I am brand new to this site, I felt the need to join an atheist chat because I feel isolated. I know very few other atheists in real life (or at least open ones). I live in the Bible belt, in the South. Many people here are very uneducated and superstitious, and even other educated people that I know are mostly religious, though they tend to be more moderate. Does anyone else share a similar situation to mine?
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Sloth is in the same situation as you.
I know a bunch of atheists and agnostics. I want to get a shirt that just says I'm an Atheist and see what reaction I get from everyone who doesn't know me that well.
That would be interesting, I'm sure.
Sloth definatly, she has some really good topics sorta related to this!
I don't live in the south belt, but I know about isolation and living among the religious. I move to a small town where there is about three churches, each with their respective religions but it really just sums up to Mormons and Catholics. The third church I've heard my Catholic friends complain bitterly about, but I'm really blissfully unaware of it. Anyway, when I first moved here I kept my ideas to myself and didn't say anything, frightened the strong opinions of my friends would crush our flimsy friendship. Ultimately it did for some and now I just find myself being honest with them, if the topic religion comes up I say I'm an Atheist.
Of course, there's alot of questions I get, weird glances, people trying to convert me.
I usually remind myself that they see me as a threat to their religion as I see their trying to convert things and prayers for me offensive....
Idk hope this helps I'm not sure if this is the kind of people your talking about exactly
Most of the people where I live are Evangelical Christians, so when you tell them that you aren't a Christian, they are nice to you at first because they want to convert you. However, when they realize that this isn't possible, they stop talking to you. I have lost several friendships by expressing my lack of belief in God, but I guess I don't really want to be friends with people like that.
I live in a country where 97% are Catholic christians, so i know the feeling.
What I do is to not consider them Christians but all hypocrites.
They are people that do not understand their theology and do not care to.
They are just happy to be called so because they think it is a good thing.
Remember:
If you could reason with a christian there won't be any Christians.
That really makes me feel superior among-st them and although it makes me look arrogant, I know in my heart that it is the truth since I came to it through an understanding of reality and not an assertion of authority like them.
Ow yes they think they are special because they are Christians, this arrogance masked by fake humility is so hypocritical I can barely stand holding back sometimes.
That's exactly how I feel, and I know it can come across as arrogant, but it isn't really. The truth is the truth, no matter how it sounds.
I know exactly how you feel. Like you I live in the Bible belt. One must be careful here when admitting atheism here. Unfortunately, atheists can become targets of discrimination at work. You can be outed in a variety of ways while minding your own business. One of their most offensive tactics is the use of prayer in the work place. People that don’t bow their heads become targets of indoctrination.
I actually quit a job for that very reason. My coworkers were putting up Bible verses in their work stations, and the bosses were also Christian, so they were cool with that. They were constantly talking about church and god, it was all I heard all day long, and when I told them that I did not believe in any god, they just did it even more. I think they were trying to 'witness' to me. It was so annoying, it became unbearable.
I know exactly how you felt. Once they find out you’re an atheist and won’t convert, you might as well quit. They will find one way or another to get rid of you.
Oh, yes! I too live in the south, in the Bible Belt, in an openly Christian town. It is all about God and football here, it's ridiculous. You are correct, religion is everywhere. In my town, we have 52 churches and a population of 24,000. We even have these two new churches, "That Church" and "New Life Church" that tries to convince us non-believers that their church is different. But ask them how they are different, and they tell you that their service times are later to better accommodate families, and there is a casual dress code - jeans allowed. Uneducated (many are educated idiots) and superstitious sums it up, but I would add close-minded, judgmental, ignorant, and intolerant as well.
We have New Life Church here too. I live in Arkansas. I used to be a waitress, and I ended up waiting on the pastor of my town's branch of New Life, he is like a celebrity in this town. He was self-absorbed and filled with false humility to say the least. He was having lunch with another local pastor and it was the biggest ass-kissing fest I've ever seen. He came to the restaurant several other times as well, an expensive steakhouse, and bought meals for himself and his friends on a New Life credit card. These guys all just get together and stroke each other's egos and tell each other what good, faithful Christians they are while stuffing their faces with thirty dollar steaks bought with the offering money that they guilt-trip the parishioners into giving them. This was many years ago, before I had fully stopped believing. During that first encounter, I complimented the pastor of New Life, told him that I thought he ran the church well (I still didn't know any better at that point). The other d-bag pastor was quick to correct me and shame me for complimenting the pastor and not 'giving the glory to jesus'. Then, the New Life pastor made me an anecdote in his next sermon, he told a story about how 'a waitress' had tried to give him the glory, though the glory really belonged to god. Biggest jerk ever.
I live in Arkansas too!
WOW, he sounds like a jerk. But also sounds like many that I have come into contact with as well. Here, in my town, my daughter's principal's husband is a pastor at one of the churches in town so she often tells parents that her husband "uses church as a conduit for God and she uses school." The 'God in school' is a growing problem here, but the majority - of course - do not see it that way. Their ignorance never ceases to amaze me.