I grew up in the Bible Belt in a Catholic house, I became an atheist sometime around 6th grade. I didn't come out 'til 8th and even that was just to some close friends of mine. Many, many people still don't know I'm an atheist (my parents and brothers included).

I didn't want to come out because they're all Christian... except for my mother who thinks she's an indian.

So do your peers and people close to you know you're beliefs differ, if you've already told them how did they react?

This can be for people other than atheists.

Alot of people know Im an uptight Christian, albeit I am secretly mor liberal than alot of my peers in some respects.

Nope. Religion isn't very important to our family. The fact that I don't go to Church anymore, even when my mom goes to Church probably tells her that I'm not Catholic anymore.

^So they don't know/care that you're a deist?

(You are a deist, correct?)

Yep. They all know it. Some disagree, some are fine with it. I don't much mind either way. Some people say, "I get tired of hearing you talk about God." Well, if they wouldn't engage themselves in a conversation with me, they wouldn't have to hear. All is well, God is all that matters, and I'll seize any opportunity to sow seed.

They do, but they pretend they don't. I currently am somewhere between atheism and some sort of shamanic/American Indian belief. My mother pretends I am still Catholic, my dad doesn't give a shit, and my friends/peers are too busy getting laid/stoned to care about anything else.

quote:Originally posted by HellzShellz:

God is all that matters



I hate to fuck up a happy thread like this, but what exactly has God ever done? Specifically, within recorded history...

God cannot and should not be considered more important than other people.

God stays out of the limelight of history books for the most part, but I can tell you that He works alot on persons to persons bases.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

God stays out of the limelight of history books for the most part, but I can tell you that He works alot on persons to persons bases.

I can tell you a magical pink dildo does that as well.

quote:Originally posted by Rust:

I can tell you a magical pink dildo does that as well.

Behold, the learned man shows the depths of his intellect by disregarding fact and judging before knowing them.

How do you do it, Rust? Are you fucking psychic?

[This message has been edited by ArgonPlasma2000 (edited 11-02-2005).]

My family: 25% creepy Zionist, 25% Messianic Jewish hippy wiccan freaks, and 50% puritanical Christian.

They all know that my beliefs differ from theirs, but I respect their beliefs and don't feel the need to push what I believe on them when I know it makes them uncomfortable. I only wish they wouldn't feel so sorry for me and push their beliefs on me nomatter how uncomfortable that makes me.

Anyways, I think it's great that they have faith.

Cheers,

Lost

I am athiest, go to a catholic school, one of my closest friends is pagan and much of my family is agnostic so we all have to be pretty accepting of each other.

My dad humors my beliefs. And I humor his.

We rarely share philosophies unless it comes to fishing, gambling or ethnic jokes.

It's a good relationship.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Behold, the learned man shows the depths of his intellect by disregarding fact and judging before knowing them.

How do you do it, Rust? Are you fucking psychic?



I didn't disregard any "facts" because you haven't provided any "facts". That's exactly the point. You can "say" anything you want but that doesn't make it true. Until you prove that god "works on person to person bases", it remains nothing close to a fact, it remains an unsubstantiated statement; thus why I said that I could say the same for a magical pink dildo.

Now if you're claiming that what you said is a fact, then either prove that it is so, or abandon that premise.

---

As for the original topic:

Not that I know of. I don't talk philosophical questions with my family; everyone is left to their own political/religious devices. So either they are assuming that I am some sort of non-practicing Christian as they are or have read what I've posted on totse or elsewhere and know that I'm an atheist.

[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 11-02-2005).]

My family is mostly heavy Catholic. My mom and sister know, but my grandmother almost had a heart attack when I told her my sister was a protestant. I can't in good conscience tell any of my older family members. They don't need to know, and it would just distress them.

My sister and I have some great discussions on religion, thought.

Rust, I needn't prove anything to you. I dont want to. When novelty occurs, I am not forced to blame it on coincidence as are you.

If you feel the need to outright deny an assertation without figuring facts, that is your preroggative, albeit foolhardy in the least.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Rust, I needn't prove anything to you. I dont want to. When novelty occurs, I am not forced to blame it on coincidence as are you.

If you feel the need to outright deny an assertation without figuring facts, that is your preroggative, albeit foolhardy in the least.

The only reason there are "facts" to figure out is because you provided none. Moreover, it would be up to you to "figure them out" since you made the bullshit claim.

You don't want to prove that what you said was true? Great! Then the assertion you made remains completely baseless and unsubtantiated and thus I could say the same thing you said of god but of a magical pink dildo. In other words, what I said was true.

[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 11-02-2005).]

You never asked why I believe what I believe. Your riding that assumption horse again.

(Sorry for the hijack)

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

You never asked why I believe what I believe. Your riding that assumption horse again.

(Sorry for the hijack)

I never asked because "why" isn't important to me. You see, I don't want to contribute to the de-railing of this thread, but I also don't want you making those outrageous claims without backing them up, hence why I called you on it. "Why you believe" has nothing to do with you supporting or not supporting your allegations with evidence.

I made absolutely no assumptions. It is a fact that you provided not evidence of what you said. That is a fact. I never said that you had no evidence, I said that you provided none, two very different things.

You have not provided anything to support what you have said, therefore it remains baseless and unsubstantiated.

If you want, care to discuss this somewhere else? I will make a thread about it and we can discuss it there. That way this thread isn't further de-railed. Moreover, we could actually delete our posts in this thread, and then nobody else would even have to know this. How about it? Or hell, you can just edit your initial reply to me and admit that you cannot support it with evidence and I will delete my other replies. You choose.

[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 11-02-2005).]

Yes. I have confidence in my faith and I'm not afraid to share it with others.

They know more of what I don't believe than what I do.

No-one in my family seems bothered about religion.

I dont feel a need to make an extra thread about this. I dont feel that I need to waste my time telling you why I think that, either. I said I dont want to.

Why do you feel that it is extremely important to point out that I provided no evidence to back up my educated opinion?

Ohh.... here is why:

quote:I never asked because "why" isn't important to me. You see, I don't want to contribute to the de-railing of this thread, but I also don't want you making those outrageous claims without backing them up

Yes, an atheist like yourself is really an authority on Christianity. http://www.totse.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif)

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have been making several grammatical errors lately.

Plenty of people know Im an agnostic, no one cars

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:



Yes, an atheist like yourself is really an authority on Christianity. http://www.totse.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif)



Where did I say I was? Nowhere. What part of what I said needs me to be an authority on Christianity? None. All I said was that your claim remains unsubstantiated and that by that token I could say exactly the same unsubstantiated bullshit of a magical pink dildo. It seems you agree with that which renders all of the replies you've given me in this thread, useless. Congratulations.

quote:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have been making several grammatical errors lately.

Thank you, so do you.



[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 11-03-2005).]

quote:Originally posted by Paradise Lost:

^So they don't know/care that you're a deist?

(You are a deist, correct?)

Why would my mom care? She isn't very religious and religion has never been an important part of anyone's life in our family(my aunt being the exception, though she only turned to religion after her depression, but that's neither here nor there).

I feel the extreme urge to reply.... just so you know.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Alot of people know Im an uptight Christian, albeit I am secretly mor liberal than alot of my peers in some respects.

Haha! I bet you all are secretly! This is how silly (and some more serious) Traditions are maintained!

quote:Yes, an atheist like yourself is really an authority on Christianity.

You're saying it's impossible to know about Christian theology without believing in God? I'd say it's difficult to believe in God if you understand Christian theology! (I'm no theologist so I'm not trying to start an argument though http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif))

Pretty much everyone around me is an atheist, because I'm not only in Britain, I'm also in a fairly good University surrounded by fairly clever people. However, there are a few Christians around, and they seem as if they just believe in it because they always have and they don't really want to change, which is fair enough if they don't go threatening the entire realm of reasonable thought as seems to be the fashion among American Christians. And there are a few Muslims, but they never talk about their religion and I always feel like it's rude to ask.



I'd just like to add that I believe in the dildo too. It has touched me in ways I can't describe with mere language.

quote:

I'd just like to add that I believe in the dildo too. It has touched me in ways I can't describe with mere language.

I hope you're a girl.

there are no real atheist because you always wondering if there is a GOD, you call his name everytime you somethings wrong

go here http://jesus-is-lord.com/bigtalk.htm

quote:Originally posted by Paradise Lost:

I grew up in the Bible Belt in a Catholic house, I became an atheist sometime around 6th grade. I didn't come out 'til 8th and even that was just to some close friends of mine. Many, many people still don't know I'm an atheist (my parents and brothers included).

I didn't want to come out because they're all Christian... except for my mother who thinks she's an indian.

So do your peers and people close to you know you're beliefs differ, if you've already told them how did they react?

This can be for people other than atheists.

Yes, my whole family knows my beliefs. Look dude, they're your family. I'm sure they would understand why you're an atheist if you broke it down for them. If you can engage them in conversation like you do in here, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to chat it out with you.

I was agnostic growing up, but my parents were/are lukewarm Christians who believe becasuse that's what their parents were, so on and so forth. I am now a devout Christian, and if anything, I sometimes think my whole family would rather me be an atheist. This doesn't stop from telling them the truth. My former agnosticism suits them better, because like most Americans these days, the familial institute is bound by the worthlessness of meaningless, surface level chit-chat. Seriously, just talk to them, even if they don't like what you have to say.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have been making several grammatical errors lately.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

. . . but I can tell you that He works alot on persons to persons bases.

How ironicalololol.

Edit: Now that I come to think of it, even your reprimand was grammatically incorrect, ArgonPlasma.

It should be:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have been making grammatical errors lately.

or:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have made several grammatical errors lately.

Just so you know.

[This message has been edited by literary syphilis (edited 11-04-2005).]

forget wether or not parents know your beliefs.........

i think most people dont even understand their own beliefs.......

if they meditated deep down to work out their own true beliefs....

they would find they are utterly confused ....and hence have no real belief.......or rather understanding of what they believe.

they would then realise .......

their lives and belief system is based on only scratching the surface .....and may want to delve deeper.

quote:Originally posted by hyroglyphx:

Yes, my whole family knows my beliefs. Look dude, they're your family. I'm sure they would understand why you're an atheist if you broke it down for them. If you can engage them in conversation like you do in here, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to chat it out with you.

Probably not. I've never said anything intelligent infront of them and they probably think I have a learning disability.

quote:Originally posted by Paradise Lost:

Probably not. I've never said anything intelligent infront of them and they probably think I have a learning disability.

Only one way to find out. Bring it up one day. They might be more interested in it than you think

quote:Originally posted by literary syphilis:

How ironicalololol.

Edit: Now that I come to think of it, even your reprimand was grammatically incorrect, ArgonPlasma.

It should be:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have been making grammatical errors lately.

or:

And you need to proofread your posts better next time, you have made several grammatical errors lately.

Just so you know.



Your not weildy with this English thing, are you?

I beg your pardon?

quote:Originally posted by Paradise Lost:

she's an indian.

Do you mean hindu or native american?

Cockrub.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Behold, the learned man shows the depths of his intellect by disregarding fact and judging before knowing them.

How do you do it, Rust? Are you fucking psychic?



Behold, the more learned man is showing the depths of his intellect by asserting that his personal beliefs are a universal fact.

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Your not weildy with this English thing, are you?

Technically, you're not supposed to start a sentance with the word, "And."

But no one cares about it when it gets down to that level.

quote:Originally posted by actionfaad:

Do you mean hindu or native american?

Cockrub.

Interesting sidenote: Columbus referred to the peoples he found as "Indians" because he halled them something like Hijos in Dios. The People in God. The Indian subcontinent wasn't known as India in the 15th century. He didn't mistake them for a people on the other side of the continent, and it's only offensive if you don't know what you're talking about.

In Sanf Francisco, the don't celebrate Columbus Day. They have Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

That's not true SurahAhriman, there is no record of Columbus saying "hijos de dios" when referring to the native Americans, or "una gente en dios" (another phrase attributed to him).

Moreover, the southern/eastern part of Asia was indeed referred to as "India" at the time of Columbus. If I'm not mistaken the official document given to him by the king and queen of Spain (which established the official nature of his trip), actually used that very word, "India".

Edit- Columbus' letter to Spain describing his findingsb(in Spanish):

http://www.mgar.net/docs/colon1.htm

[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 11-04-2005).]

quote:Originally posted by actionfaad:

Technically, you're not supposed to start a sentance with the word, "And."

But no one cares about it when it gets down to that level.

That's because it's only a problem in prescriptive written discourse - I was more concerned with his blatant disregard for verb tenses (in this case the present continuous and present perfect simple).

quote:Originally posted by actionfaad:

Do you mean hindu or native american?

Cockrub.

Not all sub-continental Indians are Hindu.

quote:Originally posted by actionfaad:

Do you mean hindu or native american?

Cockrub.

Excuse my lack of political correctness. I meant Native American (not sure which tribe).

To those people above me. I heard Columbus treated the natives in the West Indies well. It wasn't til the conquistadors that the relationship soured.

Viva La Tainos, Rust. http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)

quote:Originally posted by ArgonPlasma2000:

Your not weildy with this English thing, are you?

Hahaha, 'your'.

I announced i was an atheist when i was 10, before i even knew what it meant.

Then in 7th grade I started researching it & decided it was the way to go.

I think my family knows, but they might be in denial. they used to be, anyway.