ATHEISTS: Another user deleted her question, but it deserves answers, so here it is as asked only minutes ago.

Question

Asked earlier by Emily K, then deleted by her:

ATHEISTS...?
What would you do (assuming you're older than me), if you were a fifteen year old girl, surrounded by a hard-headed Catholic mother and a barely religious father, and every time you say you're an atheist (baptized Christian), your mother goes on a near-endless tirade of how you ARE Christian. My entire region is religious too.
Now to summarize my whining:
- How do you get people to take you seriously,
AND
- What do you do when you are verbally attacked by your friends?
Thanks for answering.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

(The "BACK" Button can be a marvelous tool.)

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 1

I would advise Emily K to keep her atheism to herself, since she is a minor (under the age of 18), and wait until she reaches her majority, to announce to the world that she is an atheist, along with moving out of that part of the country where she is surrounded by people who may not be tolerant of atheists.

In the meantime, just say that you are not very religious.

Save your breath to cool your porridge.

Answer 2

I typed a response to this question only to find out it had been deleted! I wasn't happy about that because I liked my answer. Here's what I said (I copied it in case she reposted it):

"Well I do know what it's like to have to tell your parents that you are an atheist. Luckily, my parents aren't quite as hard-headed or religious as your mother appears to be. I was raised in a Jewish home but knew at a very young age that I never believed in god. It wasn't until I was in my teens that I realized not believing in god was an option. It still took a few years to actually verbalize my atheism. At first, my mother didn't really take me seriously either, said that I was still Jewish, etc, but she never went on any tirades or verbal attacks. She merely disagreed with my view of things. It wasn't until a little while later that she realized that I really do mean it when I say I don't believe in god. We actually had a discussion about this a few weeks ago because I showed her the book "Atheist Universe" that I'm reading. She even admitted that sometimes she's not so sure there's a god. You just have to be honest and stand your ground. Hopefully your mother will realize this doesn't change anything other than the fact that the two of you differ in your beliefs (or lack thereof) in god. As for your friends, they don't sound like very good friends if they're going to verbally attack you because you are an atheist. Maybe you should try to find some friends who are a little more open-minded, whether they're religious or not. My best friend is Christian and she has never given my disbelief in god a moment's thought because we know that there are so many other things to worry about, talk about, fight about than this one minor detail. Good luck! I hope it works out for you!"

Answer 3

To Emily K:

For number 1, work on being able to not need their acceptance. People can smell fear of rejection. And if you recognize that you and you alone have the right to choose what you believe (even in Christianity), and that other people can sometimes be irrational and immature, then people will start respecting you.

For number 2, I don't know what works. But try this: keep your cool, arch your eyebrows, and say things like, "Oh, is that what Jesus would do in this situation? I'd better read my Bible again." Or, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said, I was too busy not caring." Or even a simple, "What was that again?" Think Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada.

I hope Emily K. knows about these responses to her question! Good luck to her!

Answer 4

It all depends on how confrontational one wishes to be. My entire family is christian. I am the only atheist. My mother doesn't believe that I atheist. She thinks it's a "stage."

If I didn't want the controversy, I would just keep my belief on the down-low.

However, I have no aversion to butting heads with supposed adults who believe in fairy tales. When they attack me, I attack back. Not with personal attacks on them, but with common sense and logical arguments.

Most christians and fanatics of other religions have trouble responding to that. They get tired of the banter long before I ever do, and once they decide to drop it, they rarely come back for more, because I often leave them doubting their own blind faith.

Arm yourself with logical arguments. The sittes I give below are AWESOME!!! Then watch and laugh as they go into argumentative contortions with their all-powerful, invisible God-speak..

My advice is to stop taking it personally and have fun with it. It is really amusing when you take it impersonally.

And DON'T be tolerant of those who are intolerant.
GET IN THEIR FACE, and they will wish they had left you in peace.

El Chistoso

Answer 5

To Emily: Don't let it get to you. Be tolerant whenever you can, and don't wear your beliefs on your sleeve. If someone happens to provoke you, or if someone just wants to debate with you, then you can become more open and start arguing back with them. Just make sure that you don't lose your cool. Be polite.

As for the actual debating Christians tend to use the Bible as their defence, so the best way to counter-argue is to know the Bible. Read the book sometime. That alone will give you the edge, because you'll be surprised how many Christians have never actually read it - at least never cover-to-cover. It may also help to read some literature by Atheist/Agnostic writers like Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Chris Hitchins. You can read some Stephen Palumbi to learn about evolution. The more you know, the better you can argue.

Don't worry about your friends. True friends will stick by you regardless of religious differences.

[Edited]

Answer 6

Dont ask others to change. They cant. But in your heart you know the plain truth.
Bible says : "They will look & look but will not see."
Their own bible condemns them for not seeing the truth that the so called God is non-existent, non-perceivable, non-entity and a plain nothing. Its as difficult ,as it was for Galileo , to make people believe that earth revolves round the sun & not otherwise.
The same thing happened to Buddhism. Buddha says that God is non-existent. Rather , what you call as God must be a devil , for the world is full of sorrow and only the evil are rich, wealthy & happy. So Buddhists had to face the sword of every kind of people in history, first by hindus in india, then muslims in middle east & Asia then by Russians in Mongolia and Chinese in Tibet.
So it ok if people oppose you, they are slaves of God ideology, so let them be, but you yourself remain satisfied that you are free like a bird to think & perceive without fetters & chains pulling you down.

Answer 7

I would just like to offer that your situation sounds difficult. I empathize with your experience. The issue of God and religion like many others are bigger than any of our own personal situations. These can be liberating discoveries for many, especially the young. Our thoughts and beliefs are certainly colored by our own personal scopes of experience. To quote from a personal favorite writer, a man of 55, with what I can tell are athiest leanings (by me, a believer and man of 40) "I believe in what I see. I believe in what I hear. I believe that what I'm feeling changes how the world appears."

Answer 8

Some parents never get it - just avoid the topic altogether.

If someone attacks you for your beliefs, they are not your friend. Find cooler people you have more in common with to hang out around. Sometimes, that doesn't happen until after high school, but don't give up.

Answer 9

a big part of being atheist is that you are not required to defend your decision to anyone. you are an independent thinker and your reasoning is good enough for you. if religious sheeple want to indulge in ridiculous fantasy they have every right to do so. arguing with these sheeple is a complete waste of time, they will never see any logic and will always resort to namecalling,praying,damning you to hell or speaking in tounges. they know they are living in a make believe world though,the proof of this is semantic ie: use of the words faith and belief reveal the fact that inside they know their religion is phony

Answer 10

Yes, I hit submit and was really sad to see she'd deleted the question :( Thanks for reposting for her!

Basically my answer was that it's probably best to just keep it quiet for now. As far as her mother is concerned, she's her mom. Not a lot she can do there but bide her time and hold her tongue until she is old enough to be her own person completely and not worry about what her mother thinks.

As far as her friends..

My son, when he was 12, had a religious debate with about six friends. They were all arguing from the point of view that there is a god, while he was not. He held his own (much to my amazement), even recognizing Pascal's Wager for what it was. :) I think part of the reason he did not crumble beneath their questioning was that he had heard his dad and I talking about various online discussions concerning religion and atheism. His feet were already wet, so to speak.

My point: I think Emily K should keep silent around her friends as well, for now. Talk to other atheists online, read books on the subject, and just learn as much as she can. When she is ready to defend herself.. go get 'em lol.

Answer 11

i think of the guy who replied this till now with "why do human beings construct a snowman in the event that they be attentive to its going to soften" incredibly lots summed it up. I nonetheless have a good time with development snowmen. I nonetheless have a good time with baking cookies even nonetheless i be attentive to they are going to be ate up. and so on... additionally, the flaws you do in this existence can and do go beyond your life. once you improve a chuffed, healthful new child who grows as much as be a favorable addition to society that transcends your dying. once you write a singular or proportion suggestions that get exceeded alongside that transcends. once you do something that interacts with the international and ripples outward in its outcomes it incredibly would not count number which you in my view would possibly not stay to tell the story continuously. understanding exhilaration would possibly not final isn't any reason in any respect to not want to journey exhilaration now.