The Bible Belt you're wearing is cutting off the circulation to your brain.

The BBQ Pit
1

… Assfaces.

I am “not from around here,” the not-so-subtle term the more closed-minded of Texans and Southerners like to use to disguise their Yankee-hating. Where I was raised, there are certain things one does not discuss in public: sex, politics, and religion. You do not discuss these things at least partly because they tend to lead to discord, which is not something one particularly wants in one’s ordinary social discourse. Come to find out that down here, religion is not only not taboo, it is apparently everyone’s favorite topic of discussion.

I don’t have religion. I don’t want religion. I don’t care if you have it, more power to you if you worship a god and that fulfills your life. I do not nor am I interested in learning how to. Thanks anyway, b’bye. Can we please change the subject now?

I suppose part of the reason it’s ok to discuss religion down here is that, apparently, everyone is on the same page. Everyone worships “God” by that name, everyone reads the Bible, and everyone practices one or another subset of Christianity. You aren’t asked “What religion are you,” but “What do you claim,” which seems to mean"which denomination are you." Every single one of my coworkers is Christian, and they talk about it all the time.

This is starting to make me feel oppressed. This is a new feeling for me - religion, as I said, never came up back home for me to discover whether or not I was the only atheist in my acquaintance - and I don’t particularly like it.

I could deal with it if they didn’t start moving from the “Let’s talk about how much we love Jesus” part of religious discussion and into the “Let’s talk about how much we hate people who don’t love Jesus” part of religious discussion. I go to work in order to complete my job and earn a paycheck. I do not go to work in order to listen to my coworkers talk about how much they hate gay people because they are an abomination before the Lord and God talks about how much he hates them in His Book and how homosexuality is the sort of thing you turn to when you don’t have a loving relationship with God, which is, by the way, also the reason that so many marriages fail - it’s all because of atheism, because marriage is impossible if you don’t spend every Sunday at church together staring at a cross with a fake dead guy on it. Did you also know that atheists are the reason this country is going to pot and the leading percentage of people on welfare and other public assistance and a thousand times more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol and commit crimes because they don’t know the love of God which makes everyone perfect?

And then they turn to me and ask “What do you claim?” To which I answer “Nothing at all, and I’m doing quite well without a soul, thank you.” And they have no answer, and go right back to discussing how much they hate gays.

Is there anyplace with a warm climate, mild winters and readily-available Dr Pepper that isn’t in the Bible Belt? Because I’ve only been here for three months and I’m already just about ready to shove that buckle right down their ever-loving throats.

2

California.

3

Generalizations will never get you anywhere.

4

I suggest you buy some headphones for work. That way, you can more easily ignore them. If they ask you what you’re listening to, you can give the same answer I do: the Devil’s music. Then you flash them the devil horns.

I can almost guarantee they won’t bother you anymore after that.

5

If I worked the day shift, it wouldn’t matter; the folks in question only get chatty when it’s late and there are few customers. But no, I work the night shift, and as the nature of my work means I can’t wear headphones, I simply move to the other side of the place whenever the workflow allows.

I know there are tons of nice people who are not the type to rip on gays and atheists and anyone else who disagrees with them out there - Christian or not, decency knows no religious boundaries. I just have the misfortune of not working anywhere near those people.

6

Try moving to Saudi Arabia where having a bible is a crime. Then you won’t be bothered at all…of course… once you accept Islam.

7

… Riiiiiiiiiiight.

Look, I don’t care that they’re Christians, I care that they like to spend their free time yapping on ignorantly about how evil other people are because they don’t accept the Christian god and start fucking the opposite sex. Capisce?

8

It sounds to me as if you are working in a legally defined “hostile environment.” The problem is, even if you sue the bastards, you’ll have to leave town. The law’s the law, but when the whole town is against you. . . Why would you choose Texas anyway? I know living is relatively cheap there, but it’s full of, you know, Texans. Now don’t get me wrong, I have relatives who are Texans, and I know some very nice Texans. But when you get a whole jobsite (to say nothing of town and state) full of them and you’re an atheist you can pretty much expect to be lonely or harrassed (probably both). You may avail yourself of the law, but you won’t make life any easier for yourself by doing so.

From your website I get that you are living in the metropolis of Longview, near to such other thriving centers as Gladewater and Tyler, and the proud possessor of a Stroh brewery (and Lone Star, too, right?). You might at least console yourself with an ice cold one…or six after work and forget the religious drubbing you took during the day. Not much help am I? :slight_smile:

9

I feel ya racinchikki…

But have ya accepted Jaysus Kee-rist as your personal Savior?

waits with big googly eyes

10

Well what do you expect working at an office retail outlet? You certainly wouldn’t be discussing the latest advances in physics. And don’t be usin them fancy words like CAPISCE aroun here cause we just 'ill think your cussin! :wink:

11

So, your solution to her problems with religious intolerance is to move to a country where they’re even more religiously intolerant? I mean, as far as spastic, knee-jerk reactionary suggestions go, wouldn’t Communist (and atheistic) China make more sense, given the specific complaint?

12

Miller go buy a sense of humor somewhere.

13

Next time they ask you, say " I don’t talk about religion in public, it’s tacky."

14

My brother-in-law told me you can always tell people who don’t go to church, they have no morals.

He’s a racist, a homophobe and a child abuser.

Go figure.

15

I have no real advice for you i’m afraid but I have to admit that it sounds like a freaky situation. I have never encountered that amount of religious fervour in my life and being that I am the devil incarnate i’d soon be up shit creek without a paddle. Move.

16

move to Austin.

17

Thanks for reminding me why I should stay in Southern California for the next forty years or so. Governor Schwarzenegger can’t be half as annoying as these folks you describe. :smiley:

18

One of whom is her fiancé. IIRC that is/was the reason for the move from NYState. It is muchly the same reason I moved from the “religious but not overly so” confines of the DC area to the “religious, but not overly so unless you count religious saturation” confines of SWVA.

Fortunately for me, those with whom I associate, whether by choice or due to proximity, have mostly figured out that there’s no point in discussing religion with me.

BTW, Odinoneeye, you can add to your list a man who helped to found a church AND a school. He was also a pedophile and some other fun stuff. Email’s in the profile if you want more info … no need to further hijack this thread:)

19

racinchikki, Hawaii meets your specs, but it’s pretty expensive. You could try pointing out to your coworkers that gossip and malice are also sins, although they may deny that they’re gossiping or being malicious. That or ask why, if religion is so important to marriage, the divorce rate is highest in the Bible Belt (I’m assuming that’s not a piece of “common knowledge” which turns out to be false). For what it’s worth, that kind of talk tends to either bore me, bother me, tempt me to sin (malice, again), or all 3, and I am a Christian. You’re welcome to use that, too.

CJ

20

The bible, best collection of short stories ever written, most useless too. Unless you used that blank first or second page as a paper for a big doobie way back when.

There is not much that you can do racinchikki, they’ve got they’re beliefs and you’ve got yours. About the spouting off about “how much we hate people who love jesus” stuff, tolerate it, you could be the one that makes them realise that not all atheists eat babies, get divorced and fuck their cat…just the fun ones.

If that doesn’t help, when they start talking about god maybe you could tell them why you don’t believe all that stuff, inform them that the “good Book” preaches tolerance, reference it back to the bible (cause if it’s in the bible it’s gotta be right). If they say it “it also says this about poofs” tell them it’s a book full of juxtapositions, contradictions and inacuracies then, reference it back to the bible. So and so on until they won’t mention religion around you for fear of being proven to be ignorant.

It’s a long fight but worth it. I reckon religion is the curse of humankind personally.