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Permalink Reply by Liam on April 14, 2009 at 7:13am

I don't go around just informing people as I feel that is just as bad as the religious folk who try to ram THEIR beliefs down MY throat. But if it comes up in discussion, I have no problem telling people I am an Atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Peter Ickle on April 14, 2009 at 10:11am

I live in the southern USA and it's dangerous to your job to admit you don't follow some sort of imaginary sky creatures. They've realized they can't attack you for being a Buddhist or Hindu but if you admit you won't just blindly follow someone because you were told to then you are dangerous.

It's my belief (yes even I have them) that religious people don't trust atheists because they just can't wrap their heads around disobeying their programming. Without any proof or data other than my own biased experiences I have deduced that the religious brainwashing cloaks its talons in the buzz words like "morality" and "righteousness" so any questioning of it is immoral. So if you have questioned all religion then you are, in their eyes, without morality.

And that's why the only people I say I'm an atheist to already know it.

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Permalink Reply by Liam on April 14, 2009 at 10:19am

Very true...and as Dawkins said in TGD, you are considered virtuous to accept a God with no evidence. In no other facet of your life would that be seen as a virtue.

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Permalink Reply by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on April 14, 2009 at 10:19am

When cornered, I will admit to bein' an atheist. The last time I did was at work 'bout a month ago. I was in the breakroom discussin' the Bill Nye in Waco, TX incident when I stated my status. I was stopped later by one of the people & he told me he was an atheist as well. So that makes 3 atheist that I know of in Kentuckistan (Kentucky).

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Permalink Reply by Pam on April 14, 2009 at 10:35am

I'm not sure when the last time I said "I am an atheist" aloud. Like, Peter, I live in the South, so openly declaring that kind of thing probably isn't the best idea in most situations.

I said it aloud to my best friend, who I already knew was an atheist, and it wasn't a big deal. I said it at a rationalist meeting, again with the knowledge that many people there were also atheists. But outside of having the knowledge that someone else was a non-believer, I've not said it.

If someone asks, I try to say something like "I don't follow a denomination."

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on April 17, 2009 at 1:02pm

Last time I said it was a couple weeks ago, but it's not something that I usually bring up unless someone asks. And here in the southern US, it can be hazardous to your job to mention it, particularly if you have a devoutly religious manager. Georgia is an 'at-will' state, which means that your employer can fire you at any time, for any reason outside of blatant discrimination. And the local courts may well not consider firing someone for being an atheist as discriminatory.

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