Why is it that when people find out that I don't believe...

[Xiporah]

...in god, that they automatically assume that I want to sit down for three hours and compare notes and have an intellectual battle of wits using my mutant bible knowedge powers?

Dude. I don't even have a bible in my house, much less have read one. Honestly, what the hell am I going to do with a bible? They make me uncomfortable. So do churches. They always have, ever since I was a child.

Leave me alone. Seriously, just go away.

I have a good feeling I am honestly alone in this respect. I just honestly want to be left alone. Religion doesn't apply to me. End of story. It's gotten to the point where I don't even want to be labled as an atheist anymore.

 

[Eaten By Cheese]

I know what you mean. I enjoy a debate sometimes, but it's like, seriously people, I'm not asking to be converted here.

I just don't tell most people--only my close friends and such. It's easier that way.

 

[Xiporah]

Eaten By Cheese

I know what you mean. I enjoy a debate sometimes, but it's like, seriously people, I'm not asking to be converted here.

I just don't tell most people--only my close friends and such. It's easier that way.

I don't debate at all. Nearly everything about religion I learned as a child came from Christmas carrols. I'm not kidding. I've learned a few things in passing over the years but I don't find it interesting enough to think twice about.

 

[AnonymouZ]

The question is not why it happens to you. The question is why do you keep hanging out with those people if they are trying to convert you. Or in a more hypocritical kind of way. "why would you even say you're atheist, just keep your thoughts to yourself and everyone, including you of course, will be happy forever! yay!"

*throws up a little*  

[Baron von Turkeypants]

I'm always down for a debate. I have a few bibles in my house, some copies of the New Testament, and a Book of Mormon. There's this great website that delivers bibles for free. A few months after I got one, they sent a little pamphlet on why the Bible is right. It's a pretty funny read lol

 

[Eaten By Cheese]

Know this, though: when someone's trying to convert you, they're thinking about your well-being. It's what they believe is best for you.

However annoying it may be.

 

[Eaten By Cheese]

Xiporah

Eaten By Cheese

I know what you mean. I enjoy a debate sometimes, but it's like, seriously people, I'm not asking to be converted here.

I just don't tell most people--only my close friends and such. It's easier that way.

I don't debate at all. Nearly everything about religion I learned as a child came from Christmas carrols. I'm not kidding. I've learned a few things in passing over the years but I don't find it interesting enough to think twice about.

I like to know about religion. That way I can know it's flaws, and I have further basis for my Atheism.

 

[Jessica Malatori]

Haha, whatever Christian friends I have can't even debate their own religion. I knew more then my one friend... We pretty much stopped discussing religion after that lol.

Once my friend was like "I wish my teacher would die!" and I'm like "But that's not the Christian way!" She just looked at me weird and said "What would you know about Christianity..." Being atheist doesn't make me ignorant to other people's ways... stare

It didn't make me feel that great...

I don't really publicly boast that I am an atheist. When you live in the bible belt, it's wise not to.

I enjoy learning about religions though... ^^  

[Xiporah]

Mostly it's people online. My friends know better. I rarely have religious friends.

 

[Theophrastus]

Yeah, honestly, there are so many Atheists out there who just don't speak up. I think of all the quiet writers and farmers I knew in rural communities who just lived a quiet life to themselves. And they may never say it, but some of them are as staunch an Atheist as you or I.  

[hachimitsugirl]

I explicitly understand your desire to be left alone. The most difficult thing about being an unbeliever is resenting the hold that cultish points of view have over the majority of the people surrounding me. That resentment leads to exasperation is certain.

However, being up for a debate is tantamount to taking up laconic arms against those who simply don't know any better. Think of debate as a necessary discomfort as it appears we have a slight duty to at least make ourselves known when put to the issue. Believe me, I'd much rather be part of a majority but it may take some bickering to get there.  

[Covered-Up Boxers]

Jessica Malatori

Being atheist doesn't make me ignorant to other people's ways... stare

I LOVE that. We aren't a follower of that religion, so we MUST be ignorant of it! I respond to that with, 'Um... I'm not you. I actually bothered to study up on something before I decide my stance on it. :0'

I agree with you, Xiporah. I don't like having three hour philisophical debates about religion in general. That's the exact reason, unless I'm being questioned directly, I don't state my belief. Maybe if I'm thoroughly prepared for an argument, like for school, I'll do it. Otherwise I'd just like to live my life.

What turns me off the most from these 'debates' is that the opposite party usually finds some way to insult me. Whether it be 'You're going to hell' which means I'm a horrible person, or 'No wonder you're so strange!'  

[ProjectOmicron88]

Jessica Malatori

Being atheist doesn't make me ignorant to other people's ways... stare

Exactly. Just like being American doesn't mean you can't learn about other cultures in an attempt to bridge gaps, and vice-versa. It's much more lighthearted when someone screws up a cultural gesture though, like Kennedy's "ich bin ein Berliner" line. They knew what he meant, and everyone had a good laugh.

With religion...I dunno. Everything just becomes like a matter of life and death to people.

...Oh. Right.  

[Baron von Turkeypants]

Eaten By Cheese

Know this, though: when someone's trying to convert you, they're thinking about your well-being. It's what they believe is best for you.

However annoying it may be.

Yeah, and since baptized babies go to Heaven, let's baptize them and then chop their heads off. It is, after all, for their own good!


EDIT: All my friends are Catholic. I don't have any atheist friends

 

[Tenth Speed Writer]

<.<


I know what you mean.


Every time someone finds out, they'll have me sit down and answer the same ten or so questions that I've been asked every time before...

Usually, it's people I've answered them to before who want to hear it again. -.o