BELIEF  
Comment Is Free / By Susan McCarthy
comments_imageCOMMENTS: 203

What It's Like To Be an Atheist in the Bible Belt

Even in the South's big cities, many atheists feel they have to stay closeted.
August 6, 2009  |  
 
 
 
LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Belief headlines via email.

 
 
Advertisement
 

At the Lake Hypatia Advance, a social gathering hosted by the Alabama Freethought Association, a frequent metaphor was "coming out" as an atheist. "I am out to my parents." "A few people are still in the closet." "We had several people in our community come out to us." One man said he came out to his parents twice, first as a non-Christian, years later as an atheist. ("Not in my house!" his mother said.) One woman told of an argument with her evangelical family in which "I outed my dad."

In much of the American South and Midwest church membership and religious faith are assumed. (In my hometown of San Francisco, as in Manhattan, faith is more apt to evoke surprise.) People have often never met an admitted atheist. "Literally people think that we do have horns, or that we're mean, or that we do not have kids," said a Kansan. Even in a city like Atlanta, some people feel religious pressure. Ed Buckner, president of American Atheists, said the Atlanta Freethought Association has members who "never saw any need [to gather with others] until they came to Atlanta – and people behind you in line in the grocery store say 'Do you know Jesus?' And your boss asks what church you attend."

(Because of such pressure, some people at Lake Hypatia asked that I not use their names or identifying information.)

The Alabama Freethought Association (AFA) is a chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Pat Cleveland, AFA's director, described her erstwhile fear of atheists. Cleveland grew up in a devout home where a Bible was the only book. But "my husband Roger was a freethinker. I would cringe when it would thunder and he'd say 'Come on, strike me!'" Roger Cleveland wanted to attend a debate with Dan Barker, a preacher turned atheist (and now FFRF co-president). "I thought, 'Lord, if I'm not meant to go to this, help me.' ...The Lord didn't help me." To her surprise, "everyone was really nice. I went home and read the Bible – for the first time with my mind."

The FFRF distributes a radio program and podcasts via Freethought Radio. Partly in hope of reaching people who have never met an atheist – or never met another atheist – the FFRF has campaigns to put signs in buses and on billboards. ("Sleep In On Sundays," "Beware of Dogma," "Praise Darwin.") Outdoor advertising companies were particularly reluctant. Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, said, "We were unable to purchase billboards for two decades."


View as a single page
 
Email
Print
Share
Post on reddit
Post on stumbleupon
Post on facebook
Post on digg
Post on twitter
Post on delicious
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
Stay up to date with the latest Belief headlines via email
See more stories tagged with: religion, south, christians, evangelical, atheism, bible belt

comments COMMENTS ( 203 )
READ COMMENTS
LOGIN OR REGISTER TO POST A COMMENT
 

Comments are closed-

Nonsense. I live in VA Beach, home of Pat Robertson, and there are plenty of atheists doing fine.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 6, 2009 12:30 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What about Christians trying to live in atheist places? This article is pure horseshit.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I on the other hand concur
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abstractedaway on Aug 6, 2009 1:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up just across the water from Virginia Beach and contrary to the earlier poster, there is a ton of social pressure in many segments of society across the South to see religion as indispensable to having a decent character. After all, if there's no god you may as well lie, cheat, kill, and steal with abandon, right? You can cherry-pick to find places where religion isn't rammed down people's throats, but the general rule is that godless is a huge slur on somebody.

I grew up in a religious home and school, and was raised a true believer. As a child, I really thought my meaning in life was to be a christian and lead others into being that way too; life apart from that was unspeakable. I may as well have not been born if not to serve the fundamentalist god. That was the mindset I was raised in, and large numbers of other children as well. Jesus Camp just begins to explain this mindset.

Coming out atheist caused an uproar. I had to fear getting kicked out of home while I was still trying to commute to college. I endured a lot of guilt tripping for setting an example to my younger sibling and her youthful mistakes were blamed on me.

I can keep in contact with very few of my former colleagues. Most of them ask what church I'm going to, and upon finding out none, and that I will not humbly accept the pejorative "backslider" and admit I need to go to church again, but rather proudly assert myself as an atheist, often get the cursory "I'll pray for you" in a tone few cranky Brits would muster for their most withering "Good day". I had to nearly start my social life over from scratch.

Even public colleges like Christopher Newport are up to their ears in religion. It was not uncommon to have classes disrupted by boisterous worship services on campus.

My experience is that this article's story is not uncommon in Virginia. It's not the whole story, but the region is pretty thick with it, and should an atheist disparage other beliefs as the southern baptists and pentecostals clearly feel entitled to, they do it in invitation of a lot of harassment. The further South you go, the crazier it gets. I would in all seriousness fear for my life if I engaged in atheist/freethinking activism in Pensacola, Florida for example.

I have washed my hands of my former homestate with this being one of my largest reasons. In the parlance of these God-'n-guns Bible thumpers, let the dead go bury their dead. I've moved far away and am glad not to be choking on the high-handed rhetoric of snake-oil peddling charlatans who think they have a shred of morality to talk down to others about.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Playing cards??? Drinking wine??? Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
» RE: Playing cards??? Drinking wine??? Posted by: abstractedaway
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: maxpayne
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: abstractedaway
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: Blondinista

Comments are closed-

I'm a midwestern atheist
[Report this comment]
Posted by: DanoM on Aug 6, 2009 12:59 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Interesting article...

I haven't "come out" to my parents or siblings. They might suspect, but I know that some would have real trouble with it. Even not accepting Jesus in a manner chosen by my aunt has me destined to burn in hell.

I was raised in a devout christian home, and didn't even really know what an atheist was. Not believing in god wasn't even an option in the house I grew up in. If your parents and those around you always claim there is a god who is a kid to ask otherwise?

Now move away from home and find the whole religion thing isn't quite making as much sense anymore. You're told growing up that satan would tell 10 truths to get you to believe 1 lie and lead you astray. Heaven and hell are literal places. Christians are constantly being tempted. The threats to your soul's peril are faced daily. On and on it goes for the devout well indoctrinated worshiper.

Years of indoctrination don't just disappear overnite. Took me a few years to break totally free on my own, maybe with information like we have in abundance today it would have made that much faster and simpler.

I don't feel the need to go to an atheist community group, but can see where some might find it helpful in many ways.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: I'm a midwestern atheist Posted by: abstractedaway

Comments are closed-

Don Quixote
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Don Quixot on Aug 6, 2009 2:11 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If both believers and non-believers were not so arrogant, treating each other as idiots or evil, it would be better. Many believers think if they accept evolution they have to give up God. And non-believers think if they accept God they have to give up evolution. Neither wants to accept that perhaps they are not 100 % right and the others 0 %, but both 50 % right, and there are both, God and evolution.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: kepstein7777
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: djkrugger
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: bentes
» Never the 'twain shall meet. Posted by: wolfgangmo75
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: talkville
» GOD is evolution. Posted by: jimmyaj

Comments are closed-

I really feel that the term atheist...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ShrubtheWarcriminal on Aug 6, 2009 2:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...dignifies what it denies and refuse to have it applied to me. We do not have terms for people who do not believe in ghosts, zombies, or tooth fairies. It is a pejorative term dreamed up by religionists to isolate, and eventually used to destroy you.

Call it marketing or whatever, I consider myself a rationalist, a scientist. I need PROOF for anything you want me to BELIEVE. If you do not have it, call me later when you do.

There is not one speck of evidence for any god and the real kicker is that there is not one speck of evidence for the miracle producing Jesus, who supposedly actually walked this land 2000 years ago.

Think of it. If this MAN actually existed, their would be the usual anthropological, archeological, evidence for such a person. There is NONE! As a recovering catholic, I have searched for it, and found NADA.

This is the biggest kick in the ass to any Christian. Gods (invisible friends), we can possibly argue about their existence, but in this day of supposed reason we have ways to prove whether a person of any substance actually walked this earth.

I tell my Christian "friends" to just call me when they have evidence for ANYTHING they just want me to BELIEVE in.

Faith," said St. Paul, "is the evidence of things not seen." We should elaborate this definition by adding that faith is the assertion of things for which there is not a particle of evidence and of things which are incredible.

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.

Ministers do not know whether or not there is a heaven, or a hell, or a God or anything after death; but they talk as if they have been raised with God and played marbles with Christ.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE:jaded: Gimme a few names of scientists... Posted by: ShrubtheWarcriminal

Comments are closed-

Billboards
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kepstein7777 on Aug 6, 2009 2:52 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One of my favorite sayings apparently came from a bumper sticker: "God bless the rest of the world too."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Gosh, isn't it TERRIBLE to be an atheist in the "Bible Belt"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Woodpecker on Aug 6, 2009 3:01 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My heart bleeds for these poor souls- isn't it a little like being a declared Christian in an atheist polity- Stalin's Soviet Union, the Third Reich, Castro's Cuba, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea-at least they aren't being persecuted by the Christian equivalent of the Gestapo or NKVD!!!

Terry

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Stalin did it, so why can't we? Posted by: leafsong1
» Hitler and the Lord's work Posted by: lolisforidiots

Comments are closed-

Believe it or not, being the wrong kind of Christian might be worse
[Report this comment]
Posted by: COinms on Aug 6, 2009 3:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great story. I live in Mississippi and am a non- trinitarian christian (not a JW) who does not believe in hellfire or the physical second coming. Indeed, I am 180 degrees away from about any doctrine the fundamentalists believe. We are non-violent, antiwar, and there are very few of us, probably 10 in the state of Mississippi. I'm not a republican or conservative, which down here is normal. People like me till they find out what I believe; then I am a cultist (although we don't 'do' guns). My kids don't have many friends because church is the big deal down here, although my children are better behaved and more thoughtful and polite than the little baptists. I hope to be able to move before things get much worse, maybe to the pacific northwest. Even a midwest college town would be better.
Southern Christians are big hypocrites; they love God, but love Bush too. They pray, but they send their young men off to kill and be killed in war. They love America but hate Obama. You get the idea.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Of course it is Posted by: leafsong1

Comments are closed-

I live in the Belly Button of the Bible Belt
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bthespoon on Aug 6, 2009 4:18 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Where I-70 and I-57 cross, there is a (holy Christ) cross big enough to scare the bejeezus out of any unsuspecting traveler who rounds the bend. It willl probably hurry more than a few of us along the way to meet our maker (causing accidents by distracting motorists at 70mph where traffic is merging in all directions). It looks to me as though it outshines any monumental public statuary Sadam Hussein ever built in Iraq.

I'm just trying to warn people so they're not surprised.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» To illustrate... Posted by: Aimleft

Comments are closed-

Why is it...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: teddy on Aug 6, 2009 4:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...anyone's business what religion you follow? the pressure to bring a person, no matter how "friendly", into the fold is immensely offensive. (And I love jelly salads!) A boss's question about religious affiliation or church attendance grossly violates your constitutional rights.

People who ask should be told to mind their own business.

Why would you want to "out" yourself or a family member at all? You can't convince religious nuts of the value of your position. Or are you trying to gain forgivenness or acceptance? That can't happen, and maybe you just need to grow up and take your lumps.

Find others who (dis)believe as you do - it doesn't show, you know. Just insist that your religion is a private matter and stop looking for approval. Protect your dignity.

That said, I do think that this emphasis on Xianity has as much to do with White chauvinism/supremacy as with faith ("real Americans"). It's gotta be more than mere coincidence that some of the most Xian groups are also the most racist and vice versa. People forget that Nazism was closely allied with Xianity, not paganism. ("Kinder, Kirche, Kueche" was the world defined for women)

You're wise to steer clear of that kind of religion altogether. Rock on!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Why is it... Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

rednecks, guns and Jesus
[Report this comment]
Posted by: aislinnluv on Aug 6, 2009 4:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
are the culture where I live, just outside Houston. drive down the road and you are greeted by electronic signs in front of businesses exhorting you to "pray ceaselessly", "surrender to jesus", and "exercise daily - walk with god". for one who doesn't believe in god, it's a pretty hostile environment. though i generally eschew bumper stickers, i did have one on one of my beaters that was a quote from Sinclair Lewis - "when fascism comes to america, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross". i thought it was succinct and truthful. however, my fabulously honest mechanic (no, really) turned out to be a born-again christian so i wound up first defending my sticker and finally just ripping it off the car. if i drew a circle on the map of my area, within a radius of two miles i could stick a pin on a dozen churches, most of them some non-traditional, weird offshoot like the anointed apostolic church that sarah palin attends. a little farther out and it includes catholic, lutheran, lds, jehovah's witness, etc., etc. yeah, i'm leaving as soon as my last kid graduates high school. i wouldn't mind finding some like-minded individuals to talk to, not about nonreligion, just normal, intelligent conversation that doesn't include any references to god, prayer, or salvation.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: rednecks, guns and Jesus Posted by: Thresher
» RE: rednecks, guns and Jesus Posted by: jumperladd
» That Wasn't a Safety Reminder? Posted by: iolanthe

Comments are closed-

"WE DON'T FEEL ANYONE'S SOUL NEEDS TO BE SAVED." REALLY???
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AZLBRAX07 on Aug 6, 2009 5:01 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
For me, that is the most hypocritical statement in the whole article!

This group of so-called “Freethinkers” is nothing but the reverse side of that worn out “religion” coin and they are no different from those that they, supposedly, distance themselves from. Both sides of this smarmy “coin” gather together in insecure little groups to bolster each other’s beliefs. Both sides waste money erecting billboards to SHOUT out their claims for or against some primitive “god”. One side worships “Jesus”; the other side worships Darwin…both merely flawed Talking Apes. Both sides turn into pathetic whiners whenever their beliefs are questioned or mocked…and in doing so, they present themselves as innocent “martyrs”. I suspect that whenever either side is “martyred”, they secretly relish it: “Oh, please, do it again! It hurts so good!”

Both sides are equally ridiculous and beneath contempt.

I live in a very rural area, deep in the Southern bible-belt, a couple of miles away from the nearest “town”, which is…literally…a 4-corners where 2 county roads cross, with one blinking traffic light. There’s a convenience-store on one corner, a small hardware/ sporting goods store on another, a tiny “mom-and-pop grocery on the third and the forth corner is vacant. That’s it! Many of the locals…not that there are that “many”…are deeply “religious”, attend church on Sundays and constantly refer to “The Lord”. I have been a true Freethinker for over 40 years without the dubious need for some support-group to keep my beliefs…and lack of beliefs…strong. Since it’s such a small town, we, all, pretty much know each other and NEVER ONCE has anybody pounded my head with a bible or told me that I am Hellbound because I don’t accept “Jesus” as my personal savior or believe in some mythical “god”. In fact, since we’re all Southerners and bred to be polite, we don’t discuss “religion” at all.

Which, as far as I’m concerned, is the way it should be!

Believe…or don’t believe…whatever nonsense you chose to. Just keep it to yourself and shut-the-hell up!

A simple solution to a non-problem.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Is this place...called??. Posted by: walldodger1969
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» LOL Posted by: LMNOP
» RE: LOL Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

It's the local version of the rackets.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: littlepitcher on Aug 6, 2009 5:27 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Christianity is popular in the South because of its two great contradictions--it condemns theft in the Commandments, but Jesus forgives thieves and advises forgiveness "seventy times seven".

Thus, the churches become a hiring hall where the most outspoken "witnesses" will get the offers, while at the same time, the church leaders are often the corporate thieves and KKK slumlords who keep the community poor.

I'd love to take some of these stump-knocking, Bible-thumping human resources jerks into a court of law for violation of open shop laws, just to get some fairness in the workplace.

And, of course, if you are not Christian, when your neighbors decide to take your job, force you to sell your worldly goods at garage-sale rates, and foreclose your house, then it's God's will, and he's given all of your life away because you weren't obedient.

It's a particularly despicable organized crime racket.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

A word to the wise
[Report this comment]
Posted by: talkville on Aug 6, 2009 5:34 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only in the South. Anywhere in this country, if one is not a Christian - particularly a Christian of a Protestant sect, it is always a far more prudent course of action to Keep One's Head Down.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Nope... Posted by: morticia
» RE: Nope... Posted by: talkville
» RE: A word to the wise Posted by: InsideOut
» RE: A word to the wise Posted by: talkville

Comments are closed-

FFRF is a GREAT organization!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: frantic1971 on Aug 6, 2009 6:52 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a great organization. More power to 'em! I love their tactic of putting up these billboards. It really exposes these religious nuts for the phonies they are, because once they start talking and sputtering in such outrage that someone has DARED to challenge their "Santa Claus in the Sky" beliefs, they really show themselves for the fools they are.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Not JUST Atheists....any non KKKristian is closeted
[Report this comment]
Posted by: rastaman on Aug 6, 2009 7:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
look at the world through a non KKKristian's eyes and you'll see the evil collaborating all around you.


geez that sounds paranoid.....but it's true.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Just another hot day in "Christian Hell"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Derestanne on Aug 6, 2009 7:15 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I agree with the poster who said "not just in the South - all over the USA". Everywhere I've lived and traveled in this Country it's the same story. Not Christian? Then you can Repent or Roast!

And make no mistake - it's not about God or Devil - it is about CONTROL. Control of individuals, society, government. Control of ideas; control of behavior; control of EVERYTHING. That is the Christian ideal of "Heaven on Earth" but it sounds like pure Hell to me!

I sleep at night knowing that what Christians seek is both impractical and impossible. Especially since they are world class hypocrites who enjoy cheating, stealing and particularly sexual license of every description. They seek control of everyone else except themselves. These are unsustainable amoral values and such individuals had better wake up soon!

"To do good is noble. To tell others how to do good is nobler still - and a lot less trouble".

--- Mark Twain

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I'm not sure, based upon observations here, that too many atheists ARE "freethinkers".
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Beck on Aug 6, 2009 7:20 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You're a freethinker if you're okay with the differing thoughts of others and if you don't concretely make up your mind, never to change, about anything. If you're a believer or an atheist who has decided what to think now and forevermore, you stopped thinking at that point. Not necessarily a problem, but also no longer thinking.

"Free thinking" seems to HAVE to contain the germ of knowing that you either could be wrong, or, regarding the unknowable, you could change your mind. Seems like any evolving person SHOULD change their mind.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» You seem to suggest Posted by: factbased
» A fundamentalist atheist Posted by: Vark
» That depends Posted by: mkahn

Comments are closed-

In Atlanta, So True...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: MT512 on Aug 6, 2009 7:48 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When moving to Atlanta in '87 I hoped it would be a cultural and intellectual oasis contrasting most of the Bible Belt. Wrong!

Even among the people who don't wear their Christianity on their sleeves, mentioning your atheism is usually a shock. People here are just so used to hearing only reinforcements of the same narrow views that any expression outside of that thin range causes pity, fury, fear, sometimes condescending curiosity, and most often plain old resentment for going against the grain. Do you agree with the local majority? Talk all you want. But do you have an opinion that contrasts it in the slightest? Keep that shit to yourself... You're just trying to get attention... Arguing for the sake of argument... (And one of my faves, when they actually try to have a "discussion" about it) Science is just as dogmatic as religion.

I don't broadcast my atheism, but I don't hide or deny it when people strike up a conversation about religion. This has elicited very telling reflexive reactions:

- But you're such a nice person! (usually shaking their heads in genuine confusion)
- So (again, genuinely very confused)... then, what's to keep you from, you know, robbing a bank, or raping someone?

Of course, in neither instance does the good Christian have the slightest clue just how insulting their reactions are (I never said, upon learning of someone's Christianity, "Oh, but you're smart!"). And for the second example, I think that tells me more about them... So the only reason you don't rob a bank is fear of divine punishment? That's weird. I don't do it because it's wrong to steal.

This is why I think it is important to be plain about your atheism. You don't have to advertise it, but don't hide it when the topic comes up. People need these little reminders that not everyone thinks like they do... and that's perfectly OK.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: In Atlanta, So True... Posted by: manumiso
» MY QUESTION TO YOU IS THIS: Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

Atheist comedian David Cross reads from an Atlanta newspaper
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Defenestrator on Aug 6, 2009 8:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

Comments are closed-

'Do you know Jesus?'
[Report this comment]
Posted by: peterjkraus on Aug 6, 2009 8:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Q:..people behind you in line in the grocery store say 'Do you know Jesus?'

A: "The line cook at La Hacienda? Sure I know him"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

misbegotten
[Report this comment]
Posted by: sowles on Aug 6, 2009 8:40 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dear Susan, Why don't the athiests build a meeting hall so they can worship nothing in peace, then it would be covered by the constution, I think. Fondly, yours in nothing.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: misbegotten Posted by: MT512

Comments are closed-

my life...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford on Aug 6, 2009 8:56 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've driven back and forth on I-10 in California, and seen a great many billboards with Christian crap on them, "got faith?" "find jesus," etc. I trust that no billboard company would post a message over those after the time-slot ended, stating, "the previous advertisement does not reflect our views or morals as a company." Why wouldn't they? Because those statements DO reflect their views as a company, etc.

Atheists are finally starting to come out of the closet and try to find a place in mainstream society as equals. We're the latest. First it was women, then blacks, then Hispanics, then gays, and now us. Yet, despite all the advances from these past movements, it doesn't get any easier, because male Christian whitey wants to maintain dominance, and sure enough, he has, despite any and all efforts to the contrary.

I've never discussed in detail my atheism with my parents, but once about three years ago when the topic came up, I said that I saw nothing wrong with following my own moral code. My father's ever-so-casual retort to that was "Well so did Hitler." I immediately noted to him that Hitler, like my father, was a Catholic, and at the very least, he was theist, not atheist, and I walked out the door.

They say that we're oppressing them by simply opening our mouths and attempting to be acknowledged. They said the same things when blacks tried for their moment in the sun. They're saying the same things while gays try to gain equality. Maybe people will realize this time that it's not about equality so much as it's about getting a very patriarchal, machismo religion to stop belittling other viewpoints, even when those viewpoints pose no physical threat to them whatsoever.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

It just is
[Report this comment]
Posted by: It just is on Aug 6, 2009 10:24 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I live in a small town in Oklahoma and my youngest son was brutalized,victimized, and sexually assulted in school because of his outspoken atheism. His life was ruined because he would not keep his beliefs to himself. These fine Christian people tried to beat the atheism out of him. They did not succeed in changing his religous beliefs but they did succeed in making him a basket case. This is just an example of Christainity in action.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: It just is Posted by: MT512
» RE: It just is Posted by: xmarlon27
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: It just is Posted by: laoma
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

Here are a few 'atheist' places
[Report this comment]
Posted by: richard0a37 on Aug 6, 2009 10:37 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The first contribution by maxpayne asks: what about Christians trying to live in atheist places, to which Vark responds: Atheist places? Where are they then?

• In the heads of the bankers, the money machine tyrants, the chemical and biological weapons manufacturers, the spreaders of disinformation and outright lies by a media intent on brainwashing and dumbing down the population for profit and political supremacy;
• In the heads of the creators and designers of TV advertisements who resort to any kind of despicable and low life methods to sell products, the majority of which no one needs
• In physics, chemistry and other research laboratories who have no need of God in order to further greater knowledge and gain greater understanding of the sciences and of the world in which we live in
• In nearly every single workplace where the emphasis is on getting a particular job done, and where any reference to a religion would be utterly inappropriate

In a sane world, Man would have no need for religion, for in our day to day existence, God doesn’t exist. But, like death and taxes, powerful forces foist God on an unsuspecting public and get the stricken to believe that God actually means something.

The vast majority of people don’t know why they believe in God. They just feel they ought to, except that in many cases, this feeling is so damned strong that imagining life in the absence of such a force is quite unthinkable.

Some people say that the mentality of the Human Race is locked in the middle ages. They are wrong. It’s as strong now as it was 2,000 years ago, and nothing short of a wholesale uprooting of Man’s base love affair with the supernatural is going to alter things one iota.

Infatuation with the supernatural should have died when Thompson discovered the electron in 1894, when it became apparent that the structure of matter is completely different to what our cavemen ancestors thought.

But you know people. Half of them live in a dream world dominated by unseen and unproven beliefs that should have gone the way of the dodo.

And it makes me life that people want to mention the atrocities of 2,000 years ago in order to somehow justify the continuation of the same insane way of behaving and thinking today.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Stupid argument. Posted by: mv_mc
» RE: Stupid argument. Posted by: richard0a37

Comments are closed-

Atheist are still not trusted
[Report this comment]
Posted by: chaoslegs on Aug 6, 2009 11:53 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Univ. of MN did a study and it wasn't pretty.

I have had people of faith be shocked that I am an atheist, "but he is so nice." "He is a good person." Yeah, a lot of us are, some real jerks, but the jerks exists in all population groups, including the religious.

I still think that atheist should join up with progressive religious organizations for social justice change.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» I prefer Posted by: chaoslegs
» RE: I prefer Posted by: MT512
» RE: Atheist are still not trusted Posted by: abstractedaway

Comments are closed-

So, you're a christian, huh?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: willymack on Aug 6, 2009 1:06 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So, you go to a church every Sunday?
So, you put on your finery for the occasion, so you can impress others?
So you gather in cliques to gossip about other parishoners and insult them behind their backs?
So, you debase yourselves by listening to the charlatan on the pulpit telling you what worms you are unless you think and act in a manner approved by him, prostrating yourself before him in prayer, singing his hymns, and jumping through whatever hoops he devises for you?
So, you pay the phony baloney "man of god" for his insulting performance?
So, you leave the church, completely unscathed by the experience, because you're just as stupid, ignorant, hateful, and intolerant as you were BEFORE your attendance?
If this is what it means to be a christian, you can have it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Pretty Much Right ... Posted by: iolanthe

Comments are closed-

Fuck the south.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: rafaeltoral on Aug 6, 2009 3:12 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can think of no larger collection of ignorant and violence prone people in the united states.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: lolisforidiots
» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: MT512
» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

My Favorite Bumper Sticker
[Report this comment]
Posted by: dooglefish on Aug 6, 2009 3:31 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Jesus is dead. Get over it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: My Favorite Bumper Sticker Posted by: lolisforidiots
» RE: My Favorite Bumper Sticker Posted by: Zeugitai

Comments are closed-

Life is contingent, only the strong in mind survive...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: socrates2 on Aug 6, 2009 4:49 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I neither debate nor argue with "True Believers."
As a rule _believers_ have not reasoned themselves to their conclusions, so they can't be reasoned out of them either.
That said, my response to "Do you believe in God?"
A: "I don't even possess an _immortal soul_. What difference does it make?"
The _assumption_ of your typical believer is that we will "live on" post-mortem. Cut the debate short: "I am stardust, baby. As 'nothing is created or destroyed only transformed,' every particle in me is already "immortal." My "ego" (or rather my _illusion_ of it) will be _annihilated_ when I die. Next question...
Damn! What is it about death and dying that people find so terrifying? It's a natural process, folks.
Was anyone in the room afraid of "life" and "existence" half hour _before_ he took his first breath of air? I doubt it. Same goes for the opposite direction.
Do we live in a nation of _cowards_? An individual's belief system and his embrace of metaphysical "entities" tells me a lot about his courage and attitude toward existence. Life takes _guts_. Life is contingent, it is uncertain, unpredictable, and loaded with _insecurity_, moment to moment.
The chicken-hearted need not apply or remain. No offense to anyone who loves their arsenal, but in the back of my head I have always assumed that's why religious folks _need_ their guns...
"Security," what a concept.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Why I moved to the Left Coast and learned to love my real self
[Report this comment]
Posted by: DaBear on Aug 6, 2009 5:31 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up in NE Pennsylvania (a hotbed of knee-jerk conservatism and fundie Xtianity). I moved to New England the very day I got home from college (literally packed my beat up ole car and drove to CT). After a few years in New England's staunch Xtianism and ironclad classist caste society, I gave up and moved to what I thought would be the garden of progressive atheist eden... oops. At least I got 3,000 miles from the shitstorm of presumed Xtian fundimentality.

Still it took me a decade to come out, and when I did to my Dad it was a shout-fest on my brothers lawn while my Dad attacked me for a solid hour or more. We've talked only about the weather ever since. I'm sure he prays for my soul and I no longer give a fuck.

I have nothing but sympathy for those atheists in Xtian nationalist controlled areas. Being stuck in the closet or brutalized for coming out is a total craptasm to endure.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

"Do you know Jesus?"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abusedbypenguins on Aug 6, 2009 6:18 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yeah, but ICE sent him back to Mexico.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Go to Mexico City and yell "Hey Jesus!"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abusedbypenguins on Aug 6, 2009 6:21 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Half of the male population will answer "Wha jou wan, man?"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

My experience growing up in Virginia
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bettyn on Aug 6, 2009 6:24 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
is pretty close to that of the second poster. Religion was rammed down my throat from earliest childhood. (For some reason I just never could believe in some invisible being watching over all of us. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were more plausible to me, maybe because I got it that each was actually a cute imaginary being that in reality was Mom and Daddy!)I never thought my parents were all THAT religious, but I think they were worried about what the neighbors in our hick town would think if I didn't show up for Sunday School every week. This forced church attendance went on throughout high school. I went to a private boarding school because the local high school had such shitty teachers and my Mom's parents were willing to pay for it. Forced church attendance was part of the deal at that school. It was also the case at the Presbyterian college I attended for my first two years of higher education.(Ah, the joys of being born Scots-Irish!) Finally, I was allowed to spend my Sundays in heathen peace when I transferred to a large university. (Imagine! I actually met some Yankees, Jews and Democrats FINALLY as well as other "exotic species of humanity"!)

At last, I was LIBERATED and able to be an atheist as well as a liberal Democrat! How nice to be an adult and free from religion! No more sitting in some crowded varnish-smelling pew listening to some bored moron with a Southern accent drone on about "Gawd" and "Jeeeeeeeeeeebus" while my stomach growled and my eyes kept going shut(Sundays are INDEED for sleeping!)while some kid was kicking the back of my seat. (Undoubtedly he was as bored as I was.)

I do not care what anyone else believes as long as they keep their religion to themselves. If they do not, I don't associate with them. No one (and I mean NO ONE) will ever drag me into another house of worship as long as I live. I do like most sacred music (The classics, please. No "Open the Eyes of My Heart" or other "Christian rock".), but my affection for religion ends there and will stay that way. Enough, in my case, was indeed enough! (Ditto my lapsed Eastern European Catholic husband. He still runs away when he sees nuns coming toward him!)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

What va Beach are you talking about?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar on Aug 6, 2009 6:26 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The one I used to party at was home of the "Black spring break" every year, and far from a religious mecca.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Atheists in foxholes
[Report this comment]
Posted by: lolisforidiots on Aug 6, 2009 6:56 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up believing in my parents ‘fairytale’ religion. They didn’t attend church or read the Bible. I was told that all good people go to heaven. Jesus was said to have been a wise man but one of many. My mother told me, “Jesus was the son of God but so are you.” I was shocked to learn that most of my classmates believed that such beliefs condemned me to hell and learned to keep quiet about them. Still later, I had doubts and considered myself agnostic. I was a medic in Vietnam when I decided that I no longer had doubts and began to call myself an atheist. I don’t think my military experience was the cause but it does give lie to the notion that there are no atheists in foxholes.
Kary

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Atheists in foxholes Posted by: MT512
» From what I've seen... Posted by: morticia

Comments are closed-

Along with the usual tomfoolery, lots of great shared stories here.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Sojourner on Aug 6, 2009 8:41 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wish it wasn't so often the case that difference of religious opinion leads to hard feelings. I have a few scars, some of which have come from both extremes.

What I regret most is that there is a wonderful evolution of serious religious discussion underway that gets neglected. With the allowance of study of religion in higher education, we have trained academics who are exploring religion within the academic disciplines. It is coming so fast, I cannot keep up.

I ran across a reference to a journal titled "Political Theology" originating in the UK. It has been around for 10 years, but this was the first I had heard. Sure, it has lots of apologizing for traditional orthodoxies. But it also has insights (I've only read a bit from it) that open new windows. I know of another handful of sources that promise a more fertile field for discussion of religion. So, folks, somewhere out there in the darkness is what may be a new dawn. I keep looking.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Gays in Bible Belt
[Report this comment]
Posted by: C. Rich on Aug 7, 2009 8:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hard for them too. Check this out!

http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/08/news-anchor-too-gay/

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

When I Was Young...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: wtfo on Aug 8, 2009 8:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In my youthful days I was raised Catholic, attended a Catholic school (mass every school morning), and Sunday mass every weekend. Thinking back, I realize now that my early Catholic School days were really a form of intensive religious indoctrination. Somehow, subtle (at times not so subtle) tenants of religion were suffused into every school topic in one form or another.

I admit I always had my doubts and actually just pretended to believe most of the time. Then one day I vividly remember seeing a movie (if you can reasonably call it that) in school about the vision of the Virgin Mary by some young children. I don't remember too much in particular about it now, but I DO remember a quotation at the end saying something to the effect of:

"To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe, no explanation is possible".

Even at my young age, this was such an absurd statement of "religious logic" that there and then I decided I had had enough of this school. Over time, my parents let me attend the local public school and I believe eventually I was successfully "de-programmed".

Now I live in the Atlanta suburbs and find myself essentially back in Catholic school again. The religiosity in this area is beyond belief and stifling to any truly creative thinking and problem solving individual. To be accepted, you must conform to the overt Christian God. Else, you are looked down upon or scorned or pitied by those who have either been "reborn" or never lost the faith to begin with.

So, I have decided to leave as soon as possible and head to somewhere else that is a bit more progressive and free-thinking. My ultimate dream is to tour Western Europe and hopefully find a society that is much less religious, much more progressive, and built upon a society where people work and live together in peaceful harmony for the RIGHT reasons.

I am not interested in living in a country in which all its citizens believe their society should be built upon the bedrock of an all-seeing, omniscient, all-powerful super being whose sole purpose is to guide us sinful people into some improbable state of perpetual nirvana. Instead I am looking for a country built on the concept that all their citizens are entitled to freedom of thought, religion (which includes freedom FROM religion), and freedom from the complete corporatization of their citizens and their institutions of health, government, employment, and financial wellbeing – if such a place even exists anymore…

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: When I Was Young... Posted by: Zeugitai

Comments are closed-

Maybe Southerners Don't Like Liars
[Report this comment]
Posted by: aberdeen on Aug 9, 2009 12:36 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Maybe Ms. McCarthy has trouble getting along with us in the South because we aren't all the dumb hicks she seems to assume we are and, many of us can actually tell the difference between evidence and atheism. I have two eyes, two ears and a nose and I've found plenty of evidence for the existence of God. Unfortunately for Ms. McCarthy, I haven't found a shred of evidence for sponataneously appearing universes filled with intelligent creatures somehow magically appearing on their own, without any Creative Intelligence behind the process, just as I have yet to find a computer that has managed to conceive of, design and create itself. Maybe some of us country folk here in the South just don't like being lied to by obvious charlatans and frauds pretending to be scientists.

Who Would Jesus Bomb?
www.FreedomTracks.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Tactical "Christians"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Zeugitai on Aug 9, 2009 11:19 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Years ago, I moved to Arkansas and the Witnesses, the Baptists, and the Methodists couldn't get into my driveway fast enough -- like reporters trying to scoop each other -- to find out where we were going to be going to church and whether there was any slack for them to persuade us to go to their church. It was very difficult to put them off without tripping their switches of judgment and condemnation. The seller of the home we bought advised us to go to the big Baptist church in town telling us it was good for business; that it was only necessary to go for the sake of acceptance and social networking. He was right, of course; and in the end that is what we did. It meant the difference between being branded outsiders and being excluded from the social life of the town, and being insiders who were welcomed and supported. It could be the difference between life and death in a small town where the economy is thin and fragile. Visitors to our home never noticed or recognized the shelf with Darwin, Dawkins, Lovelock, Weiner, and the rest. It's all part of coming to an accommodation -- like living in a madhouse, or in a prison. You can't be institutionalized and carry with you your expectations based on a life of freedom in a big city. You do what you have to do in order to survive. Of course, though, none of this applies to the wealthy. With money, you can afford to isolate yourself and live as you wish.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Tactical "Christians" Posted by: Aposterioriperception
Alternet Comments:

Comments are closed-

Nonsense. I live in VA Beach, home of Pat Robertson, and there are plenty of atheists doing fine.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 6, 2009 12:30 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What about Christians trying to live in atheist places? This article is pure horseshit.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I on the other hand concur
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abstractedaway on Aug 6, 2009 1:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up just across the water from Virginia Beach and contrary to the earlier poster, there is a ton of social pressure in many segments of society across the South to see religion as indispensable to having a decent character. After all, if there's no god you may as well lie, cheat, kill, and steal with abandon, right? You can cherry-pick to find places where religion isn't rammed down people's throats, but the general rule is that godless is a huge slur on somebody.

I grew up in a religious home and school, and was raised a true believer. As a child, I really thought my meaning in life was to be a christian and lead others into being that way too; life apart from that was unspeakable. I may as well have not been born if not to serve the fundamentalist god. That was the mindset I was raised in, and large numbers of other children as well. Jesus Camp just begins to explain this mindset.

Coming out atheist caused an uproar. I had to fear getting kicked out of home while I was still trying to commute to college. I endured a lot of guilt tripping for setting an example to my younger sibling and her youthful mistakes were blamed on me.

I can keep in contact with very few of my former colleagues. Most of them ask what church I'm going to, and upon finding out none, and that I will not humbly accept the pejorative "backslider" and admit I need to go to church again, but rather proudly assert myself as an atheist, often get the cursory "I'll pray for you" in a tone few cranky Brits would muster for their most withering "Good day". I had to nearly start my social life over from scratch.

Even public colleges like Christopher Newport are up to their ears in religion. It was not uncommon to have classes disrupted by boisterous worship services on campus.

My experience is that this article's story is not uncommon in Virginia. It's not the whole story, but the region is pretty thick with it, and should an atheist disparage other beliefs as the southern baptists and pentecostals clearly feel entitled to, they do it in invitation of a lot of harassment. The further South you go, the crazier it gets. I would in all seriousness fear for my life if I engaged in atheist/freethinking activism in Pensacola, Florida for example.

I have washed my hands of my former homestate with this being one of my largest reasons. In the parlance of these God-'n-guns Bible thumpers, let the dead go bury their dead. I've moved far away and am glad not to be choking on the high-handed rhetoric of snake-oil peddling charlatans who think they have a shred of morality to talk down to others about.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Playing cards??? Drinking wine??? Posted by: Caleb Darkstar
» RE: Playing cards??? Drinking wine??? Posted by: abstractedaway
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: maxpayne
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: abstractedaway
» RE: I on the other hand concur Posted by: Blondinista

Comments are closed-

I'm a midwestern atheist
[Report this comment]
Posted by: DanoM on Aug 6, 2009 12:59 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Interesting article...

I haven't "come out" to my parents or siblings. They might suspect, but I know that some would have real trouble with it. Even not accepting Jesus in a manner chosen by my aunt has me destined to burn in hell.

I was raised in a devout christian home, and didn't even really know what an atheist was. Not believing in god wasn't even an option in the house I grew up in. If your parents and those around you always claim there is a god who is a kid to ask otherwise?

Now move away from home and find the whole religion thing isn't quite making as much sense anymore. You're told growing up that satan would tell 10 truths to get you to believe 1 lie and lead you astray. Heaven and hell are literal places. Christians are constantly being tempted. The threats to your soul's peril are faced daily. On and on it goes for the devout well indoctrinated worshiper.

Years of indoctrination don't just disappear overnite. Took me a few years to break totally free on my own, maybe with information like we have in abundance today it would have made that much faster and simpler.

I don't feel the need to go to an atheist community group, but can see where some might find it helpful in many ways.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: I'm a midwestern atheist Posted by: abstractedaway

Comments are closed-

Don Quixote
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Don Quixot on Aug 6, 2009 2:11 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If both believers and non-believers were not so arrogant, treating each other as idiots or evil, it would be better. Many believers think if they accept evolution they have to give up God. And non-believers think if they accept God they have to give up evolution. Neither wants to accept that perhaps they are not 100 % right and the others 0 %, but both 50 % right, and there are both, God and evolution.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: kepstein7777
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: djkrugger
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: bentes
» Never the 'twain shall meet. Posted by: wolfgangmo75
» RE: Don Quixote Posted by: talkville
» GOD is evolution. Posted by: jimmyaj

Comments are closed-

I really feel that the term atheist...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: ShrubtheWarcriminal on Aug 6, 2009 2:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...dignifies what it denies and refuse to have it applied to me. We do not have terms for people who do not believe in ghosts, zombies, or tooth fairies. It is a pejorative term dreamed up by religionists to isolate, and eventually used to destroy you.

Call it marketing or whatever, I consider myself a rationalist, a scientist. I need PROOF for anything you want me to BELIEVE. If you do not have it, call me later when you do.

There is not one speck of evidence for any god and the real kicker is that there is not one speck of evidence for the miracle producing Jesus, who supposedly actually walked this land 2000 years ago.

Think of it. If this MAN actually existed, their would be the usual anthropological, archeological, evidence for such a person. There is NONE! As a recovering catholic, I have searched for it, and found NADA.

This is the biggest kick in the ass to any Christian. Gods (invisible friends), we can possibly argue about their existence, but in this day of supposed reason we have ways to prove whether a person of any substance actually walked this earth.

I tell my Christian "friends" to just call me when they have evidence for ANYTHING they just want me to BELIEVE in.

Faith," said St. Paul, "is the evidence of things not seen." We should elaborate this definition by adding that faith is the assertion of things for which there is not a particle of evidence and of things which are incredible.

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.

Ministers do not know whether or not there is a heaven, or a hell, or a God or anything after death; but they talk as if they have been raised with God and played marbles with Christ.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE:jaded: Gimme a few names of scientists... Posted by: ShrubtheWarcriminal

Comments are closed-

Billboards
[Report this comment]
Posted by: kepstein7777 on Aug 6, 2009 2:52 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One of my favorite sayings apparently came from a bumper sticker: "God bless the rest of the world too."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Gosh, isn't it TERRIBLE to be an atheist in the "Bible Belt"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Woodpecker on Aug 6, 2009 3:01 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My heart bleeds for these poor souls- isn't it a little like being a declared Christian in an atheist polity- Stalin's Soviet Union, the Third Reich, Castro's Cuba, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea-at least they aren't being persecuted by the Christian equivalent of the Gestapo or NKVD!!!

Terry

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Stalin did it, so why can't we? Posted by: leafsong1
» Hitler and the Lord's work Posted by: lolisforidiots

Comments are closed-

Believe it or not, being the wrong kind of Christian might be worse
[Report this comment]
Posted by: COinms on Aug 6, 2009 3:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great story. I live in Mississippi and am a non- trinitarian christian (not a JW) who does not believe in hellfire or the physical second coming. Indeed, I am 180 degrees away from about any doctrine the fundamentalists believe. We are non-violent, antiwar, and there are very few of us, probably 10 in the state of Mississippi. I'm not a republican or conservative, which down here is normal. People like me till they find out what I believe; then I am a cultist (although we don't 'do' guns). My kids don't have many friends because church is the big deal down here, although my children are better behaved and more thoughtful and polite than the little baptists. I hope to be able to move before things get much worse, maybe to the pacific northwest. Even a midwest college town would be better.
Southern Christians are big hypocrites; they love God, but love Bush too. They pray, but they send their young men off to kill and be killed in war. They love America but hate Obama. You get the idea.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Of course it is Posted by: leafsong1

Comments are closed-

I live in the Belly Button of the Bible Belt
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bthespoon on Aug 6, 2009 4:18 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Where I-70 and I-57 cross, there is a (holy Christ) cross big enough to scare the bejeezus out of any unsuspecting traveler who rounds the bend. It willl probably hurry more than a few of us along the way to meet our maker (causing accidents by distracting motorists at 70mph where traffic is merging in all directions). It looks to me as though it outshines any monumental public statuary Sadam Hussein ever built in Iraq.

I'm just trying to warn people so they're not surprised.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» To illustrate... Posted by: Aimleft

Comments are closed-

Why is it...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: teddy on Aug 6, 2009 4:28 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...anyone's business what religion you follow? the pressure to bring a person, no matter how "friendly", into the fold is immensely offensive. (And I love jelly salads!) A boss's question about religious affiliation or church attendance grossly violates your constitutional rights.

People who ask should be told to mind their own business.

Why would you want to "out" yourself or a family member at all? You can't convince religious nuts of the value of your position. Or are you trying to gain forgivenness or acceptance? That can't happen, and maybe you just need to grow up and take your lumps.

Find others who (dis)believe as you do - it doesn't show, you know. Just insist that your religion is a private matter and stop looking for approval. Protect your dignity.

That said, I do think that this emphasis on Xianity has as much to do with White chauvinism/supremacy as with faith ("real Americans"). It's gotta be more than mere coincidence that some of the most Xian groups are also the most racist and vice versa. People forget that Nazism was closely allied with Xianity, not paganism. ("Kinder, Kirche, Kueche" was the world defined for women)

You're wise to steer clear of that kind of religion altogether. Rock on!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Why is it... Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

rednecks, guns and Jesus
[Report this comment]
Posted by: aislinnluv on Aug 6, 2009 4:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
are the culture where I live, just outside Houston. drive down the road and you are greeted by electronic signs in front of businesses exhorting you to "pray ceaselessly", "surrender to jesus", and "exercise daily - walk with god". for one who doesn't believe in god, it's a pretty hostile environment. though i generally eschew bumper stickers, i did have one on one of my beaters that was a quote from Sinclair Lewis - "when fascism comes to america, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross". i thought it was succinct and truthful. however, my fabulously honest mechanic (no, really) turned out to be a born-again christian so i wound up first defending my sticker and finally just ripping it off the car. if i drew a circle on the map of my area, within a radius of two miles i could stick a pin on a dozen churches, most of them some non-traditional, weird offshoot like the anointed apostolic church that sarah palin attends. a little farther out and it includes catholic, lutheran, lds, jehovah's witness, etc., etc. yeah, i'm leaving as soon as my last kid graduates high school. i wouldn't mind finding some like-minded individuals to talk to, not about nonreligion, just normal, intelligent conversation that doesn't include any references to god, prayer, or salvation.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: rednecks, guns and Jesus Posted by: Thresher
» RE: rednecks, guns and Jesus Posted by: jumperladd
» That Wasn't a Safety Reminder? Posted by: iolanthe

Comments are closed-

"WE DON'T FEEL ANYONE'S SOUL NEEDS TO BE SAVED." REALLY???
[Report this comment]
Posted by: AZLBRAX07 on Aug 6, 2009 5:01 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
For me, that is the most hypocritical statement in the whole article!

This group of so-called “Freethinkers” is nothing but the reverse side of that worn out “religion” coin and they are no different from those that they, supposedly, distance themselves from. Both sides of this smarmy “coin” gather together in insecure little groups to bolster each other’s beliefs. Both sides waste money erecting billboards to SHOUT out their claims for or against some primitive “god”. One side worships “Jesus”; the other side worships Darwin…both merely flawed Talking Apes. Both sides turn into pathetic whiners whenever their beliefs are questioned or mocked…and in doing so, they present themselves as innocent “martyrs”. I suspect that whenever either side is “martyred”, they secretly relish it: “Oh, please, do it again! It hurts so good!”

Both sides are equally ridiculous and beneath contempt.

I live in a very rural area, deep in the Southern bible-belt, a couple of miles away from the nearest “town”, which is…literally…a 4-corners where 2 county roads cross, with one blinking traffic light. There’s a convenience-store on one corner, a small hardware/ sporting goods store on another, a tiny “mom-and-pop grocery on the third and the forth corner is vacant. That’s it! Many of the locals…not that there are that “many”…are deeply “religious”, attend church on Sundays and constantly refer to “The Lord”. I have been a true Freethinker for over 40 years without the dubious need for some support-group to keep my beliefs…and lack of beliefs…strong. Since it’s such a small town, we, all, pretty much know each other and NEVER ONCE has anybody pounded my head with a bible or told me that I am Hellbound because I don’t accept “Jesus” as my personal savior or believe in some mythical “god”. In fact, since we’re all Southerners and bred to be polite, we don’t discuss “religion” at all.

Which, as far as I’m concerned, is the way it should be!

Believe…or don’t believe…whatever nonsense you chose to. Just keep it to yourself and shut-the-hell up!

A simple solution to a non-problem.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Is this place...called??. Posted by: walldodger1969
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Is this place...called??. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» LOL Posted by: LMNOP
» RE: LOL Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: factbased
» RE: Yes, really. Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

It's the local version of the rackets.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: littlepitcher on Aug 6, 2009 5:27 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Christianity is popular in the South because of its two great contradictions--it condemns theft in the Commandments, but Jesus forgives thieves and advises forgiveness "seventy times seven".

Thus, the churches become a hiring hall where the most outspoken "witnesses" will get the offers, while at the same time, the church leaders are often the corporate thieves and KKK slumlords who keep the community poor.

I'd love to take some of these stump-knocking, Bible-thumping human resources jerks into a court of law for violation of open shop laws, just to get some fairness in the workplace.

And, of course, if you are not Christian, when your neighbors decide to take your job, force you to sell your worldly goods at garage-sale rates, and foreclose your house, then it's God's will, and he's given all of your life away because you weren't obedient.

It's a particularly despicable organized crime racket.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

A word to the wise
[Report this comment]
Posted by: talkville on Aug 6, 2009 5:34 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only in the South. Anywhere in this country, if one is not a Christian - particularly a Christian of a Protestant sect, it is always a far more prudent course of action to Keep One's Head Down.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Nope... Posted by: morticia
» RE: Nope... Posted by: talkville
» RE: A word to the wise Posted by: InsideOut
» RE: A word to the wise Posted by: talkville

Comments are closed-

FFRF is a GREAT organization!
[Report this comment]
Posted by: frantic1971 on Aug 6, 2009 6:52 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a great organization. More power to 'em! I love their tactic of putting up these billboards. It really exposes these religious nuts for the phonies they are, because once they start talking and sputtering in such outrage that someone has DARED to challenge their "Santa Claus in the Sky" beliefs, they really show themselves for the fools they are.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Not JUST Atheists....any non KKKristian is closeted
[Report this comment]
Posted by: rastaman on Aug 6, 2009 7:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
look at the world through a non KKKristian's eyes and you'll see the evil collaborating all around you.


geez that sounds paranoid.....but it's true.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Just another hot day in "Christian Hell"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Derestanne on Aug 6, 2009 7:15 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I agree with the poster who said "not just in the South - all over the USA". Everywhere I've lived and traveled in this Country it's the same story. Not Christian? Then you can Repent or Roast!

And make no mistake - it's not about God or Devil - it is about CONTROL. Control of individuals, society, government. Control of ideas; control of behavior; control of EVERYTHING. That is the Christian ideal of "Heaven on Earth" but it sounds like pure Hell to me!

I sleep at night knowing that what Christians seek is both impractical and impossible. Especially since they are world class hypocrites who enjoy cheating, stealing and particularly sexual license of every description. They seek control of everyone else except themselves. These are unsustainable amoral values and such individuals had better wake up soon!

"To do good is noble. To tell others how to do good is nobler still - and a lot less trouble".

--- Mark Twain

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

I'm not sure, based upon observations here, that too many atheists ARE "freethinkers".
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Beck on Aug 6, 2009 7:20 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You're a freethinker if you're okay with the differing thoughts of others and if you don't concretely make up your mind, never to change, about anything. If you're a believer or an atheist who has decided what to think now and forevermore, you stopped thinking at that point. Not necessarily a problem, but also no longer thinking.

"Free thinking" seems to HAVE to contain the germ of knowing that you either could be wrong, or, regarding the unknowable, you could change your mind. Seems like any evolving person SHOULD change their mind.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» You seem to suggest Posted by: factbased
» A fundamentalist atheist Posted by: Vark
» That depends Posted by: mkahn

Comments are closed-

In Atlanta, So True...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: MT512 on Aug 6, 2009 7:48 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When moving to Atlanta in '87 I hoped it would be a cultural and intellectual oasis contrasting most of the Bible Belt. Wrong!

Even among the people who don't wear their Christianity on their sleeves, mentioning your atheism is usually a shock. People here are just so used to hearing only reinforcements of the same narrow views that any expression outside of that thin range causes pity, fury, fear, sometimes condescending curiosity, and most often plain old resentment for going against the grain. Do you agree with the local majority? Talk all you want. But do you have an opinion that contrasts it in the slightest? Keep that shit to yourself... You're just trying to get attention... Arguing for the sake of argument... (And one of my faves, when they actually try to have a "discussion" about it) Science is just as dogmatic as religion.

I don't broadcast my atheism, but I don't hide or deny it when people strike up a conversation about religion. This has elicited very telling reflexive reactions:

- But you're such a nice person! (usually shaking their heads in genuine confusion)
- So (again, genuinely very confused)... then, what's to keep you from, you know, robbing a bank, or raping someone?

Of course, in neither instance does the good Christian have the slightest clue just how insulting their reactions are (I never said, upon learning of someone's Christianity, "Oh, but you're smart!"). And for the second example, I think that tells me more about them... So the only reason you don't rob a bank is fear of divine punishment? That's weird. I don't do it because it's wrong to steal.

This is why I think it is important to be plain about your atheism. You don't have to advertise it, but don't hide it when the topic comes up. People need these little reminders that not everyone thinks like they do... and that's perfectly OK.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: In Atlanta, So True... Posted by: manumiso
» MY QUESTION TO YOU IS THIS: Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

Atheist comedian David Cross reads from an Atlanta newspaper
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Defenestrator on Aug 6, 2009 8:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]

Comments are closed-

'Do you know Jesus?'
[Report this comment]
Posted by: peterjkraus on Aug 6, 2009 8:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Q:..people behind you in line in the grocery store say 'Do you know Jesus?'

A: "The line cook at La Hacienda? Sure I know him"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

misbegotten
[Report this comment]
Posted by: sowles on Aug 6, 2009 8:40 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Dear Susan, Why don't the athiests build a meeting hall so they can worship nothing in peace, then it would be covered by the constution, I think. Fondly, yours in nothing.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: misbegotten Posted by: MT512

Comments are closed-

my life...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford on Aug 6, 2009 8:56 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've driven back and forth on I-10 in California, and seen a great many billboards with Christian crap on them, "got faith?" "find jesus," etc. I trust that no billboard company would post a message over those after the time-slot ended, stating, "the previous advertisement does not reflect our views or morals as a company." Why wouldn't they? Because those statements DO reflect their views as a company, etc.

Atheists are finally starting to come out of the closet and try to find a place in mainstream society as equals. We're the latest. First it was women, then blacks, then Hispanics, then gays, and now us. Yet, despite all the advances from these past movements, it doesn't get any easier, because male Christian whitey wants to maintain dominance, and sure enough, he has, despite any and all efforts to the contrary.

I've never discussed in detail my atheism with my parents, but once about three years ago when the topic came up, I said that I saw nothing wrong with following my own moral code. My father's ever-so-casual retort to that was "Well so did Hitler." I immediately noted to him that Hitler, like my father, was a Catholic, and at the very least, he was theist, not atheist, and I walked out the door.

They say that we're oppressing them by simply opening our mouths and attempting to be acknowledged. They said the same things when blacks tried for their moment in the sun. They're saying the same things while gays try to gain equality. Maybe people will realize this time that it's not about equality so much as it's about getting a very patriarchal, machismo religion to stop belittling other viewpoints, even when those viewpoints pose no physical threat to them whatsoever.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

It just is
[Report this comment]
Posted by: It just is on Aug 6, 2009 10:24 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I live in a small town in Oklahoma and my youngest son was brutalized,victimized, and sexually assulted in school because of his outspoken atheism. His life was ruined because he would not keep his beliefs to himself. These fine Christian people tried to beat the atheism out of him. They did not succeed in changing his religous beliefs but they did succeed in making him a basket case. This is just an example of Christainity in action.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: It just is Posted by: MT512
» RE: It just is Posted by: xmarlon27
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07
» RE: It just is Posted by: laoma
» RE: It just is Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

Here are a few 'atheist' places
[Report this comment]
Posted by: richard0a37 on Aug 6, 2009 10:37 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The first contribution by maxpayne asks: what about Christians trying to live in atheist places, to which Vark responds: Atheist places? Where are they then?

• In the heads of the bankers, the money machine tyrants, the chemical and biological weapons manufacturers, the spreaders of disinformation and outright lies by a media intent on brainwashing and dumbing down the population for profit and political supremacy;
• In the heads of the creators and designers of TV advertisements who resort to any kind of despicable and low life methods to sell products, the majority of which no one needs
• In physics, chemistry and other research laboratories who have no need of God in order to further greater knowledge and gain greater understanding of the sciences and of the world in which we live in
• In nearly every single workplace where the emphasis is on getting a particular job done, and where any reference to a religion would be utterly inappropriate

In a sane world, Man would have no need for religion, for in our day to day existence, God doesn’t exist. But, like death and taxes, powerful forces foist God on an unsuspecting public and get the stricken to believe that God actually means something.

The vast majority of people don’t know why they believe in God. They just feel they ought to, except that in many cases, this feeling is so damned strong that imagining life in the absence of such a force is quite unthinkable.

Some people say that the mentality of the Human Race is locked in the middle ages. They are wrong. It’s as strong now as it was 2,000 years ago, and nothing short of a wholesale uprooting of Man’s base love affair with the supernatural is going to alter things one iota.

Infatuation with the supernatural should have died when Thompson discovered the electron in 1894, when it became apparent that the structure of matter is completely different to what our cavemen ancestors thought.

But you know people. Half of them live in a dream world dominated by unseen and unproven beliefs that should have gone the way of the dodo.

And it makes me life that people want to mention the atrocities of 2,000 years ago in order to somehow justify the continuation of the same insane way of behaving and thinking today.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Stupid argument. Posted by: mv_mc
» RE: Stupid argument. Posted by: richard0a37

Comments are closed-

Atheist are still not trusted
[Report this comment]
Posted by: chaoslegs on Aug 6, 2009 11:53 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Univ. of MN did a study and it wasn't pretty.

I have had people of faith be shocked that I am an atheist, "but he is so nice." "He is a good person." Yeah, a lot of us are, some real jerks, but the jerks exists in all population groups, including the religious.

I still think that atheist should join up with progressive religious organizations for social justice change.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» I prefer Posted by: chaoslegs
» RE: I prefer Posted by: MT512
» RE: Atheist are still not trusted Posted by: abstractedaway

Comments are closed-

So, you're a christian, huh?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: willymack on Aug 6, 2009 1:06 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So, you go to a church every Sunday?
So, you put on your finery for the occasion, so you can impress others?
So you gather in cliques to gossip about other parishoners and insult them behind their backs?
So, you debase yourselves by listening to the charlatan on the pulpit telling you what worms you are unless you think and act in a manner approved by him, prostrating yourself before him in prayer, singing his hymns, and jumping through whatever hoops he devises for you?
So, you pay the phony baloney "man of god" for his insulting performance?
So, you leave the church, completely unscathed by the experience, because you're just as stupid, ignorant, hateful, and intolerant as you were BEFORE your attendance?
If this is what it means to be a christian, you can have it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Pretty Much Right ... Posted by: iolanthe

Comments are closed-

Fuck the south.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: rafaeltoral on Aug 6, 2009 3:12 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can think of no larger collection of ignorant and violence prone people in the united states.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: lolisforidiots
» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: MT512
» RE: Fuck the south. Posted by: AZLBRAX07

Comments are closed-

My Favorite Bumper Sticker
[Report this comment]
Posted by: dooglefish on Aug 6, 2009 3:31 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Jesus is dead. Get over it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: My Favorite Bumper Sticker Posted by: lolisforidiots
» RE: My Favorite Bumper Sticker Posted by: Zeugitai

Comments are closed-

Life is contingent, only the strong in mind survive...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: socrates2 on Aug 6, 2009 4:49 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I neither debate nor argue with "True Believers."
As a rule _believers_ have not reasoned themselves to their conclusions, so they can't be reasoned out of them either.
That said, my response to "Do you believe in God?"
A: "I don't even possess an _immortal soul_. What difference does it make?"
The _assumption_ of your typical believer is that we will "live on" post-mortem. Cut the debate short: "I am stardust, baby. As 'nothing is created or destroyed only transformed,' every particle in me is already "immortal." My "ego" (or rather my _illusion_ of it) will be _annihilated_ when I die. Next question...
Damn! What is it about death and dying that people find so terrifying? It's a natural process, folks.
Was anyone in the room afraid of "life" and "existence" half hour _before_ he took his first breath of air? I doubt it. Same goes for the opposite direction.
Do we live in a nation of _cowards_? An individual's belief system and his embrace of metaphysical "entities" tells me a lot about his courage and attitude toward existence. Life takes _guts_. Life is contingent, it is uncertain, unpredictable, and loaded with _insecurity_, moment to moment.
The chicken-hearted need not apply or remain. No offense to anyone who loves their arsenal, but in the back of my head I have always assumed that's why religious folks _need_ their guns...
"Security," what a concept.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Why I moved to the Left Coast and learned to love my real self
[Report this comment]
Posted by: DaBear on Aug 6, 2009 5:31 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up in NE Pennsylvania (a hotbed of knee-jerk conservatism and fundie Xtianity). I moved to New England the very day I got home from college (literally packed my beat up ole car and drove to CT). After a few years in New England's staunch Xtianism and ironclad classist caste society, I gave up and moved to what I thought would be the garden of progressive atheist eden... oops. At least I got 3,000 miles from the shitstorm of presumed Xtian fundimentality.

Still it took me a decade to come out, and when I did to my Dad it was a shout-fest on my brothers lawn while my Dad attacked me for a solid hour or more. We've talked only about the weather ever since. I'm sure he prays for my soul and I no longer give a fuck.

I have nothing but sympathy for those atheists in Xtian nationalist controlled areas. Being stuck in the closet or brutalized for coming out is a total craptasm to endure.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

"Do you know Jesus?"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abusedbypenguins on Aug 6, 2009 6:18 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Yeah, but ICE sent him back to Mexico.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Go to Mexico City and yell "Hey Jesus!"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: abusedbypenguins on Aug 6, 2009 6:21 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Half of the male population will answer "Wha jou wan, man?"

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

My experience growing up in Virginia
[Report this comment]
Posted by: bettyn on Aug 6, 2009 6:24 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
is pretty close to that of the second poster. Religion was rammed down my throat from earliest childhood. (For some reason I just never could believe in some invisible being watching over all of us. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were more plausible to me, maybe because I got it that each was actually a cute imaginary being that in reality was Mom and Daddy!)I never thought my parents were all THAT religious, but I think they were worried about what the neighbors in our hick town would think if I didn't show up for Sunday School every week. This forced church attendance went on throughout high school. I went to a private boarding school because the local high school had such shitty teachers and my Mom's parents were willing to pay for it. Forced church attendance was part of the deal at that school. It was also the case at the Presbyterian college I attended for my first two years of higher education.(Ah, the joys of being born Scots-Irish!) Finally, I was allowed to spend my Sundays in heathen peace when I transferred to a large university. (Imagine! I actually met some Yankees, Jews and Democrats FINALLY as well as other "exotic species of humanity"!)

At last, I was LIBERATED and able to be an atheist as well as a liberal Democrat! How nice to be an adult and free from religion! No more sitting in some crowded varnish-smelling pew listening to some bored moron with a Southern accent drone on about "Gawd" and "Jeeeeeeeeeeebus" while my stomach growled and my eyes kept going shut(Sundays are INDEED for sleeping!)while some kid was kicking the back of my seat. (Undoubtedly he was as bored as I was.)

I do not care what anyone else believes as long as they keep their religion to themselves. If they do not, I don't associate with them. No one (and I mean NO ONE) will ever drag me into another house of worship as long as I live. I do like most sacred music (The classics, please. No "Open the Eyes of My Heart" or other "Christian rock".), but my affection for religion ends there and will stay that way. Enough, in my case, was indeed enough! (Ditto my lapsed Eastern European Catholic husband. He still runs away when he sees nuns coming toward him!)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

What va Beach are you talking about?
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Caleb Darkstar on Aug 6, 2009 6:26 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The one I used to party at was home of the "Black spring break" every year, and far from a religious mecca.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Atheists in foxholes
[Report this comment]
Posted by: lolisforidiots on Aug 6, 2009 6:56 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I grew up believing in my parents ‘fairytale’ religion. They didn’t attend church or read the Bible. I was told that all good people go to heaven. Jesus was said to have been a wise man but one of many. My mother told me, “Jesus was the son of God but so are you.” I was shocked to learn that most of my classmates believed that such beliefs condemned me to hell and learned to keep quiet about them. Still later, I had doubts and considered myself agnostic. I was a medic in Vietnam when I decided that I no longer had doubts and began to call myself an atheist. I don’t think my military experience was the cause but it does give lie to the notion that there are no atheists in foxholes.
Kary

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Atheists in foxholes Posted by: MT512
» From what I've seen... Posted by: morticia

Comments are closed-

Along with the usual tomfoolery, lots of great shared stories here.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Sojourner on Aug 6, 2009 8:41 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wish it wasn't so often the case that difference of religious opinion leads to hard feelings. I have a few scars, some of which have come from both extremes.

What I regret most is that there is a wonderful evolution of serious religious discussion underway that gets neglected. With the allowance of study of religion in higher education, we have trained academics who are exploring religion within the academic disciplines. It is coming so fast, I cannot keep up.

I ran across a reference to a journal titled "Political Theology" originating in the UK. It has been around for 10 years, but this was the first I had heard. Sure, it has lots of apologizing for traditional orthodoxies. But it also has insights (I've only read a bit from it) that open new windows. I know of another handful of sources that promise a more fertile field for discussion of religion. So, folks, somewhere out there in the darkness is what may be a new dawn. I keep looking.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Gays in Bible Belt
[Report this comment]
Posted by: C. Rich on Aug 7, 2009 8:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hard for them too. Check this out!

http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/08/news-anchor-too-gay/

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

When I Was Young...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: wtfo on Aug 8, 2009 8:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In my youthful days I was raised Catholic, attended a Catholic school (mass every school morning), and Sunday mass every weekend. Thinking back, I realize now that my early Catholic School days were really a form of intensive religious indoctrination. Somehow, subtle (at times not so subtle) tenants of religion were suffused into every school topic in one form or another.

I admit I always had my doubts and actually just pretended to believe most of the time. Then one day I vividly remember seeing a movie (if you can reasonably call it that) in school about the vision of the Virgin Mary by some young children. I don't remember too much in particular about it now, but I DO remember a quotation at the end saying something to the effect of:

"To those who believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe, no explanation is possible".

Even at my young age, this was such an absurd statement of "religious logic" that there and then I decided I had had enough of this school. Over time, my parents let me attend the local public school and I believe eventually I was successfully "de-programmed".

Now I live in the Atlanta suburbs and find myself essentially back in Catholic school again. The religiosity in this area is beyond belief and stifling to any truly creative thinking and problem solving individual. To be accepted, you must conform to the overt Christian God. Else, you are looked down upon or scorned or pitied by those who have either been "reborn" or never lost the faith to begin with.

So, I have decided to leave as soon as possible and head to somewhere else that is a bit more progressive and free-thinking. My ultimate dream is to tour Western Europe and hopefully find a society that is much less religious, much more progressive, and built upon a society where people work and live together in peaceful harmony for the RIGHT reasons.

I am not interested in living in a country in which all its citizens believe their society should be built upon the bedrock of an all-seeing, omniscient, all-powerful super being whose sole purpose is to guide us sinful people into some improbable state of perpetual nirvana. Instead I am looking for a country built on the concept that all their citizens are entitled to freedom of thought, religion (which includes freedom FROM religion), and freedom from the complete corporatization of their citizens and their institutions of health, government, employment, and financial wellbeing – if such a place even exists anymore…

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: When I Was Young... Posted by: Zeugitai

Comments are closed-

Maybe Southerners Don't Like Liars
[Report this comment]
Posted by: aberdeen on Aug 9, 2009 12:36 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Maybe Ms. McCarthy has trouble getting along with us in the South because we aren't all the dumb hicks she seems to assume we are and, many of us can actually tell the difference between evidence and atheism. I have two eyes, two ears and a nose and I've found plenty of evidence for the existence of God. Unfortunately for Ms. McCarthy, I haven't found a shred of evidence for sponataneously appearing universes filled with intelligent creatures somehow magically appearing on their own, without any Creative Intelligence behind the process, just as I have yet to find a computer that has managed to conceive of, design and create itself. Maybe some of us country folk here in the South just don't like being lied to by obvious charlatans and frauds pretending to be scientists.

Who Would Jesus Bomb?
www.FreedomTracks.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Comments are closed-

Tactical "Christians"
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Zeugitai on Aug 9, 2009 11:19 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Years ago, I moved to Arkansas and the Witnesses, the Baptists, and the Methodists couldn't get into my driveway fast enough -- like reporters trying to scoop each other -- to find out where we were going to be going to church and whether there was any slack for them to persuade us to go to their church. It was very difficult to put them off without tripping their switches of judgment and condemnation. The seller of the home we bought advised us to go to the big Baptist church in town telling us it was good for business; that it was only necessary to go for the sake of acceptance and social networking. He was right, of course; and in the end that is what we did. It meant the difference between being branded outsiders and being excluded from the social life of the town, and being insiders who were welcomed and supported. It could be the difference between life and death in a small town where the economy is thin and fragile. Visitors to our home never noticed or recognized the shelf with Darwin, Dawkins, Lovelock, Weiner, and the rest. It's all part of coming to an accommodation -- like living in a madhouse, or in a prison. You can't be institutionalized and carry with you your expectations based on a life of freedom in a big city. You do what you have to do in order to survive. Of course, though, none of this applies to the wealthy. With money, you can afford to isolate yourself and live as you wish.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Tactical "Christians" Posted by: Aposterioriperception
 
Advertisement
From The Blog
 
The Hollywood Double Standard: Tiger gets cooked, Charlie Sheen gets another free pass
 
Is Greece the New AIG?
 
Confused About Nutrition? Eat Food!
 
Insurer Denies Life-Prolonging Treatment To Five-Year-Old Boy With Cancer
 
Budget Paranoia
 
Why Does the U.S. Assassinate Americans?
 
Jon Stewart: Why Does Sarah Palin Need a Cheat Sheet?
 
We Must Lift the Veil on US Troops in Pakistan
 
Pushing for “Zero Tolerance” on Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
 
Updated: Obama Calls GOP Bluff on Health-Care Reform
 
MORE 
ALL BLOGS 
 
 
Most Read
Most Emailed
Most Discussed
On REDDIT
On DIGG
 
  1. Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Are Upending Our Democracy
  2. New Poll Results Are Proof That Republicans Don't Think
  3. White "Savior-Afflicted" Christians, Black Haitian Babies: This Won't End Well
  4. Why I Had to Stop Making Hardcore Porn
  5. Sarah Palin Aims to Bust Up the Republican Party -- And the Tea Party Movement
  6. One Company Thinks They've Created Fast Food With a Conscience -- Are They Right?
  7. The Newest Diet Trend: What Would Jesus Eat?
  8. Could Your Cell Phone End Up Killing You?
  9. Half-Naked Hot Chicks and Beer: The Sexist Guyland of the Super Bowl Beer Commercial
  10. Top 10 Problems with America Killing Its Own Citizens
loading ...
POWERED BY DIGG'S USERS
ABOUT DIGG