Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Courtney on February 9, 2011 at 1:56am

I am VERY sorry to hear this Deb.

I completely agree about it being somewhat hypocritical/ironic.

"I'm coping by staying very, very, very busy and filling my life with as much enjoyment and goodness as possible because this life is precious and short and there's no point in letting others ruin it or their religious beliefs trample on our time and happiness in this brief existence.  Religion does not equal goodness, kindness, or meaning--it just robs people by mostly closing minds and putting up walls. "

 

Good for you for staying busy and not dwelling on this. It truly is your mother's loss.
Religion, as we have all seen I'm sure, definitely closes minds and builds some mighty strong walls. ::sigh::

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Richard Raymond on February 8, 2011 at 9:57pm

I'm 62, been divorced twice, had a 10 yr. relationship with another woman, and half a dozen couple of year relationships in between.  I'm not bragging.  Half the relationships including my last ex-wife were religious nut jobs.  I just could not stand the difference in world views that were being portrayed.  I could not lie to myself and pretend that their ideas were okay.  As a result, I've lost dozens of friends and relatives that I no longer associate with.  My best male friend is a Xian, we respect each other, and don't talk religion.  My best female friend is an atheist, so we agree on most things.  If you can have 2 or 3 really true friends by my age, consider yourself lucky. Friends and acquaintances come and go, just like the tide, in & out.  (LOL)  Actually, my cat is my best friend.  Never get any mealy-mouthed attitude from her!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Yahweh on February 8, 2011 at 10:47pm

It was your mistake to befriend someone of that religion. Honestly, they will kill you if god gives them the word imaginary or not. the sad part is they won't even hesitate for a second to take your life if god ask them to. That is the kind of people they are.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Yahweh on February 8, 2011 at 10:47pm

It was your mistake to befriend someone of that religion. Honestly, they will kill you if god gives them the word imaginary or not. the sad part is they won't even hesitate for a second to take your life if god ask them to. That is the kind of people they are. I hope you can find better friends than that person. Wish you the best.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ed on February 9, 2011 at 9:15am

Yaweh,

 

I don't think it's fair to say he made a mistake befriending this person. People change over time. Unfortunately too many people base relationships on the wrong things. It is shallow to not be accepting of other's beliefs/or lack thereof. I respect my theist friends and demand the same in return. If they're intolerant of my views I really don't want to be around them. Narrow-minded people and free thinkers have a tendency to clash it seems....

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on February 8, 2011 at 10:55pm

No, never had this experience, thankfully, at least with religion. My girlfriend has though. She left the church of Jehovah's Witness and her entire family disowned her. Objectively speaking, she is the only successful one out of all her brothers and sisters. She put herself through college and now runs a private practice. Even despite being disowned, she has bailed her family out financially quite a few times. After the last snub of invitation to a family event she said, "Just remember the next time you need money, I'm the one giving it to you, not Jehovah." If you do get a chance to speak to him again, I'd remind him that it was you, not God, who helped out his family while he was in the can.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Courtney on February 9, 2011 at 1:50am

She's a very good person for helping them out financially because had it been me, they wouldn't get a DIME!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sophie on February 9, 2011 at 11:42am

Your a very lucky guy. She sounds likes good people!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Eoganacht on February 8, 2011 at 11:34pm

My friends are accepting of my atheism so I cannot speak much from experiance here. But this friend seems very closed minded and I would go as far as to say that he wasnt a true friend (although this might be a No True Scotsman falacy).

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Courtney on February 9, 2011 at 1:49am

Ha.
I had something VERY similar to this happen to me.

I said it felt good to cut off this woman with a "Choose Life" license plate via my twitter and one of my associates (I used to call her a friend but eh) threatened to block me.
Personally I could care less.

If you want to block me over my opinions, go ahead and do it. I'm better off without such people in my life.

I try not to have such close-minded people as friends in the first place but I'm not one for having a bunch of "friends" anyway.

I've had people delete me off Facebook because of my opinions.

 

I'm sorry you feel like you've lost such a good friend.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by XxL3THALxX on February 9, 2011 at 12:48pm

Thank you all for your kind words. Yes it hurt but my dad always said "those who stop being friends,werent". All it cost me was a silly comment on twitter to get him and his ungrateful wife out of my life. I'll take whatever was good from that "friendship" and move on.

 

 I love how theists believe they have cornered the market on decency but nothing could be farther from truth.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lisa on February 9, 2011 at 1:56pm

That's horrible.   I do think there's a bit of that going on right in my family.   I was never too outspoken about being atheist, but recently I'm said a few things on facebook and I've noticed most of my extended family stopped talking and commenting to me.   That's all right with me though, they are the most annoying people on the planet. No loss, there. 

But a friend....that's got to hurt.   Well, there's nothing you can do.  The problem is his, and he has to deal with his feelings.   Keep the door open.    You know, insulting something someone believes in, insults the person.   I used to get all up in arms when my husband would insult something I was enjoying on television because I felt that if he thought it was stupid, then he must think I was stupid for enjoying it.    That was in my younger days when I actually gave a shit what other people think.   Things like that don't bother me anymore.   But my point is, he was probably insulted and isn't shutting you off because he is defending god, he's shutting you off because he thinks you think he is stupid. 

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page