# My best friend/coworker is afraid to out me. . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-best-friend-coworker-is-afraid-to-out-me/475973>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 6, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-best-friend-coworker-is-afraid-to-out-me/475973 "2008-12-06T07:23:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-best-friend-coworker-is-afraid-to-out-me/475973/121 "2008-12-10T18:13:30Z")

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> [@1010011010](#):
>
> I’d guess the distinction would be between being religious, nonreligious, and antireligious. With “I’m atheist.” tending towards antireligion.

Here you go - linked twice already (not counting my preceding post): [Not all atheists are anti-religion.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=496590)

The construct “anti-religion” by definition means “in direct opposition to religion”, and to extend it further, could be seen to mean “in support of the deconstruction of religion”. Neither of these are implied by “atheist”, which simply means “A person who does not believe in deities.”

Non-belief \<\> direct opposition. A Christian may not believe in Vishnu, but that does not mean he/or she is out to destroy Hinduism. Why should non-belief in all deities mean I am out to directly oppose all religion?

And if the answer is, “it shouldn’t, but people think it does because of the vocal minority,” well then, is it ok if I assume that if someone says “I’m Christian”, they share the same worldview as the [Westboro Baptist Church](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church)?

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