Me vs. my Dad

[TRR]

K straight to the point, my Dad is christian, very christian. Note my parents are divorced. over the last 8 years he has, i guess you could say, forced it upon me a bit. and for the last number of years i would say i was christian.
Well now im an athiest. He does not know this, and he probably would be quite disappointed. several months ago we had a clash over a difference in beliefs and it resulted in an half hour long shouting match, so i dont know how well he'll take this.

So I ask you, Escapist forum people: how should i proceed?

note if you need any more details just ask.

EDIT: I am now including my additional posts up here so people get all the info

*****************
k im going to answer Oliver90909's questions here:

Some important things to know:

1) How old are you?
2) How Christian is your mum and are you still in contact with her?
3) What caused to to actually lose your faith? Was it because your dad has forced it on you, do you think, or was it some other factor/revelation?
4) Welcome to Atheism, the water's lovely!

1) im 19
2) my mom would basically be atheist, shes also more liberal. yes im still in contact with her, its just that this whole situation does not involve her
3) i lost my faith through my own revelations, independent of the fact that christianity was rather forced on me
******************

a couple of you are asking why i must tell him

reason: if i didn't i would have to pretend i was christian. and that's something id rather not go through. because i would be dishonest, which against my values. also i would have to adhere to his christian based 'rules'(for lack of a better term); this is what lead to said shouting match.
********************

Thank you everyone most of you for the responses thus far, they are definitely helping me here.

Several of you have been asking about the shouting match thing. This happened earlier this year. Well it all started when I asked if I could sleep over at my girlfriend's (now ex.) house. My Dad did not like this idea. He then proceeded to unload his opinion, which was heavily christian based. Then somewhere in this argument it was revealed that I was no longer a virgin. Needless to say, he was not very happy. After a while of this I left the house for a few hours. In the end, I went along with his decision.

Juxtaposition: my Mom assumed I was sexually active.

Others have been asking if I was atheist or agnostic, I would say I'm atheist.

BTW, I love my Dad.


keep an eye out for my posts as they will contain important info, i highlight them with ****

 

[Spartan1175]

Force him to accept who you are.

 

[Lawbringer]

Some important things to know:

1) How old are you?
2) How Christian is your mum and are you still in contact with her?
3) What caused to to actually lose your faith? Was it because your dad has forced it on you, do you think, or was it some other factor/revelation?
4) Welcome to Atheism, the water's lovely!

 

[Sacman]

Tell him and ignore anything he has to say in response...<.<

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Disappointing your parents in one way or another is part of growing up, as no one turns out EXACTLY how their parents would have wished.
Just try to actually expain yourself to your dad, say WHY you do not believe in the same things he does. Be polite, he IS your dad after all.

Tell him and ignore anything he has to say in response...<.<

Yeah.... pretty much not do that....

 

[TheDarklite]

Your father has no right to *force* his beliefs on anyone.

If you need to tell him though, try to be subtle about telling him. Otherwise just keep avoiding the topic

 

[Sevre]

There's no reason you can't be Atheist and not respect his religion. Show him some compassion and he'll do likewise, even if it isn't at first.

 

[Aidinthel]

Do you have to tell him? I dunno how old you are but if you still live with him you might want to avoid conflict. It isn't like you'll suffer anything from going along with his religion other than occasional boredom, and if the alternative is constant tension and anger...

 

[Super Toast]

Tell him and ignore anything he has to say in response...<.<

Why do you type ...<.< at the end of everything?

OT: Tell him your an atheist, just don't be a dick about it.

 

[legion431]

This is how most wars are started; if he can't accept you for your beliefs what is there to do. If you and him had a massive argument over a difference in beliefs imagine what it's going to be like when he finds out your athiest.

You're just going to have to try and reason with him very calmly, no shouting; putting angry pressure on a matter like this isn't the way to handle the situation. He is more likely to understand if you be calm.

 

[Whitenail]

Well the first thing to realize is that neither of you are universally wrong or right, go into this knowing that and simply tell him your beliefs with respect for his and he should hopefully d likewise, and if he doesn't then he's a jerk.

 

[Sacman]

Tell him and ignore anything he has to say in response...<.<

Why do you type ...<.< at the end of everything?

OT: Tell him your an atheist, just don't be a dick about it.

the ellipses because I'm a spacey talker... like Captain Kirk... and the <.< because... actually I don't know... I just started doing it a few weeks ago and it's become a habit...<.<

 

[TRR]

k im going to answer Oliver90909's questions here:

Some important things to know:

1) How old are you?
2) How Christian is your mum and are you still in contact with her?
3) What caused to to actually lose your faith? Was it because your dad has forced it on you, do you think, or was it some other factor/revelation?
4) Welcome to Atheism, the water's lovely!

1) im 19
2) my mom would basically be atheist, shes also more liberal. yes im still in contact with her, its just that this whole situation does not involve her
3) i lost my faith through my own revelations, independent of the fact that christianity was rather forced on me

 

[Audio]

Just to give an other option~
How about you dont tell it it too his face; i'm sure that'll cause problems.
Perhaps drop some hints here and there, let him see faith slipping away to a point he cant pull you back. This way, he might blame something else instead of feeling that you're just being atheist to go against him.

 

[mrF00bar]

Easy, just show him this:

Spoiler