Comment by Dave G on August 8, 2009 at 1:42pm

Not with any family members yet, although I keep hoping.

I did, however, have one moment where I managed to show a friend of mine just how oppressive the US can feel to an atheist. He's very Christian, and had the blindness towards prejudice that occasionally comes from being in a privileged group. After I pointed out (with links to the news articles) a lengthy series of prejudicial attacks on and opinions of atheists, all within the previous month, and pointed out how if those statements/behaviors had been directed towards another minority group there would have been cries of outrage, he realized just how hostile the world can feel to an atheist.

Comment by fixedentropy on August 8, 2009 at 1:52pm

its true, i can honestly say i don't know anyone other than my father who is open about being not so religious. my dad is agnostic, well he wouldn't call himself that but he doesn't know what to believe, he doesn't believe in god, but doesn't say he doesn't exist either.

i wear my think atheist bracelet daily, i haven't taken if off since i got it, and the looks i get from people who see it... i find them funny. but people get really angry when they find out im an atheist. which i get but don't get at the same time.

my very existence calls their faith in to question, but i find that simply silly. if your god is the one true god out of the countless other religions in the world, why does my non belief make you so hateful? isn't that the complete opposite of what your god wants you to feel/act etc? wasn't Jesus all about the love? am i wrong? lol

so silly how people act.

Comment by Eric Strus on August 8, 2009 at 3:17pm

Being able to listen to a side other than your own is the first step.
The only people i can ever get to give atheistic views the light of day are people who are curious and haven't had a strong predisposition towards discouraging rational inquiry. Although i have left many religious people at a loss for words. You know, when you say something like "if god created man and Satan knowing how everything would work out, then blaming them for the things he set forth from the beginning (and could have prevented with the slightest of ease) to continue on and kill babies for it (flood/sodom/others) and torture his creations for all eternity, how is he a good god?

I love the faces they make, and they usually try to leave the conversation directly after.

Comment by Dan on August 8, 2009 at 3:25pm

Comment by Morgan Matthew on August 8, 2009 at 4:41pm

I got my dad to become atheist. He has come to the conclusion that aliens put us here. (I never sold him on the idea of aliens lol but that for him is the only thing that makes sense. *for now*) He is not a crazy alien person or anything. It could because I expose him to the APOD site every so often.

The point is that I got him thinking bigger in bringing up bigger thinking topics that take a little more time to think about :]

It is a start diana and that is what matters with your mom.

Comment by Gaytor on August 8, 2009 at 7:19pm

I've made my Dad laugh at the idea of Young Earth. He's 67 and I just don't have the heart to really hammer home the point. My mom grimaces, my sisters spout stupidity like calling me a scientologist because I use scientific points. I toy with the idea of not being involved with my family anymore because I can't take the willful ignorance. It's more than religion that's driving me away.

Comment by Aric on August 8, 2009 at 10:08pm

I've gotten my dad to become an atheist. He even listed his religion as "none" on some form he had to fill out.
My mom still claims to believe in God she just doesn't agree with the church. However, I got her to start reading Letter to a Christian Nation yesterday so that's a start.

Comment by fixedentropy on August 8, 2009 at 10:39pm

it is a great start, i have a lot of my friends "thinking" about things, gotten a few co workers to read the god delusion.

i find that when you have those simple conversations its much easier to get someone to pay attention to what you have to say. we are pegged as being loud and forceful, but you dont see us walking door to door with fliers. i have been verbally attacked my mormons in my neighborhood more than once in the last month.

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