CNN: Atheists are still reluctant to ‘come out’
CNN: Atheists are still reluctant to ‘come out’
Many people are hesitant to identify as atheists because of the social stigma they may face, making it hard to pinpoint connections and differences among this group.
A 2017 study found that people believe atheists are more likely to be serial killers than believers, even though federal data suggests they are far less likely to commit crimes than religious people.
I used to be more forward about it, just to make sure people were aware to try to avoid awkwardness down the road. Turns out, some folks just hyper focused on it and only defined me by the one thing.
- I had one person break down crying. That was the single most awkward as I got dirty looks from other people in the room who had no idea about the conversation.
- I've had multiple people tell me I'm unworthy of love and commitment. And while not said, by their actions might as well, unworthy of basic respect.
- I've had multiple people try "converting" me.
- I've had some people send people to my homes and stalk me. Primary reason I have a Nest doorbell and want to know exactly when someone is going to show up to visit.
- I've had multiple people try various intimidation tactics to try to "convince" me to join their church.
- I had one person bust out laughing at me when I said I more closely line up with secular humanism.
- I was questioned multiple times why I'd show up to someone's wedding... (not a wedding crasher, they basically assume only religious people get married, and that atheists cannot support others in their life paths)
I've since stopped telling people or making it even known at all.
The boldest claim to make when it comes to the existence of a "god" is that we don't know. No one fucking knows. One thing I do know is that the fundamentals of physics are beautiful no matter how it came to be. People hate not being able to explain things so they made shit up as they went, such that the idea of "god" was created.
When i lived in big cities on the West coast i was open in my Atheism. Now that i live in rural Michigan... I keep it to myself
America as a whole needs to ensure following secular ideals for its public policies and laws.
I don’t mind people using religion in their personal lives for whatever reason, but it does seem like there’s a delusion driven community level effect that leaks out from temples, churches, mosques etc. It seems most of these people “mean well” but they don’t realize how much unintentional harm they’re doing. The Satanic temple type people adding fuel to the fire of religious zealots are making things worse.
In general, I hope it becomes taboo and outlawed to base rules or laws around mythology-based scripture. Where is this social movement? I get fuck cars and all, but secular humanism is seriously needed as a mainstream social movement everywhere, locally and globally.
poor default country problem.
I stopped mentioning my atheism because it's so common among my sociodemographic environment that it's not anything interesting.
If anything, when casually cracking another "religion bad" joke at work, I'd better check if someone is maybe religious, and I really don't want to insult them.
-- millennial yurobro
While I was in the angry atheist online camp when I was the only atheist I knew and needed a community, I've since evolved into an apathetic view of individual belief.
Screaming at the thumpers won't do any good. Eye-rolls are more effective. And explaining religion to the young is as simple as saying it's just something some people do, like sports.
I'm a bit surprised with the number of religious people I know irl tbh. I've only met maybe one other atheist at school. These people realized that their ancestors believed in another religion and were probably killed and forced to convert right? Probably about half are actually just agnostic and the remaining full believers.
I mean I'm not trying to convert anybody I'm just tryna understand why.
No stigma. I assume all such questions have an alternate agenda.
Like I know better than to talk about my stance with any religious nutter. Their beliefs are not grounded in facts and no amount of logic can overcome their emotional outlook. All you can do is make yourself an (enemy) outsider. Anyone that asks me to brand myself on some survey or upon questioning has an agenda, in my opinion. Why should I put my name on some witch hunting list. Witch hunts have always been attacks on academics and abject thinking.
Becoming a first generation atheist is a class in skepticism, misdirection, and manipulation. It is not easy rejecting your entire friends network and questioning foundational ideas learned when we were gullible little children. I'm not about to shoot myself in the foot by feeding the sky wizard monsters with no fundamental logic skills. It's as stupid as walking into a maximum security prison and opening all the doors. I'll always defer to answer such a question, select other, or nondenominational.
"Hesitant to identify because of the social stigma?"
This is proof they fear what they don't understand. I exist without faith in a higher power. I don't share "not believing in a god" because it's like saying "my eyes are not brown". It doesn't tell you what color they are.
Me saying I'm "atheist" tells you absolutely fuck all about what I do believe. I do believe that humanity has the potential to solve all the problems we have right now, and it would be likely easier without religion interfering.
Murder, theft, intentionally harming relationships (etc.) and other crimes are things I simply don't want to happen to me. So I won't do them to others. Seems easy enough.
If we assume everyone we meet is suffering, and on their own path away from it, we tend to be better people toward them, and our own struggles help too.
I came to the conclusion a while back that all these religious nuts end up doing what an authoritarian tells them to do, because they understand the authoritarian, and fear everything else.
Because theres nothing to fucking evangelize lol. "Excuse me ma'am, do you have time to discuss our lord and savior, nobody?"
I wonder if it has anything to do with all of the “bad atheism” that’s populating the internet.
By this, I mean to say that actual TRUE atheism isn’t about hating Christians, but if you look here, and on Reddit- any community involving atheism is nothing but anti-Christian rhetoric. Not other religion- just Christianity. AND A LOT of hate.
Actual atheists don’t define their ideology based on who they hate. It’s simply just not believing in religious idolatry. Nothing more and nothing less.
So if you find yourself hating on someone simply because they believe differently than you do. Maybe ask yourself if any of that seems familiar to you at all. And then back away from the nonsense. Because maybe It’s you that’s making it difficult for the ideology of atheism to be taken seriously.
I'm from an arguably secular country but people still put Catholic or Anglican or whatever on the census even though they are "non-practising" and haven't been to church in years.
Probably better to ask how often people go to church in this type of questionnaire and ignore what people "identify" as.
At a guess, it would depend on where you live. For one thing, the number of non-religious people in the USA has doubled in the last 15 years, but notably, most do not go all the way to identify themselves as "atheists" (militant or otherwise):
Perhaps b/c the belief that there definitively is no such thing as any kind of "god" is a rather extreme hard-line stance, while "meh, there might be, but probably isn't, and anyway who cares?" seems much more popular lately (according to that study, and many others like it).
Also there are a HUGE fraction of people who are ostensibly "Jews" or "Protestants" or "Catholic" or whatever, but don't really give a shit and just hang on loosely b/c of historical reasons, or b/c of current cultural rather than religious affiliations.
Unfortunately (imho), while the article itself goes into some depth as to why various people believe as they do, the title itself seems extremely click-baity, trying to capitalize on people's prejudices and fears. Though despite all that, ultimately is accurate so... less so than normal, I guess?
There has never been a better time in the history of America to self-identify as an atheist, I think? Unfortunately, we might look back on this as a Golden Era, if McCarthyism returns and this time in the guise of evangelical christianity. And I say this as not even an atheist myself, just someone who will defend to the death someone else's right to believe what they wish rather than be forced (especially to the death! e.g. let's say a woman who is pregnant and experiencing complications) to believe something else - the latter is one of the chief reasons for the entire existence of America, but the pull of (christo-)fascism is indeed strong...
Sounds quite US centric. Atheism/agnosticism is normal in the UK.
It's cnn I don't trust it
Unlilke Deists such as me, that will tell you all about it quicker than a vegan :P
Maybe most of the people is simply disillusioned by religions, but not totally confident that there's nothing at all.
In my case i'm more of a "hopefull" atheist. Considering the entropic and chaotic nature of the universe, the continuous predatory massacre that we call "life" and extreme difficulty to keep any state of equilibrium in this reality. I really don't want to think of some sentient all-powerful being in charge of all this.
I consider myself agnostic, but empathize with the atheist mindset. Maybe I just don't want to be crammed into a box? What if I simply don't want to define my existence through the lens of theism?
In my opinion, the stupid question "Is there a God?" is interesting philosophically but best left unanswered.