What's on your mind today?

[Sandra Craft]

^^^  Oh, YUM

[Icarus]

Double yum.  Mags, can Sandy and I come to your house for dinner?

[Sandra Craft]

Double yum.  Mags, can Sandy and I come to your house for dinner?

Yes please.

[Magdalena]

Double yum.  Mags, can Sandy and I come to your house for dinner?

Yes please.

That would be nice, wouldn't it? 

[Biggus Dickus]

Double yum.  Mags, can Sandy and I come to your house for dinner?

Yes please.

That would be nice, wouldn't it? 

That would be nice. Can I come as well I love fresh oysters?  (Not sure how good of a cook Mags is though, as she can't even make a decent Tamale!)

[Magdalena]

... (Not sure how good of a cook Mags is though, as she can't even make a decent Tamale!)

[xSilverPhinx]

So today at the hospital the topic of religion came up.

"I'm Catholic, when I was younger I was a real Jesus freak, but nowadays I only go to mass every now and then with my family."

"I'm also Catholic, and was baptised at (insert church name here)"

They then turned to face me.

"What's your religious affiliation?" one of them asked, innocently.

"Oh, I'm an atheist," I replied.

The looks I got.  It was as if they were thinking, oh, she's one of those. I feel so bad for her.

Don't feel bad for me, I thought. I'm not one of herd, that's true, but don't feel bad for me because I don't believe in your fairy tales.

[Hooch761]

   Silver: I can identify with you regarding the looks you get when you tell some people your not affiliated with any religion.

When I was about to leave the states for my first overseas deployment I had to have new dog tags made. Well, on every set of dog tags they have a space for your religious affiliation. I had mine made out to say "no religious preference".  Which is basically saying your an atheist.

When mine came in our Chaplin came to me and asked me why I chose to have that put on my tags? I told him that I don't believe in any gods. He then asked me "how do you know for sure there isn't a god?" I said "well chaplin, I really don't know for sure but I also don't know for sure that there's not a pink fluffy 6ft tall unicorn in the room with us and we just can't see or hear him?" I then asked him if he was 100% sure there wasn't a pink fluffy 6ft tall unicorn in the room and we just can't detect him?

He looked at me and replied "son,  of course we can't be 100% sure of anything but don't you think it's possible that there's a hell and you might go there?"

I said "it's possible" but isn't it possible that allah is the true god and that you might go to his hell?

The expression on his face was priceless. He looked at me and told me to stay the hell away from him if we deploy.

[Sandra Craft]

Don't feel bad for me, I thought. I'm not one of herd, that's true, but don't feel bad for me because I don't believe in your fairy tales.

The expression on his face was priceless. He looked at me and told me to stay the hell away from him if we deploy.

  Maybe explain to them that you have a close personal relationship with reality if the subject come up again.

[xSilverPhinx]

   Silver: I can identify with you regarding the looks you get when you tell some people your not affiliated with any religion.

When I was about to leave the states for my first overseas deployment I had to have new dog tags made. Well, on every set of dog tags they have a space for your religious affiliation. I had mine made out to say "no religious preference".  Which is basically saying your an atheist.

When mine came in our Chaplin came to me and asked me why I chose to have that put on my tags? I told him that I don't believe in any gods. He then asked me "how do you know for sure there isn't a god?" I said "well chaplin, I really don't know for sure but I also don't know for sure that there's not a pink fluffy 6ft tall unicorn in the room with us and we just can't see or hear him?" I then asked him if he was 100% sure there wasn't a pink fluffy 6ft tall unicorn in the room and we just can't detect him?

He looked at me and replied "son,  of course we can't be 100% sure of anything but don't you think it's possible that there's a hell and you might go there?"

I said "it's possible" but isn't it possible that allah is the true god and that you might go to his hell?

The expression on his face was priceless. He looked at me and told me to stay the hell away from him if we deploy.

I think it's disgusting that some of them resort to such tactics when they encounter a non believer: they don't believe in our myths, lets try and scare them with the idea of burning in hell for eternity.

I have little patience for such people, especially when they try and propagate what is essentially forcing others to submit in order to be controlled.

I like your reply, I may have to use something very similar in the near future. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Don't feel bad for me, I thought. I'm not one of herd, that's true, but don't feel bad for me because I don't believe in your fairy tales.

The expression on his face was priceless. He looked at me and told me to stay the hell away from him if we deploy.

  Maybe explain to them that you have a close personal relationship with reality if the subject come up again.

Good one!

[Icarus]

xSP it a damnable shame that we have to be so delicate about what we say.  I suggest that you might use the term: "I have no religious affiliation at this time" or some other non committal expression.  It is too damned bad.....no it is worse than too damned bad that we have to be so careful in circumstances like yours.  Unsolicited advice: You can not afford to jeopardize your continuing education by alienating your peers or your mentors.  Never mind that they are serenely bigoted.  This is your world to conquer. Do what you have to do to conquer it even it if involves a bit of verbal misdirection.

[Hooch761]

I think it's disgusting that some of them resort to such tactics when they encounter a non believer: they don't believe in our myths, lets try and scare them with the idea of burning in hell for eternity.

Your absolutely right! When all else fails pull out the "your going to hell" card.

[Magdalena]

...Do what you have to do to conquer it even it if involves a bit of verbal misdirection.

"Verbal misdirection." I think I like this combination of words. 

[Dave]

Don't feel bad for me, I thought. I'm not one of herd, that's true, but don't feel bad for me because I don't believe in your fairy tales.

The expression on his face was priceless. He looked at me and told me to stay the hell away from him if we deploy.

  Maybe explain to them that you have a close personal relationship with reality if the subject come up again.

Good one!

Yeah! Like that!