Atheists : Do you ever feel guilty when??

Question

You convert a believer into an atheist?
I'm an atheist and one of my best friends was a very religious woman and we always talked about religion and our beliefs together and no she too is an atheist.I'm happy for her if she is happy, which she is but she now goes around anouncing to everyone she is atheist and they treat her badly.Her own family has disowned her and as such I do feel slightly guilty, even though I never tried to get her to believe what I do we just discussed things and she made up her own mind in this discision.Just wondering if anyone else ever does?

I should mention the only reason I feel bad is because of the way people treat her.

Maybe convert wasn't the right word to use but it works.

Answer 1

Christains don't seem to feel guilty when they convert someone, why should you? I can understand how you feel about the way people have reacted to her but if they can't except her choice and who she chooses the be then why should what they think matter. My family disowned me for being pagan, it was a scare tactic and one that didn't work and when I disowned them they felt like s**t about how they reacted, since then they have excepted my choice and we've put it all behind us. It took about 2 years but it all got smoothed over.

Answer 2

Do some religious people feel bad when they take little children to Sunday school and pound into their minds that the Bible is literally true and if they don't believe that they will burn in hell and be rejected by society? Some fortunately but many don't. At any rate I think no one converts anyone else away from a religion. It is a matter of providing information. The person is an autonomous individual who is free to use their mind to consider all the facts and make a choice based on evidence or not. I think the people who should feel guilty are her family. I would if she is a friend offer her support and advice about not making things harder than she has to and share with her how you cope with choices and life's difficulties outside a supernatural belief system. That was the void I found when I left religion initially aside from loss of community. You have this built in system for dealing with many aspects of life and when you lose it until you understand its up to you to build a new foundation it can be difficult and people can get into trouble that may actually reinforce that they needed religion after all.

Answer 3

Firstly , I must congratulate you on your success in helping your friend.

Although I can’t say I have had a 100% conversion to Atheism , I have helped a few Christians become unsure of what they believe and start to question what they have been taught.

I wouldn’t say I ever feel guilty when I help Christians in this way. I usually feel quite sad that someone I know has had the wool pulled over their eyes and pity them.

The fact that your friends family has ostracised her only shows their ignorance and intolerance. Maybe her family should go the whole hog and follow Luke 19:27 - Bring her to Jesus and have her slain.

In the past families would disown a member for marrying a black person or for being gay. It would seem this particular Christian family is still living in 1507 , not 2007. It is they who should be feeling guilty , not you.

In time atheists will be accepted and hopefully become mainstream unfortunately it make take 1 or 2 more generations.

Answer 4

I don't feel guilty and I don't "convert" them. Converting is what religious people do to atheists. If during the course of intellectual discourse and conversation an individual chooses that believing in god has come to seem illogical, then I say more power to them. They may feel bad about the fact they no longer believe, they may be disappointed about death, they may even think that they have become "evil," but this does not change the fact that there is no evidence to support the existence of a god (nor is there any to deny him).

My girlfriend believes in god and her and I often experience this same situation, so I can empathize with you. However, you just need to understand that religion is a form of intellectual oppression - it constricts logical thought. Once they are free from this oppression and put into a state of being rational with themselves, they will be free into a world where things are real.

Think of it like the Matrix. You could spend your life in a dream where everything is perfect but you are a slave, or you could spend your life in a hell where you are free. Ultimately, it is one's own choice to take the red pill or the blue pill; you can't be held responsible for the consequences.

Answer 5

A. I don't convert, I just tell what I know.

B. Atheism is not about conversion but realisation.

C. What is there to be guilty about? The person who had made the decision to be an atheist has to be taking responsibility for his/her own action?

P.S. I used to be a christian before I realise the fallacy of christianity. When I left the religon, all those supposedly good friends left me because they felt I am evil instantaneously and working under the command of Satan. Therefore I know excatly how your friend feels. However, over the years, I have gotten some good new friends who do not mind me being an atheist and these are real friends who look beyond the superfical cover of religion.

Answer 6

I have supported several people when they have seen the light, but I have never actually converted a person. Like a phobia, having a religious belief is mostly harmless. And I have many friends who are happy and comfortable in their beliefs, who am I to contradict that. It is only when it gets in the way of dealing with reality that there needs to be therapeutic work done.

Answer 7

Why should you feel guilty for being true to yourself, and how do you know that she is not enjoying her attention (negative or positive) she is trying to get a rise out people in general sounds like to me. I am an atheist but, I personally do not feel the need to advertise that I am. I feel like it is nobody f**cking business what I believe but my own self. But, thats just me. You have no reason to feel guilty because you didn't convert her. In other words only she can truely control herself not you.

Answer 8

No, but I would feel bad about the way she gets treated and would likely go kick some butt, very religiously.

Maybe you could point out to her that she does not really need to witness like she had a new faith, or be evangelical about it.

It is enough for her to be aware for her own use.

Answer 9

So now you see, first hand, how atheists are treated by the general public, simply for not believing in a fairy tale savior. Kinda puts it into perspective to have to put the shoe on the other foot, doesn't it?

And christians scream about how they're "persecuted" in the US.....

And to answer your question....atheists aren't "converted". People don't choose atheism....atheism chooses people.

Common sense...logic...the ability to think for ourselves....atheism in a nutshell.

Answer 10

I am not Atheist....
but you didnt make her do anything
she is a grown woman and has a mind of her own
it is sad that she is now having problems with her family
but she still has you
you accepted her when she was religious despite your differences in beliefs and you are still there for her
pity her family arent as loving xxx