I'm... not discriminated against?

[Meirelle]

It might depend on your location. Most of my coworkers know I'm an atheist, and most of them are agnostic/secular and don't care. But then again, I live in Pittsburgh.

If you live in the midwest somewhere, or in the bible belt or Colorado
Springs or something... Well, that's where you hear of all the horror stories.  

[Sanguvixen]

Discrimination can have a lot to do with location. In some locations you'll end up discriminated more so than others. It depends upon the community, and how people in that community are raised.

If your class didn't really fire up as you expected them to it could because they arn't willing to get thier knickers in a knot over someone not believing in religion. If that is the case, good for them.

However I wouldn't place confidence in thier reaction(or lack of) and feel free to talk to other people or allow others to freely know that you are an atheist just yet. That group could have wanted to say something but chose to behave because they are an honors class and they are in school. Or, as was also already suggested, they just were not paying attention. When it comes to peer review, people really can tune everything out.

 

[DemonicBtch]

I can't say I'm surprised really... personally, I don't think teenagers take their religions seriously. I mean, some do, obviously. utthe vast majority just use it as another label. I think if you'd done that presentation in front of adults that had been paying attention and knew that what you were saying went against their chosen religion, the outcome would have been much more dramatic.  

[Koravin]

CaprinaePsi

Napoleon_Danneskjold

It's an HONORS class. That is the key variable.

So? I'm in college classes, and in all of them there is a small percentage that acts like they belong in middle school. It's even worse in my honors math class (though, my math teacher is a ******** dumbass...). Just because it's not a regular class, doesn't mean it's devoid of brain dead morons.

In 9th grade, in my science class, I once said that I had no religion, and students around me (some of them) just looked at me like a deer staring into the oncoming headlights of a huge-a** truck. I don't really say that I'm an atheist too often, but so far (in my new school), when I had said it, no one cared.

Yeah, I always thought college would be a refuge for the brilliant. What a let down. So much drinking...  

[Koravin]

DemonicBtch

I can't say I'm surprised really... personally, I don't think teenagers take their religions seriously. I mean, some do, obviously. utthe vast majority just use it as another label. I think if you'd done that presentation in front of adults that had been paying attention and knew that what you were saying went against their chosen religion, the outcome would have been much more dramatic.

I really disagree, but I live in Iowa. Location location location.  

[blindwolf]

Id have to say mostly whenever I say Im atheist I get stared at for a couple minutes, then get ignored for a couple of days, and then they forget or something.
But I get the most trouble from my close friends, which ironically, are probably the most religious... and seriously too.
I try to keep my cool or avoid the subject, because one of my friends gets really mad about my atheism and talks reeeeaaallly loud and draws all the other good Christians to come blindly argue at me. AT me. not with me. But I just block them out or leave the room.
So my peers dont start anything really. Unless someone else brave/retarded does.

 

[alpha male tayo]

Gays and atheists have a lot in common, though - we're often lumped together by conservative elements, blamed for every kind of problem in society, even discriminated against. People in both groups learn not to ask, not to tell. And just like a gay person, I have no choice in the way I am. Belief, or disbelief, is compelled by evidence. An honest person cannot choose what to believe.  

[Doctor Salt]

Redem

It just means your class mates aren't total (*%&£%^.

As opposed to a lot of other people who are. You got lucky.

I agree. I was told that worshiping Satan was bad (after casually saying I was an Atheist), and I replied that Atheism is not believing in a Deity (god, higher power, whatever you like to call it.) and was poked at for some time. Just poked though. Some people do have way worse though.

 

[Peace Love And Skate]

The word 'Atheist' has a VERY negative connotation here. You're better off carrying around a copy of the Satanic Bible (which, a few of my friends had a copy passed around school last year..) than proclaiming yourself an Atheist. Then again, I also live in the Bible Belt, and even the kids who have never given any thought to religion seems to hold something against the proclaimed Atheists. Many of my friends are Atheists, and when the topic comes up, they're typically insulted by the comments from the people trying to "save their souls."
Location is the biggest factor.