Tired of god on social media...

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Kammy81's picture
Tired of god on social media...

I think that I'm past the point in my atheism that makes me unable to ignore the daily references to god and no place more than social media like Facebook. The constant memes that read something along the lines of "Click like if god answers prayers, Share if you want a prayer answered"." Type Amen if you believe that god can heal you, ignore if no". "Football season is once again upon us Brothers, Can I get an Amen". "Do not ask the lord to guide your footsteps if you are unwilling to move your feet". "Type yes if you would walk with jesus Christ. ignore if no." Ok I could literally go on and on and on with these. We all have seen them and probably roll our eyes and keep scrolling, or if your like me I click the hide all posts from this page except now I don't have that option on fb now my only option is to say I don't like this post and then fb gives you reasons to pick as to why. Or I can just unfollow my fb friend all together.

Another common theme I'm finding on an all to regular basis are shared stories from other peoples personal sites or meme: type long stories such as: A black man posted his experience with an Indiana State Trooper when he got pulled over for speeding and he tells himself he knows he will determine the outcome of the incident, he was calm respectful and cooperated with the officer (why wouldn't anyone act this way) anyway the guy gets a ticket instead of what could have been a reckless driving (20 mph over the speed limit) and asks the officer if he could take a pic because he is always teaching his students that being responsible, owning your mistakes, and respecting authorities when they are pulled over. This results in the officers giving him a warning instead of a fine. So at the end the guy says he " is crying in his car because god is so faithful"..... Um, wait... I thought that it was his respectful demeanor that saved him from getting bad treatment from the officer and off with just a warning. So of course every comment was "Amen" or "God is good".
I want to scream "ITS NOT GOD!"

Another meme type of story type meme I read recently really pissed me off! please excuse the length of my post I have a lot to get off my chest. So a picture of a teacher in front of a blackboard and reads like this... (comments in parenthesis are mine)

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said :
Let me see if I've got this right.
You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love learning. (I'm thinking yea, when or if you see this or an issue needs to be addressed it cant be that bad)(I love and respect teachers but where is this going?)
You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases,(what type of extremist school is this?) and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship, and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. (so is she a phys. ed and economics/social studies teacher or what?)
You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.(ok so she is the school counselor/nurse/psychiatrist? Has to be a high school teacher too)
You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.
You want me to do all this, and then you tell me....
I CANT PRAY?

WHAT THE HELL? I did not see that coming, what I was thinking I would see at the end was something about the injustices our teachers are put through. I agree they have some overbearing responsibilities, are paid less than they should be and it is a hard job that I would never CHOOSE to do. But that's mostly because I will admit I don't really like other peoples children...lol
Obviously my real issue with this post was that I went through all that to get to the end and the poooooorrrr overworked, highly stressed, underpaid teacher is upset that she cant pray. When in fact she can pray! She can pray before and after class on her lunch break, anytime outside of time with children in her classroom. What is the big deal??? If she wants to pray with children theres these places called private Christian schools she can find a job at. The kicker is that the person that posted this is a good friend of my mothers that has a bar in her basement drinks wine on a regular basis, never goes to church and very sadly her own husband drank himself to death. I am not judging her on these things but why do I see non religious people posting things like this on fb?

I have some alchoholic friends that have been married and divorced (sometimes multiple times) multiple out of wedlock children, some with multiple fathers/mothers, hit the bars on a regular basis, maybe partake in illegal drugs occasionally or often (Marijuana shouldn't be illegal, but it is and most cons. Christians think of it as a devils tool) but I don't judge them they are my friends either living free spirited lives or making normal human mistakes. (although I don't in anyway condone alcoholism, as long as my friends are still being productive members of society and not hurting me or anyone else they will be my friends without judgement) Yet I see them make posts asking for prayer for this family member or that, or "Praying for so and so" yadda yadda. I want to scream at them, "You are not a religious person what are you praying to, according to the bible you have sinned so much that you have no option but to roast in hell for all eternity!". I am so fed up, every 2 out of 3 people on my newsfeed have some sort of godly post that I am seriously considering deleting my fb account because it is becoming harder and harder to just ignore it all and if I truly spoke my mind I am sure that I would make myself completely ostracized. I have no one to vent to around here, even my best friend that I thought was an atheist is apparently not. My husband was baptized at birth a Catholic but neither of his divorced parents ever went to church, he is clueless about religion, the teachings of the bible, etc.. He prefers to think there is a god but doesn't worry much about it and will usually change the subject if I try to engage conversation about religions or belief.

On the other hand am I acting like a conservative that is offended at everything non religious that they see and wish to remove all secular things from the world? I know I shouldn't be so offended but this shit is everywhere, I am shocked that even the smartest, most logical people in my world believe this stuff, shocked because for the most part their lifestyles don't reflect their beliefs. Its annoying me. Of course it isn't just social media that Im dealing with here. Between my daughters dance studio which I believed was secular but last year one set of her recital had a backdrop of three crucifixes on the mount during a performance among other things (probably better to start a different thread for that one). Then her best friend (they are 7 btw) telling her jesus will know if she lies and send her to hell, inviting her to VBS which became an issue between me and my husband because I was absolutely against it and he didn't see the harm, finding a hand stitched cross in her backpack that said friend gave her. Now the neighbor boy that is the same age as my daughter and they have been playmates since we moved here is going to Christian school. Hell, my husband bought a cook book from a door to door seller trying to raise money for college and it came with a free childrens book that was chock full of religious moral stories which I promptly threw away. It is everywhere and I'm feeling overwhelmed.

So my sane, logical, reasonable, smart, atheist friends how do we deal? I am certainly not militant in any way just fed up with it all. I just find it so hard to believe that so many people are still so ignorant to what god/the bible/religion are and how harmful it is. Help me through this dilemma because sometimes I feel all alone with nobody else that understands or feels the same way that I do.

Thank you Atheist Republic for giving an outlet to not be judged and where I can vent my frustrations!!!

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CyberLN's picture
Welcome, Keri.

Welcome, Keri.

I discovered that if I brought the subject of atheism up first in conversation, saying something positive about it with a smile on my face and a tone that carried 'only an insane person could disagree', then the religious people eventually stopped bringing their gawd up first themselves. They figured out that I would say something reasonable about atheism and they just didn't want to hear it. Head 'em off at the pass.

Capt.Bobfm's picture
Welcome to the site, Keri.

Welcome to the site, Keri.
I agree this bullshit is all around us and always trying to wedge its way into our lives.
I applaud you endeavors to keep your child away from it but the truth is it's all pervasive.
Teach your kid the truth and let her know that others will try to influence her all her life.
Explain the actual harmful effects religion can have on your daughter with your husband and MAKE him realize the truth. That way he might be able to help you and relieve some of your frustration along with helping your kid cope.
In the mean time, you can spout to us on this forum. Most of us will always be there to help you.

Stu. K.'s picture
Oh my golly gosh, I KNOW

Oh my golly gosh, I KNOW RIGHT?!?!! I remember when I was a Christian I was on Facebook once, there was this picture

https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=667&...

Yep.... stuff like this.

XyberEX's picture
If only there was some sort

If only there was some sort of plugin where you could block these things on sites like Facebook by tags.

ashley.twichell's picture
You have literally described

You have literally described what I feel on practically a daily basis. I'm always thinking to myself--these people are educated, presumably they have a brain in their head. Why aren't they using it? I have to think that most of the people who are religious have serious doubts, but they're so used to hearing that faith and belief are virtues, and this is being reinforced by their peers who are also struggling, and they must get some sort of relief from just turning their brains off about it (which I think is what people mean when they say, 'I give it all to god'. It means you're just fucking tired of thinking, aren't you?) But I hear you. It's unbelievably frustrating.

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