It’s Like Being Gay in the 80s

Hey, I can relate. I just “came out” as an atheist to my Christian sister this past weekend. It went better than I expected, and now I feel much more comfortable. No more worrying that she’ll find out from someone else, get upset, and then confront me about it when I’m not expecting it. Now she knows there’s “one of them” in her own family, so I’ve done my little bit to raise consciousness about atheism in her world.

I’m glad it went okay for you……

Is it really that bad in America. I mean almost everyone I know in England is either a disinterested Agnostic or an Atheist. Religious people make up a tiny proportion of the people I know. I’d estimate no more than 5% of my social circle would consider themselves believers. About the same proportion is gay.

Seriously, telling someone that you’re Atheist is akin to telling them that you’re voting Tory or Labour. You might disagree with it but it’s no big deal.

hoverFrog: “Is it really that bad in America.”

It is. My dad nearly disowned me when I informed him I would be having a secular wedding. Nearly all of my high school friends are religious. (Though as a grad student now, I’d say the majority here are atheist, agnostic, or at least non-practicing.) I come from a fairly liberal part of the US; I’m sure it’s much worse in other places.

I just recently told my wife of almost 9 years that I no longer believe in a judeo-christian god that was a part of my life for 20 years. My wife is a christian by the way. She was and still is upset, however, I don’t believe that this will have any lasting negative effects on our marriage. Overall I think it will improve our marriage. So, in response to hoverFrog’s coment, in the U.S., being atheist and open about it, is seen as a very bad thing in many communities, especially in many rural areas such as my own. On a side note, my wife and her brother are the only people that know about my godlessness.

Hey hoverFrog,

I suppose there are many places in the US that are like the UK in that regard, but, if even one or two people in your immediate family believe in eternal damnation, it makes the situation much tougher.

Like Joseph R., I told my wife after 7 years of marriage, that I no longer believed in god. She and one friend at work (an ex-mormon) are the only ones who know. She worries about my eternal soul being lost. If my hyper-religious mother finds out, there’s no end to the sermonizing and possibly demonizing I’ll get. Plus, I would put her in the awful position of having to worry that I’ll goto Hell when I die.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s like being gay, though. I think they’ve got it much worse. But, the pic is a laugh, nonetheless.

Thanks for liking my image!

Josheph R:

…my wife and her brother are the only people that know about my godlessness.

Yeah, those two… and everyone reading your post.

Yeah Joseph, you’ve just been outed.

It is almost inconceivable to think that a country as large as North America can be such a closed system. I always thought that the funny stories of fundamentalists and evolution deniers were a small but vocal minority. Actually I’d be really reassured if you could tell me that they are.

This is priceless! I am always talking about us having to “come out of the closet.” Classic.

I just wish that, like the homosexuals, we could come up with a better name for ourselves. The word atheist is so misunderstood. I know we were trying to do this with the whole “Bright” thing. But that word just doesn’t seem to cut it.

Richard
http://lifewithoutfaith.com

It is almost inconceivable to think that a country as large as North America can be such a closed system. I always thought that the funny stories of fundamentalists and evolution deniers were a small but vocal minority.

It’s not a uniform thing, it has definite geographical variations that pretty much follow the political divisions. The south and central states are where most of the nut jobs fundamentalists live. The west coast has fewer, likewise the northeast. There are fewer in the big cities, more in the rural areas. Check out any blue/red political maps (wikipedia has one) – while conservative = fundamentalist isn’t an absolute rule, there is a fair amount of correlation.

For example, the idiocy that happens in Kansas with school boards rejecting science in favor of nonscience has never even been an issue most places (or at least not in this century).

I’ve been told that in the south, when two people who don’t know each other meet and start talking, after the name and the occupation, the next thing that is asked is what church you attend. I can’t even imagine that happening in my neck of the woods.

But I’m thinking I could like England a lot….

Claire, you may not like the weather.