Hello fellow non-believers,
It’s a nice surprise finding you all.
I’m kinda in the closet as an atheist. My mum is an ordained minister. I was raised in a home where Christianity saturated my life. It was awful.
I contemplated telling my mum I was an atheist but what purpose does that serve? To distress her because I’m going to hell? Or worse, she’ll try and save me. Lol.
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Tree, I suggest you read “Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other, and Why” by Greta Christina. It is a great resource for folks!
@Treehugger: As long as you are dependent on your mom, the advantages of staying silent seem to far outweigh the freedom of coming out. There is no sense in causing unnecessary conflict in your life.
Read some of the posts I have written on the site.... do you imagine for a moment I am like that in real life? I'm not! However: I certainly can be and have been. Most of the time it is more important to "Get Along" than it is to "Be Right." I am a professional psychotherapist and I work in an office full of Christians. The head of the office is a Christian and she does the hiring. I can't help but wonder if religious affiliation is a part of the hiring process. I was not hired by her, though she did approve of me. I was placed in the office by the University I work for. I am the counselor for all English Speaking Students in our International Business School.
So what do I do when I am at work. Grin and bare it. The woman running the show knows that I am not religious. I have told her that. But I know so much about the bible that I think she believes I am religious anyway. I tell her that I love to study religion and that I have read the Bible, Quaran, Bhagavad Gita and more. (I never told her about my Satanic Bible.) In short, I don't lie to her but I do omit the more harsh elements of the truth. "When she smiles and says Jesus Makes Me Happy." I smile back and tell her, "You are so lucky!"
The other counselors don't talk much to me as they are all Korean and speak very little English. So I am fairly safe from more rigorous inquiry. Still, I manage to survive in a room full of Christians quite well and I enjoy my job.
@Treehugger17
Yikes, I bet that sucks. I couldn't imagine having religion play a big role in my life like that! Like @Cognostic said, I would not tell your parent(s) that you are an atheist if you depend on them completely.
Maybe when you tell your parent(s) you should have a place to stay in case she throws you out of the house. On the question of what purpose does it serve, it would serve the purpose of either 1) Getting your mom to try and convert you, or 2) telling your parents what you truly believe in so you don't have to act.
Forgive me if this post is terrible, it is my first comment in the Atheist Republic forums.