Happy Atheist Forum

I really want to be respectful of others.  Really.  But it makes it difficult because my own beliefs are not respected.  In my daily life, if I venture outside my home too far, I am going to encounter religious messages, some of them threatening hellfire if I don't believe them.  I encounter a bais on a daily basis every day essentially, some days more than others, from religion due to insulting words on church signs, reminders of hellfire and apocalypse from individuals and the bigotry that I can't act in a moral fashion if I don't accept the label of Christian.  People are free to wear clothing and symbols encouraging this standpoint, and I have seen very few responses to the contrary, and most of these tend to be fairly subtle.  (The Darwin Fish joke for example)  This cultural bias extends past daily life into legal practice where people use Christianity and accepting God as proof of their goodness and standing as proper citizens.  This fact is sometimes abused by people who do wrong. I've seen it happen personally, where someone commits a bad or criminal act and uses a new found profession of religion faith as a defense, or I've heard of uses of religion to get away with stealing or cheating on a spouse because the label carries assumed good intentions.  It is very frustrating to deal with, because honestly I do have some unproven theories about life  that I like to entertain at times, and these beliefs have not been respected by others in the past and this disrespect and concurrent favoritism towards the Christian viewpoint has been part of the reason I became an atheist.  I feel that religion is a private thing and it is also an all or none prospect, either all unproven, imaginary beliefs are held as equally plausible or none of them are.  Numbers of believers don't make a thing true, might does not equal right, and reality has to be determined by real evidence.  The Christian viewpoint holds at it's core that people who do not believe what they do are to be converted.  This in itself is a disrespectful standpoint to other viewpoints and religions.  What I am curious to know is if you have encountered similar situations and if you think they are disrespectful.

Quote from: "LARA"People are free to wear clothing and symbols encouraging this standpoint, and I have seen very few responses to the contrary, and most of these tend to be fairly subtle.  (The Darwin Fish joke for example).

I just took this pic for you, it's one of my favorite tshirts. Not very subtle, is it?

[attachment=0:g0e76vpm]tshirt1.jpg[/attachment:g0e76vpm]

Getting back to the topic: My mom recently took my son to church with her, without telling me (He's 4). I only found out because all of a sudden all sorts of religious frases were coming out of his mouth.
That is extremely disrespectful of my beliefs, I think. I can't imagine an atheist imposing on a christian kid like that.

Quote from: "Zarathustra"Getting back to the topic: My mom recently took my son to church with her, without telling me (He's 4). I only found out because all of a sudden all sorts of religious frases were coming out of his mouth.
That is extremely disrespectful of my beliefs, I think. I can't imagine an atheist imposing on a christian kid like that.

More to the point it disrespects the fact that YOU are his parent and she is not! I would get seriously pissed off with anyone who did that without my permission.

Kyu

Quote from: "Zarathustra"Getting back to the topic: My mom recently took my son to church with her, without telling me (He's 4). I only found out because all of a sudden all sorts of religious frases were coming out of his mouth.
That is extremely disrespectful of my beliefs, I think. I can't imagine an atheist imposing on a christian kid like that.

Unbelievable.  I don't know if I'd have been able to keep my temper.  Taking your kid anywhere without letting you know is bad (or at least it would be to me), but not letting you know gives me the sickening feeling that you were left out of the loop deliberately and that she thinks she was completely justified in doing it.  If she doesn't know your inclination toward the church, that'd be another thing, but that's probably not the case.  Here's hoping she's more considerate in the future.  But I'd have to have a serious discussion with her.

Oh, but that is a great shirt, if not subtle.

Quote from: "PipeBox"not letting you know gives me the sickening feeling that you were left out of the loop deliberately and that she thinks she was completely justified in doing it.  If she doesn't know your inclination toward the church, that'd be another thing, but that's probably not the case.  Here's hoping she's more considerate in the future.  But I'd have to have a serious discussion with her.

Oh, but that is a great shirt, if not subtle.

Oh, she knows!! Unfortunately you're right, Pipebox. She thinks - as a good christian - that it would be terrible if my kid weren't taught about god... ;)

Oh i've been dragged to church many a times because i like girls. Thankfully they didn't try to drive the ebil th'pirit out of meh.

It's so nonsensical that some christians think that being gay is like the ultimate sin while others are okay with it. Does NOT make sense to me.

First off, where does someone get off taking another person's child to church when they know how the actual parent feels about religion? That seems like a dirty, underhanded trick to me. Kind of like baptizing a newborn baby. Let them make the choice for THEMSELVES.

Now, as far as encountering disrespect... I have been an atheist for over 10 years now, but only recently did I reveal myself to my loved ones. Interesting reactions, to say the least. My grandfather (actually my stepmother's dad) is a deacon in the Catholic church, AWKWARD. She is convinced that I am only saying that because I lost my mom recently and am "rebelling against god". Fortunately, as it turns out, my father and brother are atheists too!! What a relief that discovery was. My dad and I had the best conversation we had ever engaged in, and I'm 22! Unfortunately for him, he won't tell his views to anybody else. At least now we both have someone to talk to, it has brought us much closer together. (I left my brother out of the "now we have someone to talk to" because he just doesn't like people in general, lol)

P.S. I am really loving this forum, I am a fairly subdued guy so I don't talk much. I feel free to voice my opinion, WITHOUT being ridiculed or called a satanist. News to the world, I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD which means I DON'T BELIEVE IN SATAN either.

Quote from: "oldschooldoc"I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD which means I DON'T BELIEVE IN SATAN either.

Yup ... in the words of Marty Leipzig, "It's YOUR bible, they're YOUR rules ... YOU burn in HELL!"

Interesting of course to point out that Satan was a Christian too

Kyu

not yet
my friend doesnt care, my dad is not religious either,
The rest of my freinds/family, I ahvent told. I dont see it as being their business to know anyway

I wake up every morning to go out into a society that is pure Christian. The funny thing is that now that Christmas is near, everyone decided to be a Christian again. There are always people begging for money, but now that it's Christmas time everyone thinks that it's some kind of sign and they feel they need to donate. i told a Salvation Army guy that i don't believe that I should only give at Christmas time, I also asked him why he gave me the look he did. I donated earlier this year and these people didn't so why is my donation from earlier this year not as appreciated??? he had a dumbfounded look on his face and kept telling more of these mindless people to have a blessed day.

Quote from: "Enlightened777"I wake up every morning to go out into a society that is pure Christian. The funny thing is that now that Christmas is near, everyone decided to be a Christian again. There are always people begging for money, but now that it's Christmas time everyone thinks that it's some kind of sign and they feel they need to donate. i told a Salvation Army guy that i don't believe that I should only give at Christmas time, I also asked him why he gave me the look he did. I donated earlier this year and these people didn't so why is my donation from earlier this year not as appreciated??? he had a dumbfounded look on his face and kept telling more of these mindless people to have a blessed day.

"It's the most wonderful tiiiiiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear . . ."

Quote from: "PipeBox"

Quote from: "Enlightened777"I wake up every morning to go out into a society that is pure Christian. The funny thing is that now that Christmas is near, everyone decided to be a Christian again. There are always people begging for money, but now that it's Christmas time everyone thinks that it's some kind of sign and they feel they need to donate. i told a Salvation Army guy that i don't believe that I should only give at Christmas time, I also asked him why he gave me the look he did. I donated earlier this year and these people didn't so why is my donation from earlier this year not as appreciated??? he had a dumbfounded look on his face and kept telling more of these mindless people to have a blessed day.

"It's the most wonderful tiiiiiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear . . ."

 

wow i've heard that song way too much at work but i still love it.

Quote from: "Kyuuketsuki"Yup ... in the words of Marty Leipzig, "It's YOUR bible, they're YOUR rules ... YOU burn in HELL!"

Interesting of course to point out that Satan was a Christian too

Kyu

Nicely stated, and yes that is an interesting point. How is it that I, someone who doesn't believe in fairy tales, can be accused of following Mother Goose (with horns, and a pointy tail, and hooves...and a pitch fork???)

QuotePipebox wrote:

QuoteZarathustra wrote:
Getting back to the topic: My mom recently took my son to church with her, without telling me (He's 4). I only found out because all of a sudden all sorts of religious frases were coming out of his mouth.
That is extremely disrespectful of my beliefs, I think. I can't imagine an atheist imposing on a christian kid like that.

Unbelievable. I don't know if I'd have been able to keep my temper. Taking your kid anywhere without letting you know is bad (or at least it would be to me), but not letting you know gives me the sickening feeling that you were left out of the loop deliberately and that she thinks she was completely justified in doing it. If she doesn't know your inclination toward the church, that'd be another thing, but that's probably not the case. Here's hoping she's more considerate in the future. But I'd have to have a serious discussion with her.

I can certainly understand the issue of taking your child to church without your knowledge, but I on the broader subject of exposing your child to religion, is that really bad? When I was growing up, my parents both went to church, and I was indoctrinated in my mother's (Catholic) church. But they always let me know that I was free to decide for myself what I believed. I went to my father's church (Presbyterian) for a while, and I went to Methodist churches with friends. I also was exposed to scientific ideas, atheism, agnosticism, and even some new age thought.

In the end, I felt that all of this information and experience made me much more comfortable with my decision that I was an atheist. I will always thank my parents for allowing me to be exposed to many different ideas and beliefs. I also think that a child is never too young to be told that they get to choose what to believe.

Quote from: "Elvis Priestly"I can certainly understand the issue of taking your child to church without your knowledge, but I on the broader subject of exposing your child to religion, is that really bad? ...In the end, I felt that all of this information and experience made me much more comfortable with my decision that I was an atheist. I will always thank my parents for allowing me to be exposed to many different ideas and beliefs. I also think that a child is never too young to be told that they get to choose what to believe.

I agree! That's why my next post read the following:

Quote from: "Zarathustra"The weird thing is: I don't mind her taking my kid to church, as long as I know about it. But she also knows, that I would talk to my kid about the experience afterwards and (probably) undermine the priests authority. Not deliberately, but because I encourage and try to teach him critical thinking.

Quote from: "Zarathustra"Getting back to the topic: My mom recently took my son to church with her, without telling me (He's 4). I only found out because all of a sudden all sorts of religious frases were coming out of his mouth.
That is extremely disrespectful of my beliefs, I think. I can't imagine an atheist imposing on a christian kid like that.

Wow.  How disrespectful!

I disagree with others that say exposing a small child to religion is harmless.  Without parental guidance the child will assume the adults with authority over him are being truthful and will take the religion as truth.  It's like having a grandparent tell a small child that there are monsters under his bed without parental knowledge.

Outside of my immediate community, everyone takes one look at my mexican face and assumes I worship the virgin mary. it's disconcerting, but since none of those whitey's at alamo heights are very religious themselves, it almost never comes up. I've known people for three years, before they finally find out I'm (basically) atheist. Usually a stunned silence, then we continue talking.

It get's a little troubling when I'm at church though. I don't go to mass, but I guess I still participate in church events. I swear, the first thing out of the stations of the cross director when he found out I was atheist was "why?"

Everyone says that. It's so tedious answering that question over and over that I started to get creative with it. Here are some of my better answers:

"I felt I was called to be by god."

"No hablo ingles."

"it's more fun to butcher virgins and rape nuns."

"I'm Gay"

"Father carl and me... well..." said in a softening voice as I look away.  :shock:

lol.

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Wow. How disrespectful!

I disagree with others that say exposing a small child to religion is harmless. Without parental guidance the child will assume the adults with authority over him are being truthful and will take the religion as truth. It's like having a grandparent tell a small child that there are monsters under his bed without parental knowledge.

Exactly. That is why I was mad. We are ok now, since we talked things through.

Quote from: "Wechtlein Uns""Father carl and me... well..." said in a softening voice as I look away.  :D That one really made me laugh.
I simply answer: "Why not?"