Has anyone had an experience in "Coming out" as an atheist, agnostic or anti-theist to their friends/family?
My family is largely religious but, perhaps surprisingly since I'm in the U.S., not in such a controlling or extreme way. The whole family is extremely accepting of different lifestyles and beliefs; religion was never hammered into us; the fear of hell was never emphasized when we were small children.
Despite the moderate upbringing, many of my close family members are deeply religious and use God regularly for consolation and inspiration.
My lack of theistic practice has just never really been discussed. I think people are aware that I take a very skeptical stance to the paranormal and I often criticize the absurdity of religious practices. I mostly have a hard time talking about it because I hate to feel as though I'm denigrating the beliefs of my family members. I imagine some parents have experience similar feelings when their child continues to believe in something like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny past an age where it may be considered appropriate; how hard it must be to prepare yourself for that almost unavoidable talk.
I actually already had the more traditional coming out experience, which went completely smooth with everyone in my immediate family. Is it funny or sad that admitting I find their religious beliefs absurdly misguided seems about a million times more difficult?
(First thread, please forgive me if it's in the wrong place. There's a huge variety of categories to choose from.)
My family is largely religious but, perhaps surprisingly since I'm in the U.S., not in such a controlling or extreme way. The whole family is extremely accepting of different lifestyles and beliefs; religion was never hammered into us; the fear of hell was never emphasized when we were small children.
Despite the moderate upbringing, many of my close family members are deeply religious and use God regularly for consolation and inspiration.
My lack of theistic practice has just never really been discussed. I think people are aware that I take a very skeptical stance to the paranormal and I often criticize the absurdity of religious practices. I mostly have a hard time talking about it because I hate to feel as though I'm denigrating the beliefs of my family members. I imagine some parents have experience similar feelings when their child continues to believe in something like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny past an age where it may be considered appropriate; how hard it must be to prepare yourself for that almost unavoidable talk.
I actually already had the more traditional coming out experience, which went completely smooth with everyone in my immediate family. Is it funny or sad that admitting I find their religious beliefs absurdly misguided seems about a million times more difficult?
(First thread, please forgive me if it's in the wrong place. There's a huge variety of categories to choose from.)
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=271879&goto=newpost
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