I don’t think I have any atheist friends, come to think of it. Most are mainstream Christian types - not very involved in their faith. However, my bestest friend is kind of a hardcore evangelical Christian. To the point that she doesn’t believe in female clergy, because someone (presumably Paul) in the bible says it’s wrong. Yet, I say “kind of” because she is more one of the “new evangelicals” who are young, hip, and somewhat liberal. We don’t really talk religion, but on everything else we are largely sympatico. Except for her faith in the bible, she tends to use reason and skepticism in her approach to the world. She’s not political or rabid in her belief that abortion and homosexuality are wrong, and has an overriding empathy for others.
My dad continues to attend Catholic mass every Sunday. I suspect it’s more due to tradition than anything, and he doesn’t talk about religion at all, so it’s not an issue.
Both my parents sometimes tend to be callous toward the poor, especially the Spanish-speaking, dark-complected flavor. But it seems to be more naivete about what hard work and personal responsibility can actually achieve, combined with a racially homogeneous upbringing, than any malice. I call them on egregious examples, and they don’t get nasty about it or anything.
I dated a girl whose brother and sister-in-law were like Mulder and Scully. She was the “align your Chakras for good health!” who practiced her own version of Reiki which is pretty much like being a Jedi and using the Force to heal people. He was the uber-cynic. He could out-skeptic anyone here on the boards.
I’m agnostic. SWMBO is in-the-vein Catholic. We have a rotating dinner monthly between us and some other couples who are friends of hers from church. One of them is so liberal that he’s gone past left field and is in the bullpen. We manage to have a good time together, although when politics raises its ugly head (and it does, it does), things tend to get a little spirited. And when they go wandering off into the ethereal realms of religion, I just start to whistle softly to myself.
My extended family on my dad’s side doesn’t believe in evolution, doesn’t think catholics are “real Christians,” considers Fox the only news source, etc. I’d like to say we don’t ever discuss religion and politics, but they *love *to discuss religion and politics. It usually ends up being me or my liberal aunt vs. 10 or so very LOUD family members.
Every time I visit, I tell myself this is the time I won’t be drawn into a political/religious discussion. I fail every, single time.
But things may be changing. Until recently, it was never a big deal. We had our discussions/fights and no one got their feelings hurt. Then a cousin of mine went into the ministry and became even more extreme. He’s offended several family members (not me since I’m used to it) by telling them they’re going to hell because they don’t agree with every tiny detail of his philosophy. So there may be a moratorium on political/religious discussions at future get togethers.
Well I’m a fiscally conservative, socially Libertarian Evangelical Protestant. My BFF is a socially and fiscally liberal Presbyterian. So there’s that.
My father just had eye surgery yesterday so I called to see if everything went well. Fox News loving mom answered the phone and let me know everything was fine. But not before telling me how the doctor’s office was soooo crowded and the reason for this was because people were hurring in to get taken care of before the big HCR changes went into effect and then nobody would be able to get the procedures they needed :rolleyes:.
Oh mom! Really?
I’m an agnostic atheist with a mostly naturalist view of the world. My mom is a homeopathy-taking, drum-circle-leading believer in the omnibenevolence of the ‘Universal Source’.
We’ve made peace by not talking about anything relating to science or health.
I’m a semi-conservative Christian and my best friend is a liberal agnostic. Doesn’t phase me. We may not agree on much politically but she’s intelligent and a good person and she’s definitely not one of these liberals that just parrots whatever CNN tells them, she actually puts thought into her views. I’d do anything for her.
I have always loved the line " Catholics are not real Christians." What are they then, plastic?
Yanno, the next time the discussion gets heated and everyone’s underwear is getting bunched, " I’m just throwing out a stoner line of " But how do we all feel, man." and then run away.
I am an atheist who does not subscribe to any political party other than None of the Above or It’s All Nonsense. I think my Political Party has been my entire life Comedy. When I listen to a speech by some bigwig, I hear everything differently and giggle or smirk. This, as you can imagine, can drive the True Beleiving Republicans more nuts than they are. If I know any Democrats, then they are so far in the Closet they are in Narnia. I know more Liberals than Dems.
I am of a firm belief to never discuss religion, politics, abortion, toilet paper over/under or the economy in mixed or unmixed company. I don’t even discuss it with myself, I am that hard fast on this rule. I don’t want to hurt my own feelings.
One of my best friends can be much more conservative than me on fiscal matters. We get along great and have rousing discussions. Oftentimes we agree on the basic goal (“We as a country should spend less”) but disagree on how to get there.
Another friend is hard, hard right-wing. As long as we remember up front that we’re just two guys talking it’s all good, but he doubtless thinks my political views are as loony as I think his are.
One of my oldest and best friends is incredibly smart and was even pre-med at one point. A few years ago he let his accupuncturist start doing “applied kinesiology” to tell him what he’s allergic to. This is one of the most rational, clear-headed guys I know but he is sure this quackery “works” and his family (wife plus two young kids) are into it. Suffice it to say they are all constantly running around sick and being told that he’s allergic to “radiation” (that’s an actual example) doesn’t fix anything, go figure. Whenever he starts talking about this stuff I have to make a conscious effort to keep my head from exploding.
My wife and I are liberal progressive Christians. When you talk to most of our friends at church, they have “progressive” beliefs, but have bought into the Democrat=Evil/Obama=Evil/Republicans-are-the-only-true-Christian line from Fox News. So have my dad and step mom.
And this frustrates us to no end. None of these people can explain why they’re “conservative” other than the fact that Obama is a marxist and Democrats love abortion.
My dad and I have agreed not to discuss politics AT ALL anymore, but yet he continues to post political shit on Facebook, which I have chosen to deal with by taking him off my feed. I have just stopped posting anything political.
My dad, for the record, when he lived in Michigan was a left-leaning independent. He has now lived in South Carolina for the past 15 years, and watches nothing but Fox News. I am amazed how far he has swung politically, and the only way I found out about his shift to the right was because of Facebook. We actually used to enjoy having political and civics discussions when I was a teen, because we would talk about Dem and Rep politicians with respect and facts. He would comment on every politician based on their actions or words, not their party affiliation. Now he’s just become a All-Democrat-Hate Machine. I miss being able to talk politics with my dad.
I’m an atheist. My dad is an antitheist. It’s not a big deal, I suppose, but I’m surprised at how much it bothers me when he posts anti-religious shit on Facebook. It’s not like he’s dissing my own beliefs or anything, but I find it unpleasant.
It’s to be expected that my grandparents are more conservative on most things than I am. That goes for my grandfather in particular. He used to send a lot of annoying emails about it, but eventually we put a stop to that through a combination of telling him to stop and poking holes in the emails when they said things that were factually wrong and stupid. We don’t talk politics very much.
One of my younger brothers is a Communist. I find most of his views didactic and their goals are a mix of unrealistic and unattainable. He does understands his issues a lot better now than he did when he got into it. So we don’t talk about that stuff very much. He does tell me about the arguments between different chapters once in a while and those can be pretty funny. It seems Monty Python had it right with The Judean People’s Front vs. The People’s Front of Judea. These people agree on almost everything, but they can’t get anything done because of incredibly minor differences that they can’t explain to outsiders. These people take over the world even if they put those issues aside, but it’s funny that they squabble over this stuff as if the other stuff - convincing millions of people, taking back the means of production - is the easy part. And my brother does acknowledge the absurdity of a lot of that stuff even though he participates in some of it.
Two of my female friends from high school are married to Republicans. I’m not that close with the husbands but it’s not that hard to find common ground. In New York, most of the Republicans are not that conservative, at least on social issues. And you don’t have to be a Republican to be annoyed by things like bureaucracy or government inefficiency.
Not in my family. We’re actually getting progressively more conservative. My great-grandparents were communists, my bubbe is a mere socialist, my dad is, I think, a Democrat, and I once had the temerity to suggest that George W. Bush might not actually be actively evil (which earned me a scathing look from my mother).
I wish I could say that I loved my bubbe despite the fact that she thinks Republicans are evil and 99.5% of the world’s population is anti-Semitic and therefore out to get her, personally (she once accused my dad - who’s her son - of being an anti-Semite), but she’s really not done very much in her life to make herself particularly lovable. Oh, family.
I have Republican friends, though! Like…four of them! We just don’t talk about politics. (This is a lie. If I were good, we wouldn’t talk about politics. Instead I end up having screaming matches with them on Facebook, tool of the devil.)
I have all kinds of friends and family that differ from me in religion and politics. It doesn’t faze me a bit and it doesn’t bother them that I know of.
We don’t usually discuss religion and politics as those are personal. So I would have to say I come from a very diverse family that does not discuss hot button topics. I have friends that are all over the map too and we get along well.
I think the trick is to save the right topic for the right friend or relative. My Mom I can talk to about anything. Some friends are into things I am not so we discuss other things.
We are all different but can meet on common ground.
I don’t mean to imply that’s universally true, I just think it’s pretty typical. And come to think of it, I’ve been told there were some socialists a few generations back in my family.
The guy I work with is a big Beck and Limbaugh fan. I generally agree with him politically, but can’t stand those bags of hot air.
My family and my girlfriend’s family are both religious, not me. As long as they don’t press me on the issue everything will be fine. I don’t talk about religion one way or another. If a religious comment is made I just nod and smile. And I don’t mind waiting when somebody wants to say grace before a meal.
There’s a branch of my family that is some kind of fundie religious, and racist but they are also fun to hang around with as long as the conversation stays away from those topics.
