How bad is it to be Atheist in America?

[bjj hero]

I'm an atheist and i'm in high school and im in a highly religious area mainly Christians and people try to pick fights with me only because in my freshman year it got around that i'm an atheist. They throw rocks and call me names so all in all just DON'T LET IT SLIP.

Thats going to bring you onside, Im sure. Pencil church in your diary for this Sunday.

Welcome to the Escapist.

 

[Simalacrum]

I would have thought that it depends on where you live in America... but then again, i'm a British Athiest as well, so i wouldn't know

 

[Hoxton]

[http://photobucket.com/images/religions%20of%20the%20world] teehee

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Considering this is AMERICA, yeah, a lot of whacko religous types are going to want your balls as christmas decorations...

 

[Amkrii]

I'm an atheist and I will be honest, I hate most other atheist I've met. They have been full of it, they claim to be against the over-zealous 'bible' thumping of organized religion but they are just as willing - if not more so - to shove their ideals down other peoples throats. If the avarge atheist thinks it is frustrating listening to a over-zealous-pro-life catholic rant about religious morality then they should try listening to an atheist trying to convert - or as they put it 'wake up' - people with all the charisma of a drunken frat boy while attacking their faith or them personaly.

All I really want is for all sides to shut up and try to put pitty differences aside to work together and for the most part we do, so I'm happy. For the times we dont we should have Richard Dawkins fight Pat Robertson in a steel cage first blood match to see who wins the argument.

Whats not to love about that?

 

[Ultrajoe]

From what I can see, it's nowhere as bad as being a christian on the internet.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

[http://photobucket.com/images/religions%20of%20the%20world] teehee

I love this

 

[Inverse Skies]

I'm guessing a lot worse than here in Australia...

 

[Deacon Cole]

My family is fairly disapproving of my atheism, they try and make me believe in God whenever religion comes up. My disbelief is because of just a lack of evidence, and they cannot understand what I mean. It's mostly due to past occurences that they are so adamant.

The problem most atheists tend to have is this one. No one is feeding atheists to the lions or anything. And occasional random jerk shouting something crude is fairly easy to counter with lewd reports about their mother. The real problem comes from the people close to you, and by that, I mean family AKA those jerks you were assigned because you drew the short straw.

But this grief is not limited to atheist. It's pretty much any religion or the lack thereof depending on what the familial consensus is, that will cause friction. If your family is Jewish but you become a Christian, that causes static. And by static, friction, and grief, i mean the constant browbeating and underhanded manipulation to force you to conform to their way of thinking.

So basically, a family is a horrible thing to have. They should be outlawed.

 

[Imperial Avenger]

My family is fairly disapproving of my atheism, they try and make me believe in God whenever religion comes up. My disbelief is because of just a lack of evidence, and they cannot understand what I mean. It's mostly due to past occurences that they are so adamant.

The problem most atheists tend to have is this one. No one is feeding atheists to the lions or anything. And occasional random jerk shouting something crude is fairly easy to counter with lewd reports about their mother. The real problem comes from the people close to you, and by that, I mean family AKA those jerks you were assigned because you drew the short straw.

But this grief is not limited to atheist. It's pretty much any religion or the lack thereof depending on what the familial consensus is, that will cause friction. If your family is Jewish but you become a Christian, that causes static. And by static, friction, and grief, i mean the constant browbeating and underhanded manipulation to force you to conform to their way of thinking.

So basically, a family is a horrible thing to have. They should be outlawed.

Truly, the best-informed opinion on this thread so far.

Congratulations & kudos to you, sir.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

Here they all think that you skin babies and eat them whole.

 

[toapat]

I hope Scotland yard harasses those hate mongers out of the country- since when does political correctness not give a native culture the right to defend itself?

when that right to defend itself is like saying we want Batman to die and the evil supervillan to be the guy who kills him.

religion is the root of all evil, not greed.

My family is fairly disapproving of my atheism, they try and make me believe in God whenever religion comes up. My disbelief is because of just a lack of evidence, and they cannot understand what I mean. It's mostly due to past occurences that they are so adamant.

The problem most atheists tend to have is this one. No one is feeding atheists to the lions or anything. And occasional random jerk shouting something crude is fairly easy to counter with lewd reports about their mother. The real problem comes from the people close to you, and by that, I mean family AKA those jerks you were assigned because you drew the short straw.

But this grief is not limited to atheist. It's pretty much any religion or the lack thereof depending on what the familial consensus is, that will cause friction. If your family is Jewish but you become a Christian, that causes static. And by static, friction, and grief, i mean the constant browbeating and underhanded manipulation to force you to conform to their way of thinking.

So basically, a family is a horrible thing to have. They should be outlawed.

hes lucky, the church my family has dragged me to is literally trying to kill me, i got sick because i went there on the 4th

 

[JakubK666]

Depends. If you're the over-zealous pretentious type of atheist that constantly preaches how 'God doesn't exist and everybody who believes in the invisible man in the sky is a retard!' then you're obviously gonna catch shit because everybody knows America has a hard-on for Jesus and Christian values.

If you're leaning towards the agnostic spectrum of atheism(God may or may not exist, but you cannot prove either and it generally doesn't matter etc.) while keeping your views to yourself, yet trying to be as polite as possible when having to talk about it, I doubt anyone will really give a crap.

 

[thiosk]

If you get heckled for it all the time, why are you wearing "I AM NOT JESUS'S HOMEBOY" teeshirts while standing in front of the seminary?

I'm an athiest too, but the trick is I don't talk about it in polite company.

Unlike some religions, athiesm doesn't come in any specific color or look, so no one should be able to tell what you are.

I think the real problem with many athiests is that they BELIEVE in nothing. That turns a lot of them into what basically amounts to evangelical athiests, running around spouting off about the injustices of christianity as if they were in a competing religion.

 

[kat-24]

I get heckled for being an atheist occasionally, and a group of religious nuts at my school attacked me for it, but otherwise no, my girlfriend is a christian and she's fine with it

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I would say having lived in Atlanta, GA for over 10 years that the South is more religiously active. There are certainly more churches there and more people actively trying to get converts by doing things like handing out bibles close to high schools and baseball games. However, most of the people in the cities are used to being ignored apparently and do not react (much) if you kindly refuse their attempts to convert you. This is true for any non-Christian. In the more rural areas, I am not sure how they react to Atheists. I have only spent significant time in more rural areas of the south once and I gave a restaurant of people collective whiplash by saying that I did not like grits.

All of this said, my opinion is somewhat invalidated seeing as how I am not actually an atheist. However I assume that the Christians of the South react pretty equally to Judaism as they do to Atheism, in that many do not openly attack you as long as you are polite to them.

Hey! A fellow Atlantian! Hello there...

The south is more religiously active than the north, but in more urbanized areas and suburbs, people don't care as much as in the really rural areas with small communities. That being said, I do get dragged to church every now and then, despite me being very vocal about my displeasure in the whole thing...