Just like everyone I've had my fair share of bad experiences with people whose beliefs were too strong to the point that they were blinded by them. Not all encounters are bad however. I'd like to hear stories were everything went a lot better and everyone got along despite differences
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
http://www.atheistrepublic.com/users/secularsonofabiscuiteater/24584?pag...
When that situation was all over, I had a rather long, but good conversation with the church's community leader about all kinds of things. To my surprise, I found that she had very progressive views regarding sex, birth control, marraige, ect.
Also, I,ve dated my fair shar of religious girls. Mostly Christian/Catholic. While their parents may have been more religious, they themselves were more interested in other things when it came to our relationships. Their beliefs never infringed upon my views and it didn't affect our physical relationships.
I've met more open Atheists after moving back to NY. They are cool people, but I can't seem to make a strong friendship with one. Maybe I haven't met the right people yet.
Atheists are surrounded by theists and we interact with them every day. Most so called christians in America don't wear their religion on their sleeves and are shocked when muslims act in ways that are entirely consistent with their islamic religious beliefs and dogma and tenets including jihad against unbelievers
I don't go looking for that kind of contact. In the rare instance that happenstance puts it in my path I cordially and carefully excuse myself to attend a somewhat urgent sock drawer organization party thrown by the local Stoics Union. I make up the "urgent" part of it, of course.
Seriously, though, I do not seek that which I don't normally think about. I mean, I can't remember the last time I consciously remembered to hit my right big toe with a hammer. One should be aware of what that feels like to best guard against it, right? Still, as important as that is, it just doesn't occur to me on a typical day to stop a fellow pedestrian and hand him a hammer and a request.
My travels do not take me anywhere near a possible encounter with a theist. It could very well be the sign I have atop my car ("Fuck A Bunch of Theists" with a silhouette of crossed pistols on either side) might make for rare cordials between us but who knows? You'd think the strength of their faith would render such a sign less important than the humorous drivel found in Chinese Takey-Outy fortune cookies.
Atheists, on the other hand, I do not want to meet on the street or any other public place. Open discussion is senseless as the point is already honed and cannot be made sharper.
When I was in high school people were much different. We weren't so segmented. We only had 3 TV stations, a few FM radio stations, no cell phones, no PCs, and we read the daily newspaper. Of course, there were clicks that defined us but they we mere labels and didn't truly separate us.
In today's world, people are very segmented. Christians in America have become radical, smug, and RUDE! Muslims have become radical and or defensive. No one comes together as a community anymore. No one strives for the greater good anymore.
I know you wanted positive examples but I don't see any. This isn't a statement about the "generation gap." We had a generation gap back in my prime but we didn't disrespect or ignore the older generations. We embraced history, we didn't revise it. We trusted journalism and journalist adhered to a code of ethics. That doesn't exist today.
Christians don't respect individual rights of anyone. Conservatives only value money and NOTHING else. All conservatives. There is no common ground and common decency. Neighbors aren't considerate of each other anymore. I live in a fairly well to do neighborhood. People still have loud parties, play their offensive music too loud, and are generally rude.
People today may act like they listen, but they don't. They are merely waiting for the opportunity to spew the latest propaganda that they have recently learned. Bumper-sticker mentality.
You can't debate or even converse with such people anymore. No one is held accountable anymore. They live by the Nixonian idea that it isn't a crime if you don't get caught, but they have taken further. They believe that if you aren't held accountable or you get away with it, it is perfectly fine. Just look at Trump. He is a prime example of a society that is completely self-entitled. No remorse, no accountability.
Sorry I couldn't give you the example that you seek.
I have a friend whom I used to be close to when we worked together but now are more like close acquaintances. We try to get together for lunch or dinner once a month. He was a basic catholic when we met but over the years he has become heavily invested in his faith. He has become a deacon and will become a priest if the pope agrees to allow married men in. I consider religion in general and catholicism in particular superstitious drivel and intellectual dishonesty. However, it is important to him, he is my friend, so I roll with it. From our conversations I felt certain he knew I was atheist. Apparently not so. At out most recent lunch he commented that my posts on Facebook seemed almost atheistic. I just looked at him and said "but Mark, I AM an atheist. You know that." I guess not. I told him I could get on board with the social justice stance of the Christians but not the god thing. He asked why and I told him lack of even a shred of evidence. He was good with it. Even with an evil grin said he still loved me. I didn't bother to tell him that I had known he was a religidiot for 20 years but had loved him anyway. It works both ways. He does have a paradox to deal with, though. Everyone knows that atheists have no moral compass without god, but he says I'm the most moral person he knows. Go figure.
Many years ago, a catholic friend turned up on our doorstep on Christmas eve. She was very upset about something. We never found out what. But we invited her in to share our dinner and our evening. After she calmed down a bit, I told her we had a kind of family tradition about watching "Life on Brian" on Christmas eve. She said she'd never seen it because of her religion, but she was curious to see what all the fuss was about. So we all watched Brian's adventures. She laughed louder than any of us (because she was seeing it for the first time). Like John Cleese said, the film was about people who would really have pissed off Jesus.
After that she started to talk about her faith and the church. She said she couldn't let go of her faith, but that she hated the church for the way it treated women as second-class citizens and worse. We had a long chat about life and religion. We all learned a lot. I wondered why she felt more comfortable talking with a bunch of non-believers rather than a priest.
And then the neighbor lady got drunk and backed out of her driveway at about 90mph and totaled our friend's car. It was quite a night. I ended up as the atheist good Samaritan by paying for a rental car for our friend until she could sort out the insurance and get a new one. It was Christmas after all.