I answered a teen's post on Yahoo Answers the other day and thought I'd throw out the question here for general consideration.
This guy was looking for advice on how to tell his parents he was an atheist. They were both theists. He didn't give a lot of details about his family, but I got the impression that he thought his parents wouldn't take it too well.
What I wrote was something like this: When you tell them, let them say whatever they want and express whatever feelings they have without you trying to stop them or "explain" yourself. Let them get out their initial "shock" reaction and don't ratchet up the emotions by stepping in or telling them they're wrong. At some point when they calm down a little, tell them that you didn't realize they would be this upset and ask to talk more about it later, where you would be more than willing to tell them anything they want to know; you will answer all of their questions. Tell them you love them dearly and don't want to hurt them or anyone else, but you need some time to calm down yourself before you can talk rationally about this stuff.
I'd like to know what advice any of you have given, and if it's worked out. Maybe others who read this thread in the future can get some ideas to try. I know there are lots of places around that give advice on this subject. If you want to link to those, that would be good, too.
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