m lamenting some horrific act done in the name of religion somewhere, or as a tangential discussion to a political issue, like SSM or foreign policy.
Because there are two components to any religion- a religious belief/practice component, and a cultural component. The cultural traditions associated with a religion can still be attractive to someone who does not follow the beliefs or practices mandated by the religion. There’s a really good example of this around this time of year- lots of people who don’t go to church or believe in the tenets of Christianity still enjoy celebrating Christmas.
There’s more to a Catholic wedding than making a pledge to follow Catholicism. There are also traditions about music, rituals like the unity candle, readings, the setting of the church, and so on- things that people who don’t believe in Catholic teachings might like to have at their wedding.
I do not hide my Christianity and in a lot of ways it’s fairly apparent.
That said I am not a bible-thumper or a fundie.
I am happy to talk about it and am open to questions and discussion but do not try and hammer my beliefs into each and every person I come into contact with.
When I’m with other agnostics/atheiests we talk about lots of things but rarely beliefs. When I’m around believers they seem to assume everyone is and once again nothing to talk about. Occasionly I turn down an invitation to go to church, but no one has ever asked me why not.
While I identify myself as atheist in most of these types of discussion, I’m not really atheist… I’m more an irreligious agnostic. I don’t know there’s no God any more than I know there is one. Confusing that even more, I don’t really care whether there’s a God or not. If there is a God, I don’t know whether any religion has His/Her attributes correct or whether their religious laws are correct. Even if some religion got it right, how am I to know which one it is.
I just try to live life in a way that is comfortable to me and act in a way that I feel is moral.
I don’t hide my feelings, but I don’t have any reason to talk about them. When I get someone preaching to me, I don’t tell them that I don’t believe in their IPU, I just tell them that I’m not interested in having that conversation. I don’t think about God or the lack of God, He/She/whatever is not something I focus on.
I usually don’t mention it unless someone brings it up to me specifically, mostly because I dislike it when religious people (or non-religious people) feel the need to be on a soapbox all the time, but I will openly discuss my atheist beliefs with anyone. It’s nothing to hide, but I don’t want religion shoved in my face, so I wouldn’t shove my non-religion in the face of others…
Yet another lapsed Catholic here. I still believe in a Higher Power though and I consider myself “ethnically” Catholic as someone of Polish lineage and who enjoys the traditions for the sake of tradition and knowing its the same things my family has done for generations – but not because I believe God demands them or that God even worries about them. My wife is, what she calls, “Folk Catholic” which is a blend of Catholicism and South American indigenous beliefs (she’s from there). But we just call ourselves “Catholic” if it comes up because it’s just easier that way.
I don’t hide it in that, if something wacky happened at church (we make it once a month), I wouldn’t hesitate to talk about it with friends or co-workers. And I make occassional jokes during Lent about how it’s the only time of year I eat McD’s Fillet-o-Fish. But my frame of mind isn’t one where I feel any need to bring the issue up cold.
I did not want to get into repentance, confession, penance, and redemption. Too many non-Catholic thinks it’s just a scam, so we can have fun and still get into heaven.
As for the coworker not believing in some (refer to the OP) tenets of Catholism, that’s why I mentioned papal infallibility. No-one except Unitarian-Universalists agrees with all the tenets of their religion (or political party or company’s policies); as long as the pope has not invoke papal infallibility on an issue, Catholics, just like very one else, are free to disagree with TPTB.
To really debate this we would need to know in what tenets the coworker no longer believes. Celibacy for priests? That’s of relatively recent date, is not exclusive to Catholism, and lots of people disagree with it. The divinity of Jesus? That’s probably a deal-breaker, but I really am not up on current Catholic doctrine.
I am a lapsed Catholic. The reason we refer to ourselves as Catholic is because we were baptized and confirmed. After that we can be good, bad, or indifferent Catholics, but unless we are excommunicated, we are still Catholic.
I let it be known if asked that “I’m not religious” and don’t attend church, but I’m not an overt atheist. I don’t get into religious discussions and generally just sort of smile and remain silent if people around talk about how wonderful Jesus was to give them that parking space this morning or whatever.
I really hate that; really. Why in the name of all that means anything at all would Jesus allow people to slaughter each other in the name of anything, including God, and still give one right royal damn about where you park your car?
(That’s the kind of thing one prays to saints for.)
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I am a lapsed Baptist who no longer attends services but is thinking of going to a Quaker meeting someday. I also visit the Christian Agnostic website for the daily readings.
I don't hide it but I don't make an issue of it either. My brother's family is really into those Left Behind books ( :rolleyes: ) and I just don't want to get into it with them.
