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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 6, 2013 at 8:02pm

I became a full-on Atheist towards the end of 2010. I have lost numerous (so-called) 'friends' over it, I have been stabbed in the back by basically everyone I know over it (including some family)... All over my opinion. 

However, I have made a great many gains as well... My wife is also an Atheist, as are some of my closest friends.  

Any of you guys go through anything? 

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Permalink Reply by Lewal on March 6, 2013 at 9:13pm

That's messed up. You needed better friends. As a lot of people here will attest, you are extremely lucky to have a significant other who is a free thinker.

Sadly, I was a sociopath, so went through it all rather untroubled. Except, come to think of it, I lived with a friend and his family for a little while, and there was some tension when his father expected me to go to church... I was a fledgling then, and remember getting red in the face.

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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 7, 2013 at 10:11am

Oh yeah, man. I'm very fortunate to have the atheist wife. :) 

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Permalink Reply by Kairan Nierde on March 7, 2013 at 3:21pm

For real, are you (still?) a sociopath? How do you make choices that for non-sociopaths would be influenced by ethics? If you're not kidding, kudos to you for actually admitting it.

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Permalink Reply by Lewal on March 8, 2013 at 2:01pm

Not really, I was exaggerating. I feel guilt.

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Permalink Reply by Ray R. on March 6, 2013 at 10:59pm

I'm sorry that happened to you . I grew up in the seventies and eighties , raised by parents who were educated freethinkers . Religion never played any part in our lives , other than being fodder for ridicule . My parents instilled in me a deep appreciation for humanism and human accomplishment and exceptionalism . These were the things I was raised to admire and emulate , not some ridiculous , Bronze Age , primitive , regional tribal god who gives people boils as a punishment . Absolutely ridiculous !

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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 7, 2013 at 10:39am

I wonder how they don't see it, man.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Murphy on March 6, 2013 at 11:42pm

I lost my mother, but that was no big loss as she is a very selfish and destructive force.  I always felt that it was coming and that was just the topic at hand, though.  So my one loss was a big win.  The construct that all mothers are good is even more ridiculous than the idea of a benevolent being who doesn't do anything but watch NFL.   So I never really went through anything. It's been nearly 15 years for me and other than suffering the ridiculous words that people say about our cohort, I've never suffered a lick.  My wife became Atheist not long after I did and most of my friends didn't really have much faith.

Over time, I've gravitated towards the full on atheists I know.   And even more so the skeptics.

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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 7, 2013 at 10:41am

There aren't enough of them (free-thinkers) where I live. I've got a couple friends who aren't 'religious', but only myself and maybe two others are full-on Atheist. 

That's why I'm here

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Permalink Reply by Karl Mugele on March 9, 2013 at 3:48am

Not sure what you meant by "full-on Atheist".  Do you mean you went through a period of doubt and are now certain of the lack of existence of any god?

If atheism is simply a natural lack of belief in any deity, then surely it is not necessary to be "full-on" and capitalisation is certainly not necessary....there's no church of atheism.

As you know, thise "friends" weren't friends.  They needed you to support their own shakey belief system and you let them down, albeit unintentionally and over your personal viewpoint. If they were strong and true they would have stuck by you and supported your decision. At least if they'd just tried to show you that you'd strayed, at least you'd have known they cared.  There clearly didn't care about you at all.

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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 10, 2013 at 9:52pm

Just means I wasn't really educated about it, or vocal about it, at that point, so I just said 'I guess I'm Atheist'. 

I consider 'full-on' to be someone who doesn't believe in god, not even a little, and can be vocal about it and also defend their point in debate. 

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Permalink Reply by JP Prater on March 7, 2013 at 10:06am

can you link the blog? 

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